Torres gets no change from old friends

CHELSEA fans thought they had won the lottery when Roman Abramovich paid £50m (€58m)for Fernando Torres but the striker’s number came up after only 66 minutes as he was substituted on a miserable debut at Stamford Bridge, leaving his former club Liverpool to enjoy the moral upper ground as well as a famous victory.

A goal from Raul Meireles after 69 minutes gave Kenny Dalglish’s side a deserved 1-0 win and, for now at least, made a mockery of Torres’ suggestion that he had left Anfield to play for a team more capable of winning trophies.

This result not only impacts on Chelsea’s title hopes, leaving them 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester United in fourth spot and narrowly ahead of London rivals Tottenham on goal difference, but also moves resurgent Liverpool up to sixth place in the table, just six points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Could it be that Torres has made a terrible misjudgment and left Liverpool just as they are about to rediscover the glory days under a manager who was such an intrinsic part of their success in the past?

Certainly there was evidence at Stamford Bridge that Liverpool are now a team of real ambition, bolstered by strong leadership both in the dugout and in the boardroom.

Dalglish, whose side have won four matches in succession without conceding a goal, played five at the back to counter Chelsea’s new formation of 4-3-1-2 which saw Nicolas Anelka playing behind Torres and Didier Drogba in a desperate attempt by Ancelotti to fit all his star strikers into one team.

The Liverpool manager opted to leave striker Luis Suarez on the bench and recalled influential Jamie Carragher in defence for his first match in two months because of injury; and when you take into account a blossoming midfield partnership of Steven Gerrard and Meireles his new-look team is really starting to take shape, even without Torres.

So no wonder Dalglish refused to get involved in baiting his former player.

“Our incentive was to get three points,” he said. “Whatever someone else wants to do with their life, that’s their choice. If you want to ask the supporters what they think it may be different. But I came here to win three points. If Carlo Ancelotti was playing up front, I’d have still wanted three points.

“As a club we always say the most important people are the people who are at Liverpool Football Club, and that’s the way we approached the game. We were determined not to lose.

“If you win games, you get points, you move up the table. As long as we continue to do that, keep our feet on the ground than we’ll be okay. Sixth is a lot healthier than 12th when we started. That’s credit to the players, who have given 100%.”

As for Ancelotti he was left to reflect on a simple mathematical equation; that three into two really doesn’t go. He has vowed to stick by his attempt to cram Drogba, Torres and Anelka into the same team but on this evidence it doesn’t work and you wonder, with Chelsea already 10 points adrift, how long does he really have to tinker with it?

“The problem wasn’t that Torres played — he did a good job on the pitch,” he insisted. “We had difficulty finding enough space in front, because Liverpool defended very well and they put three defenders in the middle.

“Fernando tried to do something, used his movement and did a good job. I took him off because, after 60 minutes and a very busy week. We have to give him time to adjust, but I think that he will do it quickly. We will play the same way in the next game against Fulham because the problem was not the shape.”

It could all have been different for Torres, however, if he had made the most of his ‘Roy of the Rovers’ moment just a few minutes into the game. When he stole the ball from Maxi and raced towards goal there were thousands inside Stamford Bridge who had a headline already in mind; but instead the striker fired wildly over the bar.

He also had a wonderful chance after 31 minutes, denied only by a superb Carragher block after Drogba had threaded an excellent ball into the box. And that, in essence, was the end of El Nino’s contribution, eventually ushered off to derision from the away end and relative silence even from the home stands to be replaced by Salomon Kalou. Not the most auspicious of debuts.

Liverpool should have gone ahead in the first half when Gerrard fizzed a low ball right across goal and Maxi Rodriguez somehow managed to hit the bar from only three yards out with keeper Petr Cech stranded. But they won it with 20 minutes to go when Gerrard crossed again, this time from the right, and it bounced past Branislav Ivanovic for Meireles to fire home left-footed.

It was the midfielder’s sixth goal of the season and enough to earn Liverpool a deserved victory, although Ancelotti claimed late on his side should have had a penalty when Glen Johnson foolishly bumped into Ivanovic in injury time.

Unfortunately for Chelsea and their not-so-lucky number nine referee Andre Marriner disagreed and 40,000 fans can now put away their betting slips for another time — and possibly for another season.

In contrast, Liverpool, with new signings Suarez and Andy Carroll still to be drafted into an already-winning team, this victory has given the success-starved Kop real hope that the finger of fate could finally be pointing their way.