Shaky form of Torres is Chelsea’s big concern

QPR 0 Chelsea 0

That Terry confirmed once again he is capable of ignoring whatever the latest controversy it is that is surrounding him will have come as no surprise to Roberto Di Matteo.

Less welcome for the Chelsea manager was the sight of Torres being neutralised by the impressive Nelsen to the extent that when the Spain striker was substituted with nine minutes remaining, the body language mirrored that of his darker moments over the last 18 months, while the petulant dash down the tunnel suggested desperate frustration.

Mark Hughes, the QPR manager, suggested Nelsen had dominated Torres and it was hard to disagree, although Di Matteo skilfully, and understandably, shifted discussion about Torres’s individual performance back towards that of his team as a whole after the match.

A poor performance after a relatively bright start to the season for Torres should not trigger undue alarm but this display highlighted a vulnerability in Di Matteo’s squad that lies in the decision not to bring in an extra striker during the summer transfer window.

Di Matteo remains confident that the presence of Daniel Sturridge and now Victor Moses in the squad will provide sufficient back-up along with the expectation that the attacking midfielders including Eden Hazard and Juan Mata will shoulder a greater responsibility in front of goal.

Prior to this game, Di Matteo’s claims seem justified but on this occasion we were offered a glimpse of a potential flaw in the plan, particularly ahead of a period that will bring seven games in 21 days.

The manager though, denied Torres is at risk of losing confidence.

“No, no, absolutely not,” he said. “We can’t put too much pressure on one player. We are a team and everybody has responsibility. We’re looking for other players to score goals as well. Hazard had two great chances. On another day, he might have scored. So, I’m not going to put pressure on just one player.”

It will remain a concern, however, as long as Torres is handled so comfortably by a 35-year-old central defender who travelled halfway around the world to return from international duty with New Zealand, particularly with the visit of Juventus to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, the opening game of Chelsea’s Champions League defence, looming.

“I only got off a flight late on Thursday afternoon, and didn’t sleep much that night, then got in for Friday morning training and tried to look as fresh as a daisy so the manager might pick me,” admitted Nelsen.

Nelsen was also involved in one of the two first-half penalty appeals Chelsea felt were unjustly ignored with Di Matteo claiming the centre-back’s manhandling of Terry at a set-piece was a “stonewall” penalty. The centre-half disagreed, and claimed Terry’s reaction backed up his case.

“I think, if you ask John, he just fell down,” Nelsen said. “I was holding him, of course, but he just fell down. He does it to everybody in their box. It was actually quite nice. I said to him “it was a bit embarrassing, John”, and he laughed when he ran off. He was nowhere near the ball, was never going to win it, so he just fell down.’’

Nelsen was partnered impressively by Ferdinand who, having ignored the hand of Terry and Ashley Cole before kick-off, settled to play one of his better games for Rangers. Ji-Sung Park, Ferdinand’s captain, also refused to shake Terry’s hand, confirming the rift that exists in the wake of allegations Terry racially abused Ferdinand during Chelsea’s last league visit to this part of west London.

“I thought Anton was fantastic,” said Nelsen. “To put in a performance with all that pressure on him like he did today showed the character of the man.”

“Of course, it would have been in the back of his mind, with everybody talking about it. We tried not to bring it up, and keep it out of his mind by concentrating on the game, but that would have been extremely hard with everybody going on about it.

“So that’s why I thought he put in a tremendous performance with all that unnecessary stuff going on.’’

QPR (4-4-2): Cesar 7; Bosingwa 7, Ferdinand 8, Nelsen 9, Da Silva 6 (Onuoha 20, 7) ; Wright-Phillips 6 (Cisse 70, 6), Granero 8, Park 6, Faurlin 6; Zamora 7, Johnson 6 (Mackie 33, 6) .

CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech 6; Ivanovic 6, Luiz 7, Terry 8, Cole 6; Mikel 7, Lampard 6; Ramires 6, Hazard 6, Bertrand 6 (Moses 59, 7); Torres 5 (Sturridge 81, 6).

Referee: Andre Marriner.