Liverpool FC Forum

[Toffeehater]

RAFAEL Benitez believes Fernando Torres is more than capable of breaking a record held by former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Torres will run out at Anfield today for the visit of Newcastle having scored hat-tricks in his last two matches at the stadium.

He will also be presented with the Barclays player of the month award for February beforehand.

With 24 goals in 33 games since joining from Atletico Madrid in the summer Benitez claims Torres believes he will score every time he walks onto a pitch.

So far he has scored 18 league goals, five short of Van Nistelrooy's total of 23 in the 2001-02 season, the highest league tally by a foreign player in his Premier League debut season.

Torres is also on course to become the first Liverpool player for 12 years to hit 20 league goals in a season - something Michael Owen, returning to Anfield with Newcastle, never achieved in his time at Liverpool.

For Benitez, Torres' speedy adaptation to English football is a genuine plus.

"We knew when we signed Fernando that he had quality, pace and strength," said the Spanish manager.

"But I am a little surprised to see him scoring so regularly at this level straight away, it is not easy for someone in their first season in England.

"But he believes he can score in every game now and the sort of records that are being mentioned are within his capabilities.

"He has such confidence the prospect of scoring 24 league goals is within him."

Benitez knows Torres has become the key to Liverpool's ambitions for the remainder of the season after a shockingly inconsistent campaign.

But he admitted: "Fernando is not the perfect striker yet. He has things he can learn - and you cannot find a perfect manager either!"

The Reds boss also made sure he did not get dragged into commenting on the club's takeover saga, which is close to a solution.
"For us at the moment it is more important to keep our concentration on the matches we have. They are coming fast now, and hugely important," he added.
"I am thinking only of that. Together, myself and the players need to concentrate on the football."
Benitez also accepts tomorrow's game will be an emotional one for Liverpool legend Keegan, who has yet to win any of the seven matches he has been in charge for since returning to manage Newcastle.
"My memories of Keegan come from watching him play for Hamburg against Real Madrid in the European Cup," said the Spaniard.
"In Madrid he was marked out of the game but in Hamburg it was a different matter.
"Madrid's defenders never saw him, he was always getting in behind them and showed what a great player he was."
As for Keegan's current managerial problems, Benitez said: "Newcastle were in
a bad position before he took over but they have quality and experience and he will soon show that he is a manager of equal experience."
Of Owen's return, as Newcastle captain, Benitez said: "He was a great servant to Liverpool and an excellent finisher. I am sure he will start scoring again but hopefully not until after this match."
With Liverpool returning to fourth place in the Barclays Premier League with their win over West Ham, the manager stressed the players knew exactly what they have to do to secure Champions League qualification.
"It is back in our own hands now. If we win all our games from now we will finish fourth," he added.
"But Everton and Aston Villa are fighting for the position as well. It makes our derby game with Everton at the end of the month very significant, but there are plenty of games before that we must win, it will not depend on just one game."
end

The full article contains 646 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Last Updated: 08 March 2008 7:31 AM

[stoney]

Mind you Stoneys

Bent is probably a better option for us than torres

merits unreserved ridicule

Oi, whos to say Bent wouldn't have come here and scored 25 league goals for us?

[zarababe]

Congrats to our ace striker - Torres is heaven !

[Sabre]

sabre, Torres scored 15 goals/year in a team that in his best year was 7º. You can find how many strikers there is with this numbers, and with his age. You won´t see more than 2 or 3. He was the best player in European Championship sub16 and the best scorer, and champion with Spain, he was the best player in Eurpean Championship sub 19, the best scorer, and champion with Spain. But in Atletico, he never played with players who had his level. Aguero the last year was so young. The difference of playing with Luccin and do it with Gerrad for example is so long. I am no surprised with Torres performances.

I hope you understand my poor english.

P.D. Will play Torres tomorrow?

I understand your english and it's as good as mine.

Yes, Luccin or Costinha, or Beijbl, or Caminero, or many of the midfielders  that Atletico had in the last 10 years were not as good as Gerrard. That's true.

But I disagree you had bad squads, in fact, you always had one of the best squads in the liga mate. My point is that ok, they are not Gerrard, but Torres didn't have a crappy team around him all this seasons mate, but a good squad.

As for Aguero, yes, he's been superb this season. Whether if last season he was not brilliant because still learning, still having to adapt to Aguirre's system, or just being "too attacking" for Spanish standars to play alongside Torres in Spain, I don't know.

P.S. I hope he will play tomorrow.

[LFC2007]

I'm actually glad we're revisiting some of these pre-season perceptions about Torres.  Yes, they seem funny now given what the lad's done but I assure you that there were a lot of those kinds of comments circulating at the time--I probably said something similar, TBH.  What's important to realize is that those reservations weren't based on nothing--the lad's record in Spain was decent not stellar and there was a legitimate question mark about whether he'd do the business for us or not.

My point?  Rafa is not getting anywhere near the credit he deserves for gambling on Torres this summer.  It was his first chance to spend big and he opted to go for a player that was no guarantee of success.  Had Torres flopped, it would have been another nail in Benitez's coffin with a fair few supporters.  As it turned out, he didn't flop but don't let anyone tell you that bringing him in was a no-brainer.  Rafa took a big risk with El Nino and it paid off so he should get some credit.  Fantastic signing.

Precisely.

[The Manhattan Project]

The biggest fear Manhattan has is that some legcruncher will crunch Torres' leg.

[KimiK]

I think you are wrong Sabre. Have a look to our old squads on these last years. Lot of players did well on their teams and get a chance to play at atletico when they didnt deserve it. These players im talking about do well in small town teams, in modest squads. Some of these could be stars on their teams, but most of them shouldnt be on a 1st division club. Have a look to Torres's forward partners. And look at their numbers compared to him.
We know him very well. Hes obviously improving his game due to hes surrounded of a bunch of good players and a star like Stevie in the best team than he ever took part.

Greetings

[The Manhattan Project]

Torres will get the Golden Boot this year.

Ronaldo will get a Golden Shower.....from Tevez and Rooney.

[nobybob]

Torres will get the Golden Boot this year.

Ronaldo will get a Golden Shower.....from Tevez and Rooney.

 

[Magz]

Torres is already a legend. No soon to be or will be about it. He IS one. IMHO there's no one in the premier league i'd rather have. Not even that gay diver Ronaldo.

[The Manhattan Project]

Do gay divers suffer from The Bends?

[hello_red]

Do gay divers suffer from The Bends?

hahahahahahaha

Id of thought so, depends on the crack in the ocean i think.

[MLPD]

in my few messages in this forum I think I have expressed views which were totally contrary to Sabre's views in the early days. The reason is possibly because I have seen around 90% of all Torres' matches so far. This being said, I think Sabre's opinion was not only a general one but a justified one among those who have not followed the lad so closely. The tv and press were never fair to him, journalists insisted on his weak points and never on his strong ones. For anyone having seen all matches with the different and horribly poor players he has had around (yes, as some other Atlético fan points out up there, he has never played with someone like Gerrard or even Kuyt) , there was no doubt about his potential.
Sabre, sorry to hear how much you hate Atleti. I can understand, but it's still sad

[Sabre]

It's football, it's not that sad. In football there are archenemies. I dislike Bilbao, I dislike R.Madrid, and thirdly, I dislike Atletico.

That doesn't mean I want any kind of harm to their fans nor I hate them. It's just the institution the one you want to lose, the one you boo harder in the stadium, but nothing to do with violence or bad will.

I still preffer At Madrid rather than Bilbao, the dirty cúnts. 

[club_Levis]

It's football, it's not that sad. In football there are archenemies. I dislike Bilbao, I dislike R.Madrid, and thirdly, I dislike Atletico.

That doesn't mean I want any kind of harm to their fans nor I hate them. It's just the institution the one you want to lose, the one you boo harder in the stadium, but nothing to do with violence or bad will.

I still preffer At Madrid rather than Bilbao, the dirty cúnts. 

Tell me Sabre about Torres' performance on set pieces and peno in Spain. One of our main weakness has been on set pieces and I was just wondering whether El Nino with his finishing could not be better than Aurelio or Riise. On the other hand he should be given more opportunities on Penos as well since most of the guys ahead of goals in the league take penalties.