NEWS ROUND-UP:FERNANDO TORRES doubled his goal tally for Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday yet the striker cannot escape from the one that got away. That miss continues to dominate the fallout from Manchester United's 3-1 win, with the champions' own official website even getting in on the act. "I packed my son off to school this morning with instructions to recreate the moment in the playground as soon as possible!" wrote Stewart Gardner on manutd.com yesterday.
There is no snickering in the Chelsea camp, only support for Torres and a determination to make sure the Premier League’s most expensive, and scrutinised, striker is not judged much longer for his 83rd-minute rounding of David de Gea and slicing of the ball as an empty net beckoned.
“I keep saying the same thing; I can see every time the guy is improving,” said the Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech. “At Stoke he had a brilliant game. Against [Bayer] Leverkusen he didn’t score but created both [goals]. At United he created a huge chance for Ramires. Then he scored a great goal, got himself another opportunity.
“I don’t know what happened but he didn’t score that. But he created a lot and his movement was there. You can see it.”
Torres’s performance at Old Trafford was certainly encouraging, with the 27-year-old displaying strength, sharpness and a surge of pace that has generally been lacking since his transfer from Liverpool in January.
His goal in the 46th minute was also expertly taken, the Spaniard lifting the ball over De Gea from an acute angle having perfectly read Nicolas Anelka’s through-ball.
But it is the failures which linger in the mind – Torres failed to convert another relatively straightforward effort prior to his late miss – and a feeling that they better represent his form.
Statistics would bear that out. Compared with six of the league’s other leading forwards – Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney, Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Emmanuel Adebayor, Torres has produced the fewest shots on target this season (four), has the lowest shooting accuracy rate (40 per cent), made the fewest amount of key passes (three) and maintains the worst final-third pass-completion rate (67 per cent).
“I’m not worried at all. He will score goals,” Cech said. “What everybody needs to remember is just how well he played.”
One of the Premier League’s most public feuds shows little sign of abating after Karl Henry described Joey Barton as “embarrassing”.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers captain has a history of hostility with Barton dating back to the latter’s Newcastle United days but the midfielder’s switch to Queens Park Rangers appears to have inflamed matters.
The pair clashed on the pitch during QPR’s 3-0 win at Molineux on Saturday, prefacing a childish spat variously conducted via Twitter, television and audio interviews which continued to rage last night. Barton used Twitter after the game to call Henry “a Sunday league player” and “a mug” while also suggesting Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, must have been on drugs when he declined to sign him from Newcastle.
The Football Association duly examined the Twitter feed and had almost certainly resolved to take no action over a possible disrepute charge when Barton appeared as a guest on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday.
He claimed Henry is “always sticking his foot in and trying to hurt people” and is only “out to make a name for himself”. It is understood FA officials may now wish to review that footage.
Henry responded later: “I know we had our battle last season. I don’t want to keep going over it. But [on Saturday] they were winning the match. There was no need for him to keep going on the way he does.”
Guardian Service
