Topic: Fernando Torres On His Anfield Exit: A Complete Chapter From Ring of Fire:

[Samie]

And those who've seen him go onto another level with Barca as well.  I take it you've seen Suarez after he left us too?

[jfc]

Very interesting to read his comment on how he views trophies as less important now than happiness and fighting for a club you have a connection with.

It was obvious from the time of the move that he seemed drained by it all and empty. The Chelsea interview and the first photos, he never looked happy. I remember seeing a video of him in the Chelsea dressing room where the players were ecstatic after a win and he didn't join in and looked depressed instead. Its obvious he made a mistake as a poster above said,  these footballers view it all differently to us

[PeterTheRed ...]

The question was "Who was better?" Suarez doesn't shade it over Torres, He stomps all over him.

Before the injuries, Torres was as good as Suarez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pobbwioAIO8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrGV0sYFZA

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Before the injuries, Torres was as good as Suarez.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pobbwioAIO8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrGV0sYFZA

He was good, he wasn't better than Suarez.

[Samie]

Fuckin' hell can't believe people can't process what the original question asked.

[jooneyisdagod]

The question was "Who was better?" Suarez doesn't shade it over Torres, He stomps all over him.

It's not about if you felt connection or not.

Not sure this was the case at all. I loved both and let's not forget that Torres was leading the line in a team that was genuinely one of the best in Europe though playing at a time when football was as a whole in a more defensively solid phase. Tactics were broadly more circumspect and the 4-2-3-1 system dominated. Strikers were expected to do pretty much everything on their own. I think it's only in Suarez's last season that he finally pipped Torres. Until then, all things considered, I thought Torres was the better player. But then again, in his last season, Suarez had the fortune of playing in one of the finest attacking line ups I can remember in a Liverpool team. Stevie and Torres supported by Kuyt and Benayoun was a great combination, but that paled in comparison to Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Coutinho, backed up by Stevie. Mainly, both Sterling and Coutinho are simply of a different calibre of player to Kuyt or Benayoun. 

[Sheer Magnetism]

To be honest, Torres comes across like a man who now regrets leaving his loving wife for someone younger and more superficially attractive, but it's a bit late in the day. He looked glum at Chelsea because he wasn't scoring and was mostly playing as a reserve after the first few months, if he'd been banging them in like he was here he'd have been happy as Larry. I can't help thinking that when he's reminiscing he's actually thinking more about what he could do at that point of his career, with Gerrard laying on assists, than the club or the fans.

Having said that, I don't bare him any particular ill will because even at the time we all knew £50m was a crazy price for a striker who'd lost his pace and was a shadow of the player he was, but my heart hardened when he a) chose to join Chelsea and b) said "I've finally joined a big club" when he did it. He's never even acknowledged that maybe those were factors in the fans turning against him. Like I say, I understand his reasons for leaving - he's said various times his main motivation was winning trophies - but don't come back and start making nice years later.

[Marty McFly]

Loll that's a bit harsh. From the sounds of the article, more of a Prodigal Son than an unfaithful husband. But I've given my opinion earlier anyway, everyone's entitled to their own.

Definitely be happy to have him back in an LFC Legends XI shirt any day. Can't imagine him ever being arsed to turn out for Chelsea. Still a Red in my book, somewhere in there.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

The key bit in the entire piece is the man himself revealing his career curtailing knee problem in 09/10. The club made the right call moving him on when they could still get a club record fee for a player whose time at his peak had ended. What chumps Chelsea were.

FSG got it right categorising Reina and Torres past their best when they took over, as subsequent events have shown. Reina was mental rather than physical imo, at a time when he should have been at his peak for a goalie positioning errors crept in, especially at the near post.

The fair question to ask, is, how much of his view is tinged by his lack of success at Chelsea? It wasn't really his lack of belonging at Chelsea that made him fail there, it's that loss of that little bit of spark over the first few yards. If he had banged in 100 goals for Chelsea, winning big prizes for them as a major contributor, and then come out with this interview....ok, I
I can buy the 'wisdom' and 'maturity'. As it is, I believe the biggest factor for his current outlook is 1) knee injury that ended real Torres 2) Chelsea move going shit. Meaning we were the best period of his life in terms of individual contribution.

Not to belittle him, it's just that events have transpired that way. Loved him, snarled at him for a while, but really, he did what he had to do for his betterment. I can never begrudge anyone too long for that. Alonso is a far smoother operator while pulling the same move all the other stars did. In a way I trust the likes of Torres and sterling a lot more than I do Xabi. No bullshit, club's declining / more money I'm off.

[elbow]

As I mentioned in the other thread, it's a great read. The only thing I'm not entirely OK with is the......disrespect (?) he showed toward Kenny. It didn't quite sit well with me that.

[RyanBabel19]

As I mentioned in the other thread, it's a great read. The only thing I'm not entirely OK with is the......disrespect (?) he showed toward Kenny. It didn't quite sit well with me that.

Well said

[Persephone]

I believe Torres' version of the story and I do understand why he left. He does come across as quite introspective about his career and it's clear that he would change a few things if he could. As adults we all make bad decisions and regret them. I got over him leaving us for Chelsea a long time ago, and for me I'll always remember the amazing memories he gave us particularly that 2008/9 season. I hope he wins something with Atleti now and gets to enjoy what's left of his career.  I do miss his song though, best one for a player in years.

[Lycan]

I think the fact it went so badly for him at Chelsea helped ease the pain of him going there at the time. If he'd recaptured his best form for them and started banging goals in left, right, and centre, that would've been some painful viewing.

[Phil M]

Well he won a European trophy under Rafa Benitez scoring a crucial goal in the final which I'm sure felt hugely satisfying given their Anfield relationship.

[Lycan]

He won trophies for Chelsea which I'm sure he is pleased about. But he was never devastating for them. Which I'm sure we're all glad about.

[Fruity]

Good read and brings back the memories of that time.
Certainly don't feel the same animosity towards him now as I did then. Really wanted him to fail when he left and though he did win some trophies ultimately he reached his peak with us and it was all downhill from there on, in terms of his personal performance.

With that said LFC was in an absolute shit show at the time and when Rafa left I believed that our best players would probably leave shortly afterwards and in truth I can fully understand why. We were a sinking ship during that period and I guess seeing him leave kind of brought home how bad things had got for us, from being so close to PL winners and CL finalists to a mid table team with Hodgson as our manager and mainly mid table players and no real resources to improve on that. However Torres picking Chelsea was the killer really, would rather he gone abroad.

Amazing though watching the youtube goals video. Incredible striker. So clinical during that period. Could trust him in a one on one situation but also he could produce the outrageous like the blackburn goal. He was truly on top of the world during those seasons and what he says in the interview about telling Pepe Reina he felt he could score in every game, really rings true, you could see it in his performance.

[Phil M]

Will go down as one of the greatest goals ever scored at Anfield...from a Carra punt forward as well.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/VMDDRTZX86M" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/VMDDRTZX86M</a>

[Lycan]

Utter class.

[thelinnen]

Might not be the majority opinion but if given the choice of Torres at his best unhampered by injury or Suarez I'd pick him every time.

[Lycan]

Yeah, you'd definitely be in the minority with that one.

Suarez at his peak best V Torres at his peak best. 

Suarez wins all day long for me. He is quite simply the most talented player we've ever had at this club. Fernando was a fantastic striker in his day though. Would've loved to have seen them play together.

[thelinnen]

Yeah, you'd definitely be in the minority with that one.

Suarez at his peak best V Torres at his peak best. 

Suarez wins all day long for me. He is quite simply the most talented player we've ever had at this club. Fernando was a fantastic striker in his day though. Would've loved to of seen them play together.

Of course Suarez was more talented but a fast striker who is ruthless in front of goal is a rare commodity. Also he's less likely to bite someone in frustration.

[Tony19:6]

Great article...

During his early years, he was up there with the greatest strikers on the planet.

My son absolutely adored him (as did I). I remember buying him the special edition 'El Nino 9' kit for his birthday from the club shop - he wore it for bed etc...

Didnt want to believe the rumours that he was off to Chelsea of all clubs!!. Despite the trophies, it was clear from his performances there that his heart wasn't in it.

Ive heard snippets from articles that he felt let down by the actions of LFC and although this is only a one sided article, I believe him.

Thing that stood out for me:

"Having returned to Anfield for a charity game in honour of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in 2015, the crowd cheered when Torres’s name was read out across the public address system, suggesting time has healed some old wounds.

The song broke out: “His armband proved he was a Red, Torres, Torres / You’ll Never Walk Alone it read, Torres, Torres / We bought the lad from sunny Spain / He gets the ball and scores again, Fernando Torres, Liverpool’s Number 9!”

“Maybe this was the happiest moment of the last five years for me,” he considers, a smile stretching across his face. “In my last game there with Chelsea, I was booed. It was depressing. To go and hear my song again, to see the reaction of the fans — it makes me feel I am at peace now. I know I broke their hearts and in some way my heart was also broken. To have my last memory of Anfield as this one…I am so, so lucky.”

Im really glad he's had the opportunity to put his side of the story out there

I almost feel at peace now.
 

[Samie]

Also Suarez took it up another level after he left us, Nando on the other hand...yeah.

[Lycan]

Of course Suarez was more talented but a fast striker who is ruthless in front of goal is a rare commodity. Also he's less likely to bite someone in frustration.

Don't know why you've brought that up really. It's got nothing to do with which player was the better striker for us.

It's Suarez for me because he was able to score goals and do things with the football I didn't think were possible. He could create and score goals out of absolutely nothing. His hunger and desire to win were off the charts as well. As for pace, the lad was certainly no slouch either.

[Lycan]

Also Suarez took it up another level after he left us, Nando on the other hand...yeah.

Correct.

[carling]

I just feel indifference towards him now.  When a player we all idolise joins a rival club that we all hate, while earning £150k-a-week in the process, it just goes to show how much of a disconnect there is between fans and players nowadays.  Making out like Chelsea was his only option, pull the other one...

[conman]

Reading that article was almost cathartic . It makes me think that we were all robed of something in 2009/10/11 ...The players , Rafa , the fans ....what should have been the years we eventually won the league again , everything was shown to be a swindle ....i know H and G called the sale an 'epic swindle ' but us as fans were the ones truly swindled ....really sad

Exactly how I feel. Rafa had us on the cusp of something really special, and then those fucks began eroding everything, tainting his legacy and sending us back 10 years. DICKS

[vicar]

I never felt the bitterness that some did. Considering the state the club was in, it was hardly surprising. Also you could tell he didn't have the connection at Chelsea that he had at Liverpool. He left and got the honours he was after, but never found the happiness he had here. A very melacholy read that, but I don't remember the Torres that left now, the one who scored all those goals is the one I now remember. His song remains one of the best ever as well.

Felt the same. Hated were he went but the mess we were in I didnt feel bitter.
Very sad to read that now and see how much he loved it here.

Think I will look back at a few goals now, might start with the 4-1 at OT 

[Slick_Beef]

That was a really great read, thanks for sharing it. You can tell he's spent a lot of time reflecting on what happened. Like many here have said, I was gutted and angry when he left, but I'm over it now, and I'm really glad that the reception he got at the charity game meant a lot to him. He deserved it because he was brilliant while he was here.. I'll never forget that period where we beat the mancs 4-1 and madrid 4-0.. I'm 31 and those few years we had, going far in the CL every year, have been my favourite period as a fan (for now )

[Rich]

Suarez was a better player but some of the best nights of my life were watching Torres and that team in Europe.  Still love the song too

[poopscoop]

Will go down as one of the greatest goals ever scored at Anfield...from a Carra punt forward as well.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/VMDDRTZX86M" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/VMDDRTZX86M</a>

I was just going to post about that goal. Was furious with the club that he was sold domestically. A great player for Liverpool, who gave us some great times - I hold him in higher regard than I do the square headed Manc servant.

[redan]

Ah the classic Suarez vs Torres debate,

I think people forget just how good Torres was 07-09, it is not a foregone conclusion at all.

I do think Suarez was/is a better player but I loved Torres more.

The thought of them playing together is a nice one but it wouldn't have been as good in 2011 as it is in dreamland and I believe having Suarez as the main man helped him become the player he is now.

2008 Torres with 2014 Suarez is a nice thought though  

[cissesbeard]

what a roller coaster the last 12 years have been,
from getting rafa and number 5, having the best team in Europe to the depths of almost administration, losing our best players and hodgson! to back up again and a title tilt under Brendan then collapsing the following year.
we are looking fairly stable under Klopp and FSG.

losing torres hurt massively (I took it way more emotionally than a man of my age should have) it just felt like the final kick in the balls. watching him play made me feel like a kid again watching rush and Aldridge or fowler - it was having a hero again. wont ever get as 'attached' to a player again.
the way you feel towards football obviously changes as you get older like.

[mersey_paradiso]

Fuck. Hated him at the time (and for a year or so after too) but all is forgiven now.

Whatever happened behind the scenes , ultimately the American swindlers and their minions were to blame for the sale of Torres and the rest of that wonderful team.

This last paragraph makes me smile :



"Having returned to Anfield for a charity game in honour of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in 2015, the crowd cheered when Torres’s name was read out across the public address system, suggesting time has healed some old wounds.

The song broke out: “His armband proved he was a Red, Torres, Torres / You’ll Never Walk Alone it read, Torres, Torres / We bought the lad from sunny Spain / He gets the ball and scores again, Fernando Torres, Liverpool’s Number 9!”

“Maybe this was the happiest moment of the last five years for me,” he considers, a smile stretching across his face. “In my last game there with Chelsea, I was booed. It was depressing. To go and hear my song again, to see the reaction of the fans — it makes me feel I am at peace now. I know I broke their hearts and in some way my heart was also broken. To have my last memory of Anfield as this one…I am so, so lucky.”



If only we had never fucking sold the club to those two c*nts. Suarez and Torres upfront together with Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano and co would have been unstoppable... sigh

Chelsea though - why Fernando why ?!! 


EDIT : just seen Tony18:5 posted exactly the same thing. 

[Walk on, walk on]

Torres leaving was perhaps the darkest day I had as a fan (I got into us circa 1997), because I adored him so much and couldn't ever believe he'd turn his back on us.

Post-Torres I was careful about feeling the same way for any other player, and thankfully I held on to that reservation in Suarez' case.

So I can totally understand how, while Suarez is arguably a better player, one can love Torres so much more.

Never again for me

[GIPPO77]

Just so so disappointing when you think how him and Suarez could have been for us. The whole club had stagnated since the decision to sell Alonso.... bizarre and frustrating.


His armband said he was a red..."Torres,Torres"

[Number 7]

I just feel indifference towards him now.  When a player we all idolise joins a rival club that we all hate, while earning £150k-a-week in the process, it just goes to show how much of a disconnect there is between fans and players nowadays.  Making out like Chelsea was his only option, pull the other one...

I understand what you're saying about how there is less of a connection between players nowadays but at the time I felt a huge connection towards him. Even though he wasn't from England I feel as if he really understood the club, the fans and the city. I probably felt more of a connection to him than any other Liverpool player, including Stevie.

People go on about how Suarez was much the better player but they forget all the baggage he came with. His actions weren't a good reflection on the club. I still remember that time when he ran to the papers to try and force through his move to Arsenal. Personally what Torres did by going to Chelsea is still pale in comparison to some of the things Suarez did. He is a winner, of course, but I never felt he had that strong of a connection to the club. Rather he used it more as a stepping stone to get a move to Barca or Madrid. I still feel Torres had a much stronger connection to the club. I believe had things with the club not been so toxic and such a shambles that he would have stayed. That is the main thing I got out of article, that everything was set up so perfectly for us to be one of the top team's in Europe and it all went to pieces within a couple of seasons. Torres could have been a huge part of that. Another indication of the state of affairs was when Alonso came out recently and said the club possibly needed to sell him to fund buying other players. In fact, that is what happened. How it even came to the point where we needed to sell our best players was a painful reminder of the mess we were in. Such a great team and then within just a few years Alonso, Mascherano and Torres all departed. A huge shame we didn't make anything out of what was such a promising team.

[DangerScouse]

https://youtu.be/iu-Vu-weHuk

There's the vid of the kop chanting and him applauding at the testimmonial.

[thelinnen]

It's the pace and the strength why I'd pick him over Suarez. That goal against Manchester United at Anfield where he made one of the finest centre halves in English football look like a Sunday league player. As an out and out striker you'd be hard pressed to find better than him over that three year period when he was in his prime.

[PeterTheRed ...]

I am curious what would have happened with our club had we signed Babel's replacement at Ajax in the summer of 2007, instead of Babel?