The Lazarus Connection

I think it's fair to say that we've arguably not seen a player collapse as biblically as Fernando Torres has in the last 2 seasons, and unless some serious changes are made, then his re-incarnation as a world class striker is not only unlikely – but also verging on criminal waste.

The problems here are relatively simple, yet fixing them is anything but, and what's more, it's not something that's going to happen under the current system at Chelsea.

The first problem is simply down to the style of football and system that Chelsea play – it just doesn't suit Torres' own style and leads to him being forced to play in a way that's not only uncomfortable for him, but also highly unproductive.

What's intriguing here is that this isn't the first time this has happened at Chelsea, in fact there was a very similar situation over a decade ago when Chelsea signed Chris Sutton from Blackburn for a strong £10million following Blackburn's relegation. In this case you had a player who's previous performances and goalscoring form had been excellent – particularly as part of the infamous SAS (Sutton and Shearer) combination, but who then suddenly went from almost guaranteeing you 15 goals a season, to scoring 1 in 28 at Chelsea.

The reason was incredibly easy to see – the system didn't suit him. In Sutton, Chelsea had a striker who whilst being solid with the ball at his feet, excelled in the air, with strong, accurate heading being a trademark of his game, so what did Chelsea do to get the best out of him? Played the ball into feet CONSTANTLY and then wondered why the guy wasn't scoring...

Yet despite it being obvious what the problem was, there was never any chance of Chelsea changing the way they played, so Sutton was instead written off as a poor signing and a bad player despite never having been given the correct ammunition to prove otherwise. It was almost like giving someone a cannon, but then loading it with sponges and then wondering why no real damage was being done...

We're now seeing something very similar with Torres, in that he's being asked to play a different role in a different system, and it's simply not what he's good at. Torres is being asked to play like Drogba and is then being criticised for not being Drogba. I genuinely feel that if you want to get Torres back to goalscoring ways, you need to change the system and formation that will allow him to play to his strengths – and one problem with that is that it's never going to happen under the management of Andre Villas-Boas.

I'm not going to turn this into an attack on AVB, but I'll simply suggest that his focus will always be on playing a 4-3-3, and that this alone is enough to limit Torres, never mind the other stuff that comes with AVB such as odd player selections, strange substitutions, arrogant and bizarre press interviews and the seemingly inability to actually turn a game around through clever changes or tactical switches.

If we ever want to see Torres brought 'back from the dead', then he either needs a move to another club, which is highly unlikely considering the huge amount of money Chelsea paid for him, or for Roman Abramovic to swing his infamous sack hammer, and put a manager in charge who will recognise what he's got, and make the relevant changes to bring about this transformation.

Taking into account current player abilities, on/off field problems and everything else, here's how I'd set Chelsea up to get El Nino ripping people apart again:

This sort of setup gives Torres a definite strike partner, whilst being supported by technically strong players with an eye for a pass. McEachran will be a surprise inclusion for many, especially considering the omittance of Frank Lampard, but he's another young star in the making if you ask me and whilst comparisons claiming he's a combination of both Xavi and Iniesta are undeserved and somewhat strong at this point, there is some evidence to suggest that if he continues to improve as he is doing, those claims won't be far wrong. Lampard will still provide an option in midfield depending in injuries, form etc., but he can no longer be relied upon to get 15+ goals a season, nor should Chelsea have that sort of reliance on a single player, but he's certainly a good player to have if the likes of McEachran or Ramires aren't performing.

I've also dropped the ageing John Terry who's inability to stay out of the press along with declining form make him a risk, along with the hapless David Luiz who seems to have fooled a lot of people into believing he's a top class defender when in fact he's more like the stereotypical Brazilian centre halves we were used to seeing 20 or so years ago. Bosingwa is in purely because he's still a valid attacking threat which supports the formation, and frankly there's little other option with the current squad aside from another ageing player in Ferreira or playing Ivanovic there, which means finding another centre half instead. Depending on Essien's recovery from his injuries, this might not be a bad shout, with Essien playing at centre half with Cahill, which then allows either Romeu or Mikel to slot into the more defensive role in midfield.

Frankly though, this is all merely idle conjecture at this point, as the 4-3-3 isn't going anywhere at Chelsea as they're still stuck in the past with a team full of players past their prime, and until you get a manager in with the balls to admit and accept this, they're going to have issues and the player who's going to suffer most is Torres.

The real question is whether Torres can become Lazarus, or whether he's simply going to be left to rot as no savior is present to perform the miracle needed...