WRONG PLAYERS, WRONG CLUBS ????

Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres are Worlds apart when you compare style and ability and experience, but , their clubs and these players have very similar problems .

They both wear the number 9 shirt and moved clubs for a combined fee of £85 million .
So a year on with much expected after the huge amount of money spent , both Carroll and Torres have only 2 goals apiece this season and are struggling to hold down regular places at their clubs .

Fernando Torres wanted to move away from Liverpool and Chelsea were always going to be the club he joined . Liverpool were stuttering their way to a lowly league finish of sixth position and Torres' form was already on the decline so maybe it was the right move for the two sides to part company .
When Chelsea offered £50 million for him last January , the offer was too good to refuse , especially after Torres had suffered a few injuries in the last couple of seasons at Liverpool and had the look of a player disillusioned with life up north, despite numerous denials that the club were prepared to allow him lo leave , he was sold .
Liverpool fans immediately turned on the player labelling him a " Judas " and Chelsea supporters were at the time were happy that they had when on form , one of the best strikers in the game.
A record of 65 goals in 102 appearances for Liverpool was a fantastic return in the top league in the World .
Surely when Chelsea opened the chequebook and brought Torres to Stamford Bridge , they had seen how he had scored those goals and knew how he would improve their team .
All top clubs need a top striker to score 20 plus league goals a season.

He has struggled to fit into the style of play that Andres Villas Boas likes his Chelsea side to adopt and that has meant that he has become a bit part player in the squad with Boas, until recently preferring Daniel Sturridge or Didier Drogba as the central striker in favour of Torres .

At Liverpool Torres was the pivotal point of attack where Steven Gerrard had the ability to pick out his runs and provide the Spaniard with the opportunity to score the goals .
Chelsea play a more patient style and the runs Torres was making were being wasted because they would use an extra pass to retain possession rather than find Torres quickly as Gerrard would have .

Thirty club appearances and only 3 goals is testament to the fact that both parties do not work together well and it is hard to see how this can be altered .
Strikers more than any other player in a position thrive on confidence and Torres looks like he is carrying the weight of the world on his already sloping shoulders, and you wonder whether he can recapture the form of old that brought him worldwide notice when he was banging in the goals at the Kop end at Anfield on an unbelievably frequent occurrence.
The decline has been substantial and patience is wearing very thin .

There are similarities with Andy Carroll in the way that he cost the club a lot of money and to date netted just 4 times in 27 appearances in the red of Liverpool .
The amount spent thou was based on potential rather than finished product , one for the future they say .......
At his previous club Newcastle he was the the target man where he would use his aerial ability and strength to almost bully opponents. The style of play was direct and their players were instructed to seek out Carroll at every opportunity. At Newcastle he was the main man . As was Torres at Liverpool.

When Liverpool bought the English winger Stewart Downing and acquired Craig Bellamy on a free transfer they had two players who along with Gerrard could provide Carroll with the ideal service from out wide but countless times this season the ball has not arrived early enough into the box and opponents have had time to get numbers back into the area to make it harder for Carroll to have the space to get in headers at goal .
With Luis Suarez banned for 8 matches , Carroll had been given the chance to fill the void but he has failed to score and has been a substitute for a few of those games.
He isn't quite a one trick pony but he has also seems to have lost some strength and it has been pointed out that he is not the best of trainers , so doesn't look fit at times and his attitude has also been questioned.
Fans know when a player is not putting in the effort and would always appreciate a player who is off form but works hard for the team.
 Dirk Kuyt , the prime example at his club.

Carroll has time to turn it around at only 23 , and Torres 27, but both will need to start performing for their clubs pretty soon if they are to live up to anywhere near the expectations of the fans and more importantly the managers .
Chelsea and Liverpool will undoubtedly support their players publicly and will hope that they start to see a return on their most expensive signings before the season ends.
Both clubs are chasing Champions league qualification and with Tottenham currently sitting pretty in 3rd place , the pressure for Chelsea to fight off the challenge of Arsenal , Liverpool and Newcastle for the remaining spot is higher than ever.