Torres announces his retirement

[Irwin99]

Terrific player at Liverpool. I wouldn't say he was as good as Suarez for them though. I feel Suarez did a lot more work for the team with his overall game and was just as deadly.

Big myth that he tormented Vidic and Rio constantly when there were games when those two shut him out. Rio's performance against him in 07/08 at Anfield was magnificent and we won 1-0.

 

[Cabin Clown]

At Liverpool he was truly magnificent. On (or if not just off) par with the likes of Messi/Ronaldo for a couple of seasons.

 

[Irwin99]

Right? but in the 4-1 his red was for taking down somebody else (Gerrard I think?)
The other time was a late (by late I mean last minute of the game) challenge vs Kuyt?
And was the other an elbow on somebody else?

And his goals, one time was a free header (with Rio being closer to him). I remember being at that game and Park scoring the winner.
And the other at Anfield he got the better of Rio not Vidic (think it was the 2nil with ngog scoring)

Yep, Rio was struggling with a back problem according to SAF and Torres raced raced past him and scored. If you watch a few of his performance videos on youtube Vidic actually deals with him pretty well . If you want to see a player really give Vidic a hard game then Bellamy vs him would be a much better shout.

 

[AltiUn]

Fantastic player when he was in his prime which injuries sadly seemed to cut short. He scored, in my opinion, one of the best Premier League goals ever with that volley against Blackburn. Was a fecking nightmare to play against, was happy when he started slowing down. I still remember fondly debating with my classmates who was better between him and Ronaldo, think I'll take the win for that in hindsight.

 

[Tostao_80]

At Liverpool he was truly magnificent. On (or if not just off) par with the likes of Messi/Ronaldo for a couple of seasons.

Torres was great for a couple of seasons but lets not get carried away here. His first 3 seasons at Pool he scored 33, 17 and 22 in all comps, hardly Leo/ Cristiano level. Surprising that that was the only season in his career he ever scored more than 30 goals.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Terrific player at Liverpool. I wouldn't say he was as good as Suarez for them though. I feel Suarez did a lot more work for the team with his overall game and was just as deadly.

Better than Suarez for me, Suarez was a better predator and knew when and where to be, but Torres usually creates his own chances and on his best days was simply unplayable. Before the injuries he had some serious acceleration that gave defenders nightmares, and a killer instinct in front of goal.

 

[sullydnl]

Torres was great for a couple of seasons but lets not get carried away here. His first 3 seasons at Pool he scored 33, 17 and 22 in all comps, hardly Leo/ Cristiano level. Surprising that that was the only season in his career he ever scored more than 30 goals.

Huh, funny, I would have thought it would be more. Maybe Messi & Ronaldo hadn't distorted what a constitutes a high scoring season in my mind at that point and 30+ goals seemed like way more to me.

 

[MrEleson]

His best qualities in his prime for me were his strength (remember him completely muscling Ferdinand off the ball to score at Anfield in 2009) and his searing pace . As soon as he lost the latter, he was no longer the same player.

In terms of overall game, he isn't in the same ball park as Suarez (especially 13/14 Suarez) or David Villa. This is why I think he struggled so much after his injuries. The other aspects of his game just weren't that good. Villa after losing some pace still had a lot to his game and was better on the ball, passing, link-up etc. Torres was best playing off the shoulder of the last defender.

 

[Tostao_80]

Better than Suarez for me, Suarez was a better predator and knew when and where to be, but Torres usually creates his own chances and on his best days was simply unplayable. Before the injuries he had some serious acceleration that gave defenders nightmares, and a killer instinct in front of goal.

Torres for Liverpool or any season in his career never got close to Suarez' 13/14 season where Luis scored 31 in just 33 league games (plus 12 assists). He was joint European Golden Shoe with Cristiano and was 2nd in assists in the Prem (only one behind Gerrard). He was incredible.

 

[berbatrick]

Right? but in the 4-1 his red was for taking down somebody else (Gerrard I think?)
The other time was a late (by late I mean last minute of the game) challenge vs Kuyt?
And was the other an elbow on somebody else?

And his goals, one time was a free header (with Rio being closer to him). I remember being at that game and Park scoring the winner.
And the other at Anfield he got the better of Rio not Vidic (think it was the 2nil with ngog scoring)

Almost totally correct. The free header was in the right-back zone (we had Neville that day for some reason).
Vidic was all at sea in that one game, and then Rio in one game at Anfield. Other than that they coped with him, and in many cases dominated him (the CL QF at Stamford Bridge).

 

[Jibbs]

Torres and Alonso are two Liverpool players I have always wished we signed. Imagine Ronaldo Torres and Xabi in 06-09 United.

 

[RyRoc]

Fantastic player and when at Liverpool was playing during a period where teams had some real top players up top. Off the top of my head: Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Drogba, Anelka, Berbatov, Van Persie, Arshavin, Defoe, Adebayor, Robinho.

Could argue there is a similar amount now but just felt like there was more back then - maybe because more teams played two strikers.

 

[Billy Blaggs]

The biggest compliment I can give him is I wanted us to sign him. Beautiful player while at liverpool imo.

 

[::sonny::]

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[Based Adnan]

Liverpool ran him into the ground and constantly rushed him back from injury which ruined him. You'd think they'd have learned from Owen.

 

[GifLord]

I still remember in 2001 reading on CNN's ttx about Man Utd being close to signing a young spanish prodigy. Wonder what could have been if we signed him.

 

[Abe144]

A complete striker in his prime. I remember watching a compilation of his goals at Liverpool once and he scored every goal imaginable. Headers. Free kicks, long range efforts, side foot in the bottom corner with both feet, solo goals. An absolute beast of a player before the injuries. Had it all

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

I still remember in 2001 reading on CNN's ttx about Man Utd being close to signing a young spanish prodigy. Wonder what could have been if we signed him.

I think even Sky had an article that he signed for United. It was doubly devastating to see him go to Liverpool and tear it up.

 

[SportingCP96]

In his prime...he was unplayable. Pace, fantastic finishing ability, and great awareness.

Don't think I can remember ever seeing such an insane fall from grace. He completely forgot who he was and doubted his own ability.

His first year in Liverpool and Euro 08 for sure the highlight of a great career.

 

[2mufc0]

Wasn't that good for long enough to be considered to be one of the best. His career completely fell off a cliff quite quickly.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

A complete striker in his prime. I remember watching a compilation of his goals at Liverpool once and he scored every goal imaginable. Headers. Free kicks, long range efforts, side foot in the bottom corner with both feet, solo goals. An absolute beast of a player before the injuries. Had it all

Never once took a fecking penalty for us though, then wondered why Chelsea wouldn't let him take a pen in the CL final and got upset about it.

 

[Kinsella]

What was the injury that effectively did him anyway?

 

[Luke1995]

Any comments from players yet ? At least his fellow spaniards ? Reckon Messi and C.Ronaldo doesn't have time for this

Just joking, but would be nice to see some tributes now.

 

[Vidic_In_Moscow]

Hes one of the coolest players of his generation.

 

[Dancfc]

No idea what happened to him. There were some games for Chelsea where he did everything right and then froze in front of goal. Everyone says injuries ruined him, but he missed some really great chances at Chelsea and Atletico.

I actually thought it was the other way round. He missed some sitters but in general he was allright when presented with a scoring chance, his problem was that his movement was so bad he wasn't in the position to score very often, honestly sometimes he went weeks without even a genuine chance of a goal.

If he didn't take his chances to a somewhat acceptable rate he would have been a 5 goal a season striker (all comps) max from 10/11 onwards.

 

[Dancfc]

In his prime...he was unplayable. Pace, fantastic finishing ability, and great awareness.

Don't think I can remember ever seeing such an insane fall from grace. He completely forgot who he was and doubted his own ability.

It's not actually that uncommon, just most player's (who went/are going through similar falls as Nando) don't draw worldwide attention to their decline by making a controversial big money move in the midst of said decline.

 

[2mufc0]

Never once took a fecking penalty for us though, then wondered why Chelsea wouldn't let him take a pen in the CL final and got upset about it.

You really think figjam aka slippy would give up penalties?

 

[shamans]

Up there with the top 3 strikers I've ever seen in the PL. He was better than peak RVP (when Torres was at his best obv).

 

[Real Madras]

Incredible player in his prime and a fantastic career to go with it. I wanted him to be our number 9. No taking anything away from the lad. Achieved more than most in the game and will retire with his head held high.

 

[el3mel]

Shame how his career went on. Top player that faded pretty quickly and in a terrible way. Good luck for him in his upcoming life.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

You really think figjam aka slippy would give up penalties?

He was the designated taker, but we'd also have Alonso & Kuyt taking pens if Gerrard wasn't on the field. He could have taken one against Porto in 2007 to complete his first hatrick but that was at 2-1, there was many other games with comfortable leads he could have. Also he never took or scored a free kick either for us which the previous poster claimed he saw, which was surprising because besides Gerrard he was our best long distance shooter.

 

[Paxi]

In before someone posts before the video of him missing an open goal.

One of the best strikers I've seen in his prime and tormented Vidic, who was probably the best defender of his time like no one else.

Did he now? A goal every 450 minutes against Vida.

 

[prateik]

Was incredible for Liverpool.. Best striker in the world at that time for me.. unstoppable.

 

[Dante]

Scouse twat.

 

[Dancfc]

Was incredible for Liverpool.. Best striker in the world at that time for me.. unstoppable.

I disagree.

As good as he was I still rated Villa, Rooney, Eto'o and Drogba higher.

 

[Fıstıkçı Şahap]

Had very good 2 seasons (2007-2009) with Liverpool but it was all downhill since then and became a laughing stock of the last 10 years mostly with Chelsea. I can't understand how he gone from one of the best strikers in the Prem to that useless self. That injury before the WC 2010 fecked him big time probably. Also was the ultimate Barca nightmare. Always scored against them with Atletico + that goal with Chelsea.

 

[spaceboyRSA]

He’s a World and European champion, won the CL too, what else can you possibly ask for?
Plenty of players won league titles, far far worse players than Torres, very very few players won the World Cup and the Euros.

He could’ve had a better career, but so did most players.

I commented on his club honours, not international. All I meant was if he played for a better club (ie us) he would have got the honours he deserved.

 

[Dancfc]

Had very good 2 seasons (2007-2009) with Liverpool but it was all downhill since then and became a laughing stock of the last 10 years mostly with Chelsea. I can't understand how he gone from one of the best strikers in the Prem to that useless self. That injury before the WC 2010 fecked him big time probably. Also was the ultimate Barca nightmare. Always scored against them with Atletico + that goal with Chelsea.

For the same reason it happened to Sanchez and Essien amoung others, they lost the attributes that gave them that edge.

Torres was never the best technical player, it was his unbelievable pace and under appreciated power that gave him the edge on defenders, as soon as injuries took those two aspects away meaning he had to rely on his tactical brain and technical ability he was fecked.

 

[meamth]

People say it's confidence, but it is well documented how many muscle torn injury he suffered.

It's simple fact and proven that player who rely on explosive pace will detoriate faster than normal player. (See Bale)

Torres pre injury is one of the most explosive striker I've ever witnessed.

 

[meamth]

What was the injury that effectively did him anyway?

Torn hamstring, both of his legs.