The Definite Article

Fernando Torres was once one of the world's best football players. He was the spearhead of Liverpool and his national team and reknown around the world. But his £50m move to Chelsea in 2011 saw his career hit the ground. But what really happened to cause such a drastic change in his form? Today, you get the truth. On the 23 rd April 2011, on a wet, gloomy day in South West London, Fernando Torres sat disheartened on a cold bench in Chelsea’s dugout, as he watched his team face West Ham. Didier Drogba was the club’s first choice striker, and it was the fifth game in a row he had started on the bench. In the 76 th minute, ‘El Nino’ – the kid, finally got his break. He replaced Drogba, and trudged onto the sodden Stamford Bridge turf to try and seal the victory. Chelsea were already one-nil up after a Frank Lampard goal in the first half. The 84 th minute. The ball drops to Nicolas Anelka in the West Ham half. He sends it through to Torres. Now he’s one-on-one wi...

Arsenal’s four-nil drubbing at Liverpool was a humiliation for Arsenal fans, players and anyone involved with the club. For manager Arsene Wenger, it was simply another crass mistake he will get away with making, and a lesson to himself of how not to manage a football team. The trouble is, he isn’t learning. He’s been at the top of the game for twenty-one years. Arsene Wenger has been Arsenal manager since 1996. Everyone’s talking about it, as they always do. But everyone has an opinion. It’s been three or four years now and the same fans are still there, plugging away at the board to get Wenger out of the club. There are occasions when the manager cannot be blamed and still is. But this is different. He made countless mistakes against Liverpool and seems to have lost his touch. The only thing that is maybe more laughable than the team’s defeat to the Reds is the fact that the board haven’t sacked him yet, seemingly based off how he performed as a manager thirteen yea...