Villas-Boas unconcerned with Torres 'statistics'

Villas-Boas unconcerned with Torres 'statistics'

Andre Villas-Boas today said Fernando Torres' form
has nothing to do with competition between
himself and team-mate Didier Drogba.
Villas-Boas was confident Torres had not become
the latest Blues striker to be affected by Drogba, as
Carlo Ancelotti had said this week. Ancelotti, who
Villas-Boas succeeded as Chelsea manager last
summer, insisted Drogba had to be sold for Torres
to flourish at Stamford Bridge.
But Villas-Boas rejected Ancelotti's analysis this
afternoon, saying: "It would be unfair for a player of
Fernando's personality and dimension to conclude
that one is inflicting on the other one's belief. If that
was the case with any player, it would be a mental
weakness or a mental block, which is not the case
in my opinion."
Ancelotti picked Torres ahead of Drogba after the
Spaniard's record-breaking £50 million move from
Liverpool almost a year ago, but soon recalled the
Ivorian. Villas-Boas began his own reign with
Torres as his first-choice striker, but the 27-year-old
only began scoring when Drogba was out injured.
He then lost his place again to the Ivorian before
being restored to the starting line-up following
Drogba's departure for CAF Africa Cup of Nations
duty. With Drogba on national duty, Torres has
begun to find his form once more. But Villas-Boas
insisted the only link between the two was "the fact
that it's one less competitor for a position", rather
than anything more sinister.
Villas-Boas compared Torres' lot to that of £27
million Edin Dzeko at Manchester City, with the latter
also finding himself dropped despite a far greater
goal return. "We have a player like Dzeko with
plenty of goals but he's not used all the time by
City," Villas-Boas said.
"The numbers, statistically, are impressive for
Dzeko. He had scored ten goals in the first few
weeks of the season. But [Roberto] Mancini feels
others offer something positive and different for the
team."
He added of Torres, who has netted only five times
in almost year at Chelsea and not for three months:
"It hurts everybody in the sense of goal statistics,
but he's doing tremendously for the team. He's a
striker with a hunger for goals who wants to be in
the box. We've seen him in the box, we've seen
him arrive and create danger.
"As long as he's working well for the team, I don't
care how the statistics will finish and how dramatic
people think they are."
Torres was by far the most expensive signing in
Chelsea's history and highlighted again the club's
preference for spending big rather than for
promoting within. Villas-Boas claimed the only way
to ensure a conveyor belt of young talent for the
first team was to revolutionise the structure of
English football.
Calling for Chelsea to be allowed to field a second-
tier side in the Championship, Villas-Boas said: "The
youth development system in England is not
right. The reserve team league is not competitive.
The youth levels are not competitive enough.
"In my opinion, there is a missed link between age
groups in all competitions. They should be national
championships played between teams from
around the country. The older ones should play
nationally. The younger ones should play
regionally. It is that which generates talent."
Spanish clubs are allowed to field sides in lower
divisions, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid
doing so. "If the European model is applied in
England, it could be tested," Villas-Boas said.
"The reserve team, for all the people who work
hard, is not competitive. It serves the first team, but
it doesn't serve the progression of talent coming
through."
John Terry was the last academy player to become
a first-team regular at Chelsea, who regularly send
out their youngsters on loan.