Source: Daily_Mail
Martin Keown: Fernando Torres is the spark to lift jaded Chelsea
Chelsea have gone stale and Fernando Torres is the signing that can galvanise the club. Something looked wrong in that dressing room, but the calibre of the Spain striker will refocus and re-energise them. [LNB]It is a very tough squad to impress, but they cannot fail to be wowed - Torres is a World Cup winner and a European champion. None of his new team-mates can put those medals on the table. [LNB]When Gilberto Silva signed for us at Arsenal in 2002 I remember the reaction in training. Every player was trying to demonstrate they had a bit more than before. Torres will have the same effect at Chelsea. It creates a focus and everyone gets better. [LNB] We've met before: Fernando Torres boasts a formidable record playingagainst Chelsea, and the Spaniard's new team-mates cannot fail to be impressed bythe medals he has won with his country[LNB]It is important to keep a nucleus of players at the club but a big signing revitalises the squad and pulls you together again. [LNB] More from Martin Keown... Martin Keown: Ferdinand and Vidic have made United an impregnable force21/01/11 Martin Keown: Bent was wafer-thin, but he's now a bulked up goal machine19/01/11 Martin Keown's essential guide on how to deal with derby day15/01/11 Martin Keown: Dzeko can propel Man City to the Premier League title12/01/11 Martin Keown: Everton star Cahill is small, explosive and full of aggression21/12/10 Martin Keown: My old friend Tony is building a legacy in Azerbaijan10/12/10 Martin Keown: Arsenal paid the price for second half defensive lapses21/11/10 Martin Keown: Capello short on striking options but Carroll must start15/11/10 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka will feel his arrival more than most. Drogba needs to get his career back on course and show he is hungry again. It has all been a bit too easy for him this season and those drama-queen antics have reappeared. [LNB]Drogba has the intelligence to recognise he must respond and he will do so in the right way. He is the obvious candidate to play with Torres, but he will also know his place is up for grabs.[LNB] I have played and trained with Anelka and know he will react in the right way, too. He may feel manager Carlo Ancelotti has left him out of the team too often and will have to show the greatest patience. If all three are going to be accommodated, the French striker will end up playing in the wider role. [LNB]Manchester City will be looking on a little enviously. They have done their buying and would never have thought for a minute that Torres would be available. [LNB]At Liverpool recently, Torres was often playing up front on his own and looked a shadow of his former self. He needs to play with another striker and I am sure one of the reasons he wanted to come to Chelsea was because he imagined playing alongside Drogba. [LNB]Chelsea have three strikers who will want to grab the headlines and Ancelotti has to manage that. The Italian will have the strongest frontline in the country - it will be like when Manchester United had Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. [LNB]Torres will be a hard act to follow at Liverpool and, even if Andy Carroll develops into the player he can become, ?35million is always going to be an awful lot of money.[LNB] Direct: Liverpool will have to change tactics to accomodate Andy Carroll[LNB] If you go back 12 months, he had only started a handful of Premier League games and was playing in the Championship for Newcastle. [LNB]It is a sign of Liverpool going back to the old days when the club always bought the best British player on offer. It is the sort of positive move the fans were hoping Kenny Dalglish would bring. It is almost a demonstration that the owners were not going to just sit on cash generated by the Torres sale. [LNB]Carroll thrives on a direct game so there will need to be a change of system at Liverpool, who have played everything through the midfield this season. They will probably have to go to 4-4-2, with Luis Suarez feeding off Carroll's directness. [LNB]They have paid through the nose for one of the best young players in England. But we have not seen enough of him yet to know if he can live up to the price tag. [LNB] Fernando Torres: If you don't play in the Champions League it's as if you don't existAndy Carroll sparks outrage among Newcastle fans after ?35m move to LiverpoolMadness! So much for the credit crunch as records tumble on the craziest day in English transfer history LIVE: Deadline day - all the news as the transfer window closesClub-by-club guide to every Premier League transfer deal during January[LNB] Explore more:People: Cristiano Ronaldo, Gilberto Silva, Martin Keown, Didier Drogba, Andy Carroll, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney, Kenny Dalglish, Fernando Torres, Nicolas Anelka, Carlo Ancelotti Places: Newcastle, Liverpool, Spain, United Kingdom
