Ancelotti: I don't expect Torres to score

• zocoss

  4 Mar 11, 11:38

  Ancelotti: I don't expect Torres to score

  By ESPNsoccernet staff
  

   

  

  GettyImagesCarlo Ancelotti has not seen the best of Fernando Torres so far

   

   

   

  Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has attempted to take some of the heat off £50 million signing Fernando Torres by insisting he is "not asking him to score".

  Torres has yet to find the back of the net in four appearances since moving from Liverpool on transfer deadline day in January. That is in stark contrast to fellow new defender David Luiz, who has quickly slotted in to Premier League football and opened his account on his first Stamford Bridge start against Manchester United on Tuesday.

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  Torres has struggled for form all season, netting only nine goals in 25 Premier League starts. But Ancelotti is more concerned with the team's play than his new striker's scoring record.

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  When asked about the different impacts made by Torres and Luiz, Ancelotti told Chelsea magazine: "We don't have to compare them. Torres didn't score but I don't ask my strikers to score.

  "I ask them to play for the team. Torres did a very good job with that. People judge him on the goals he scored but I have to look at different things about his performance. He worked for the team, put pressure on the defenders, moved well in front and worked hard.

  "That's enough for me. Ask him, not me, if it will affect him but I don't think it will. I'm not asking him to score."

  Torres, 26, insists he will adapt to the new style of play at Chelsea. He added: "If you want to be a top player, you have to be able to play in all these situations and I'm sure here at Chelsea I will play in different positions sometimes.

  "I'm ready for this because I want to play where the manager asks me to - I know the competition is high here. My movement often depends on the game and on the other team, if they are deep or if they leave space behind. Normally the striker has to be on the shoulder of the centre-backs to leave a space for the midfielders coming forward.

  "That's what I have been doing at Liverpool for the last 3½ years and it's one of the things I like to do."