Blues forward hopeful of winning around Mourinho.
Chelsea striker Fernando Torres says he believes he can do better and wants to convince Blues boss Jose Mourinho he is the ‘best option’ for the club.
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After a turbulent week for Chelsea which included defeats at Crystal Palace in the Premier League and PSG in the Champions League, reports have claimed Mourinho wants to sell all four of his strikers in the summer – including £50m signing Torres.
With Samuel Eto’o unfit, the Spaniard was left on the bench for the 3-1 quarter-final first leg in Paris on Wednesday, as Mourinho opted for winger Andre Schurrle as a ‘false nine’.
The tactic backfired and after the match the Portuguese indirectly criticised his strikers, replying ‘of course’ when asked if Chelsea would have won the game with PSG’s strike force.
Torres has endured a turbulent time since his British record move from Liverpool to Stamford Bridge in January 2012 but the Spain international is confident he will improve and win round his manager.
“He [Mourinho] has to choose the one [striker] he thinks is better and try to manage the situation with the players,” Torres told the Independent.
“He didn’t do anything special with me. Just treats me like one more. He puts me on the pitch when he thinks I am the best option and on the bench when he thinks I am not the best option.
“My aim is to try to make him feel I am always the best option for him. You have to have ways to adapt to this situation. Blame the manager? Blame your team-mates? Blame everyone? Or ask from yourself a bit more. I think I can do better. I can make Jose think I am the best option. That is what I have to do every day in training, all the matches. I just ask of myself the responsibility.
“The things you cannot change you can’t waste your time on. I cannot [automatically] change the way the manager thinks so I have to ask myself and be critical with myself to try to understand what he wants. I have to put more and more effort into these things. It is what I have been doing all my life … I cannot change the others so I have to be critical of myself.
“You have to prove yourself every day. You have to live for today. Three years ago? Five years ago? It’s today. If the manager thinks there is another player better than you he is going to play and this is the way. You have to try to improve and keep fighting and try to change the manager’s mind. Hopefully one day Jose can say ‘This [Torres] is my striker, he is going to be my striker’ like he does with some of the players who have won the appreciation from him.”
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