Fernando Torres In Hot Water Over Interview

Remember that interview before last week in which Fernando Torres claimed that the team's midfield moved the ball too slowly? It's a criticism that seems fair enough to most onlookers, because hey, they do, but there's a reason we don't hear players being so candid about their teammates, and that's because it has a habit of getting them in trouble. So too it is with Torres - one of the translations from the original Spanish interview have him criticising the older players for being 'very slow', and that sort of thing simply isn't allowed.

Chelsea have expressed their concern over the contents of said translation - which appeared on Torres' official site - and apparently they're looking for the original Spanish tapes before they take any further action:

We are going in-depth to regain the tape of that interview. We'll see if things play exactly as they are in that interview.

[We'll] just talk. Just talk to share opinion. If it was unauthorised, I'd fine him, of course. Anyhow, it's one player's perspective. I don't think it's a perspective that the manager shares. I don't have to share my players' ideas sometimes.

-Andre Villas-Boas. Source: BBC.

It's not really clear to anyone what Torres actually said. The quotes that the Guardian pulled out seemed slightly critical but nowhere near the point of describing teammates as slow - instead he focused on the need for pace and adaptation to the manager's vision, which is far more oblique than what's been implied elsewhere. Anyway, I'm sure Chelsea will get to the bottom of this, but the last thing we need as far as Torres is concerned is off-field issues. He's got enough problems on the pitch right now.

I'd guess that it turns out that this was all a mistranslation, and although your own site getting you in trouble is embarrassing, it's better than going into the manager's doghouse.

PS: It looks like Toosy13 beat me to this in the fanshots. I am so slow sometimes.