Torres and Carroll biggest flops of 2011

Chelsea's Fernando Torres and Liverpool's Andy Carroll, two of the most high-profile signings nearly a year ago, are arguably the biggest flops of 2011.

Torres endured another day to forget in Monday's 1-1 west London derby draw against Fulham, his first Barclays Premier League start for almost two months.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas appeared to have hand picked the match for the most expensive player ever transferred between British clubs to rebuild his shattered confidence.

But apart from a decent volley he hit straight at goalkeeper David Stockdale and a clumsy assist for Mata's opening goal, £50 million Torres looked as lost in a Chelsea shirt as he had ever done since January's record-breaking move from Liverpool.
 
Carroll, £35 million signing from Newcastle,  also endured another costly catalogue of misses in the 1-1 Boxing Day draw with Blackburn at Anfield.

But team mates have jumped to the defence of the beleaguered duo who have been virtually nursed by their respective managers to get back into form.

Juan Mata is adamant Fernando Torres will eventually come good for Chelsea after watching his team mate fail to take advantage of his long-awaited recall.

Mata insists it will only be a matter of time before his fellow Spaniard and good friend justifies his transfer fee in earnest.

"Fernando is working hard every day in training and, for sure, the goal arrives soon," Mata said.

"Fernando always has the goals and, for sure, for Chelsea he has to score a lot of goals."

It remains to be seen whether Villas-Boas persists with Torres for Saturday's visit of Aston Villa but Chelsea are running out of games before Didier Drogba departs on African Nations Cup duty.

The weeks Drogba is away in January and early February looks set to be Torres' big chance to play himself back into form.

Villas-Boas recently rubbished reports Chelsea were running out of patience with the 27-year-old but they can ill afford to carry a passenger during that period, despite Villas-Boas all but conceding the title on Monday.

A hat-trick of 1-1 draws has put the Blues' top four spot back in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, in-form full-back Jose Enrique insists that once Carroll starts hitting the target then the goals will flow.
 
For now, though, the 22-year-old can only hope he gets another chance to add to the paltry five-goal haul he has put together since last January in Friday's home date with his former club Newcastle.
 
Enrique said: "Andy is a great player. Nobody pays £35m for a player for nothing and Andy is value. When he starts to score one goal, he will score many goals.
 
"It is a different style of play for him to get used to here. We have Luis Suarez, Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy — all different.
 
"For the style of English football, Andy is very important. It was a little bit hard to get in behind Blackburn, so you are firing crosses in from everywhere.
 
"Andy is capable of scoring a goal in those situations and that is very important. I thought Andy was amazing. The one thing is the ball doesn't want to go in the net.
 
"We have the players and I think we have an amazing team. I know it will come right soon."

Liverpool have hit the target just 11 times in nine home league games, compared to 28 by both Manchester United and City and 22 by Chelsea.

Central defender Daniel Agger admitted: "It is always a worry but what can you do? You can only keep creating chances and at some point it has to come. We had a lot of shots against Blackburn and you have to give credit to their keeper once again.
 
"It's just that final touch, isn't it? And it's not only one or two players, it's all of us. You can't just point at the strikers."

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