Rueful Torres watched own highlights

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres said he misses being a consistent starter, after an underwhelming three-and-a-half seasons in London.

Torres, now 30, has made 110 Premier League appearances for the Blues for just 20 goals, having produced more than that in his first season at Liverpool before tallying 65 goals in 102 apps.

In his time at Chelsea, though, Torres has been brought on as a substitute on 38 occasions, while he only started on the bench in his stint at Anfield 11 times.

Torres said changing coaches had not helped his personal fortunes, with the Spaniard under his fifth boss at Stamford Bridge, including Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benitez and incumbent Jose Mourinho.

“I started to get to know the bench. I reassured myself by saying things would soon change,” he told French magazine So Foot.

“Villas-Boas arrived, then Di Matteo but it was always the same: one day I played, the next not.

“When you play, you do not ask yourself how it feels to be on the bench. You have to live it to understand how difficult it is to be there without being there.

“To enter a match knowing you do not have the confidence of the coach. To play when you simply don’t have the habit of playing.

“Me, I felt bizarre, I had the feeling of getting tired quicker, of being heavier. I had no gas. You have to fight against a lot of things to get off the bench, sometimes even against yourself.”

Torres said he missed his time at Liverpool so much so that he watched old replays of himself in a red shirt.

“Today, I am a different player but I am not going to lie to you: the player that I was, the one who started all the matches with a guaranteed place, I really miss sometimes,” he said.

“At one point, I even sat myself down to watch videos of my goals: I wanted to understand what I was doing before when I was scoring.

“I concluded that the only thing that had changed was the colour of the shirt. Everything is a question of adaptation to the playing style of a team. There are the styles which suit me well and others less – that is all.”