Rafael Benitez has said the
arrival of Demba Ba will help
make Chelsea striker
Fernando Torres a better
player.
The Spain international, who
is widely regarded as failing
to live up to his £50m price
tag, was the Blues' first-
choice striker until Ba's
£7.5m switch from Newcastle
last week.
While Torres remained on the
bench for Saturday's 5-1 third
round FA Cup win over
Southampton, the newly-
signed 27-year-old made
immediate impact, scoring
twice on his debut.
"Ba coming will be better for
Torres, 100 per cent," interim
Chelsea manager Benitez
said. "Not many players play
every game in a top side, as
he has had to, and now it will
be positive for both of them.
"They will be fitter, maybe
they will score more goals
because they will have more
chances and will be in better
positions.
"Fernando is an experienced
player and he knows
football. We have spoken to
both of them and they each
know the role of the other,
that they'll have a lot of
games and will have a big
part to play.
"Every session I can see
Fernando is training well and
trying to improve. Even when
he's not scoring, he's
working hard and doing
things for the team.
"We have tried to fix things
to improve his strength, a
specific programme. If you
do that, normally he can be
quicker. It takes time, and I
think it's improving.
"He's a bit quicker, but the
biggest problem was he was
playing too many games.
Especially against QPR, some
players were a bit tired, had
too much fatigue. But having
both Torres and Ba means
both can do well."
Torres could return to the
Chelsea line up for the
Capital One Cup semi-final
against Swansea on
Wednesday, with Petr Cech,
John Terry, John Obi Mikel
and Victor Moses all
remaining on the sidelines.
The Stamford Bridge tie kicks
off a busy period for
Benitez's men, with eight
games in 25 days to contend.
"When you are a top side you
know you have to play twice
a week, but because of Japan
and the time we had to go
there, we have been playing
a lot of games," Benitez said.
"It's difficult for us to plan
and prepare training
sessions. Monday's was
another light session and you
can't do everything you want
to do.
"We have to try to do tactical
adjustments in every session,
so it's quite complicated, but
in a top side it has to be like
this."
And Benitez has also warned
fans of changes to the squad,
refusing to rule out the
possibility that popular
players could leave the club.
"I think it's always easy to
talk about the legends, and
you have to have a lot of
respect for them because
what they've achieved for
this club has been fantastic,"
Benitez added.
"But you have to have new
players - it could be English
or foreign, it doesn't matter -
and carry on winning games.
"That's what the fans are
expecting. Everyone knows
the legends have been here
and what they have achieved,
but you have to see new
players coming. It's part of
life.
"You have good memories
and you respect people who
achieve something for a club.
That's very positive.
"But, at the same time, you
have to think about the
future. You cannot be
waiting.
"You have to move forward,
bring in new players and at
the same time try and bring
the best out of those you
have. You have to use their
experience, too."
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