New Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has admitted he is prepared to wait for Fernando Torres to rediscover his form.

The Spanish forward produced another under-par performance as Chelsea beat Malaysia XI in Kuala Lumpur, leading to reporters questioning his current form.

Speaking after the game, the talented manager gave his backing to the under-fire striker.

“I don’t want to turn Torres into an obsession like you people are trying to do. I am not going to waste time over this. I disagree that he is lacking in confidence.

“Every time a player doesn’t score, I am asked questions about him. I agree that Torres is a £50m striker but my focus is purely on the performance of the team, not the individual.

“It doesn’t matter who scores. These are pre-season games and they don’t have the importance that some people think. The point of these games is to get a feel for your team, and achieve your objectives in terms of fitness and training.

“To gain the confidence to find the back of the net, Torres needs training, tolerance and patience. It doesn’t look like he is getting this at the moment, but we are ready to give our forwards this patience.”

It is more than clear that El Nino is lacking in confidence at the moment, but a couple of goals in quick succession could again make him one of the most feared forwards in the Premiership.

Seeing that the Spaniard is likely to be considered a first choice forward at Stamford Bridge, you might want to consider backing Torres to finish the season as Premiership top goalscorer at odds of 11.00 (10/1) offered by Victor Chandler.