Two sportsmen, their minds a sea of confusion, enduring a painful public humiliation as they hopelessly grappled to rediscover the skills that took them to the top of their respective sports.

But while McIlroy, at 21, has plenty of time to build his mental strength and learn to produce his scintillating best in high-pressure situations, Torres is 27 - an age at which footballers traditionally reach the very peak of their powers.

The Spaniard's woeful form since his £50m transfer to Chelsea has led some to speculate that we may have seen the best of the striker, that a series of injuries have shorn Torres of that crucial spark which separates great forwards from the merely very good.

Others argue that Torres is simply suffering a crisis of confidence that will be remedied as soon as he scores his first goal for the Blues, or that Chelsea themselves need to adapt their system to suit their record signing.

Here, with analysis from former England striker Alan Shearer and Pedro Calvo, the Spaniard's ex-coach at the Atletico Madrid academy, we attempt to solve the Fernando Torres conundrum,

Chelsea is a backward club for backwarding players


What do you expect

See shevchenko too

Wetin dey do torress no be ordinary.
His legs are jazzed.
Doz shepe fans know who jazz torres.

Ifystar:

Wetin dey do torress no be ordinary.
His legs are jazzed.
Doz shepe fans know who jazz torres.

hehehehehe
but true true, d guy they play like say his jazzed