Manchester United vs Chelsea: Hit-or-Miss Fernando Torres Highlights Blues' Woes

Fernando Torres finally scored a goal for Chelsea—but then he missed a wide open net as well.

The West London outfit struggled out of the gate at Old Trafford and found themselves trailing the defending Premier League champions 3-0 at halftime.

But Torres opened the second half with only his second goal in a Blues shirt since joining in last winter's transfer window.

It was far from enough to chase down the Red Devils though, and Sir Alex Ferguson's sizable lead was never threatened again.

Goals from Chris Smalling, Nani and Wayne Rooney—his ninth of the season—proved to be all United needed to hold off their English rivals.

But while things at Old Trafford are great, the same cannot be said for the club at Stamford Bridge.

New boss Andre Villas-Boas has a lot of work to do to figure out this side, and a lot of it has to do with Torres. The Spanish hitman and former Liverpool star has been an enigma wrapped in a mystery since moving to West London.

The goal today showed exactly how good he can be. But after beating Manchester United keeper David de Gea, Torres inexplicably pushed a shot wide on an empty net. The miss will be one of the most replayed highlights of the year.

Chelsea can't afford to see misses like this. Heck, no squad can afford to see misses like this, other than United.

This is an ever-growing problem between Torres and the goal. For whatever reason, he cannot seem to find the same form he once displayed for Liverpool and Spain.

Villas-Boas cannot afford to wait around, either. The squad has too many other talents to allow Torres to continue misfiring on the opportunities he gets.

Chelsea hasn't truly been tested this year (not until this game), but they also haven't looked good, either.

The West London outfit has a lot of work to do, and Torres is at the top of the list. Villas-Boas needs to make something happen in the early portion of this season, and Torres has to be part of it or face the bench once again.

This 3-1 loss at Old Trafford isn't a terrible thing, but it needs to be a wake-up call.