What I am dissappointed in, is
1) The timing of this. He should have said at the start of the transfer window. We're just starting to build up momentum under Kenny, and this could set us back. We're trying to sign good players, and again, the timing could affect this.
2) Out of the blue, Chelsea made an offer and at the same time Torres announces he wants to leave. This is no so 'out-of-the-blue' this is planned. They've obviously been speaking to eachother, which shouldn't have been allowed.
3) He shouldn't try to force this issue or refuse to play or anything like that. The club chooses the price tag, and he should accept it, and if Chelsea don't pay it, that's their problem. I don't want to see him sulking for the rest of the season. he hasn't done this yet, but I can see it might happen. If he does, he'll lose a lot of respect.
4) It also make you wonder whether his recent improved form is for our benefit, or because he wants a move.
I think Torres has lost all the respect he may once have had from his team mates, and honestly believe this transfer request has ended his LFC career (though perhaps not with immediate effect). My thoughts on the points you address:
1. How do you hand in a transfer request when the club replaces the worst manager in the last 60 years with the best one still living at the start of the window? Torres instead said, "Now buy some players, show some intent". Henry and co didn't, and I think Torres knows that had we not signed Suarez (seemingly as a "Fernando don't go, we were serious about buying this guy but we just didn't want to look serious"), and he instead waited until the Summer, he would just be in the same position as he was a month ago and we still wouldn't necessarily have a full time manager (the last managerial change went swimmingly, didn't it?). So the point is that Torres didn't stay for Caretaker Kenny, though maybe he hoped he wouldn't have to admit that. His career in Red shirt is definitely run.
2. Meh. Allowed or not, I think Torres regrets listening to Purslow in July; one can't make up a rule and expect someone disillusioned by the system to adhere to it.
3. I think the respect is gone already - look at the jibes on this forum, for example. Look at how fantastic (not) Rooney has been since the beginning of this season, and he's in the same position despite being at a club at the top of the EPL table. If Torres has any future at this club (let's say Chelsea don't man up now, and then fail to make top 4), then he needs to be the first guy on the training ground, the last to leave, to run the hardest and furthest, to be the reddest Red. Do you really see him doing that? No, I don't either, though I really would like him to be more Mr. Liverpool than Gerrard or Carra. Every time I see him in the future, regardless of which club he is playing for, I will always think of what might have been; the dream is already gone.
4. I disagree with this. Players don't go out there planning to play well or poorly. If you have a heavy heart though you can't perform the way you can or should; money bags don't light up the eyes of people who already have more than they can spend. I think that Torres got some of his groove back when Kenny arrived and had us playing attacking, passing football again, but the doubts about our owners and their intent remained. The fact that we did not make aggressive approaches for several players during this window shows that our owner's ambition and that of Torres are not a match (not at this point in time anyway). In this scenario he has no choice but to leave; in 3 years time he will be nearing the end of his career and his trophy cabinet could (will) be filled only with regrets.
I agree that he could have timed this better, I agree that he could have been less selfish, I agree that moving to Chelsea might not be the best for his career (but they're the only club willing to buy him, now or ever, tbh), I agree that he is not irreplaceable in the long term, but in my 25-odd years of supporting this club I have never felt as disappointed in the owners of Liverpool Football Club as I do today (this includes the previous owners; hatred is not the same as disappointment).
