You can be sure that Roberto Mancini would not have prepared to face Chelsea warning his centre-halves not to get involved in a race with Torres.
I doubt any managers will have thought that way since his £50?million move to Stamford Bridge. Torres's main weapon has gone, and it does not matter which manager you put in charge.
Since suffering a knee injury a year before he joined Chelsea, he has never had the same speed and it has had a debilitating impact on the rest of his game.
It is not a mental problem with Torres. It never has been. It is a physical one. Coping with the loss of such pace is the hardest adjustment for any player. Without that speed, what are you left with?
The challenge for Benítez is far greater than simply getting more from Torres, however, even if that has appeared the obsession.
As the hostile reaction on his first home game proved, winning over the supporters will be trickier than winning games.
Most new managers are granted a honeymoon. Benítez had the Chelsea supporters wanting to file divorce papers before he had even taken a training session.
The Chelsea fans would rather have lost to Manchester City and have Jose Mourinho in the dugout than win and have Benítez in charge.
It is difficult to see how any manager can deal with that kind of pressure. Even if you are the most popular, iconic figure in a club's history, when you have a bad run there will be supporters who will start asking questions about your future If they don't want you there in the first place, as soon as you have blip it will be called a crisis.
It is not Benítez's fault he has been given the job, but you won't see any protest against Roman Abramovich. Chelsea would be nowhere without his cash, but there is no doubt the way the club is run is dysfunctional.
Chelsea may dream of eventually luring Pep Guardiola, but in appointing Benítez they now have a manager whose football ideology is nearer to Mourinho. Benítez and Mourinho may be polar opposites in terms of personality, but the way they organise their teams is similar. While Abramovich appears to crave dynamic, fluid football, in Benítez he has turned to a coach whose first priority is to make sure his side do not lose.
At the start of this season, Chelsea played a brand of football that was eye-catching when they had possession but flawed without it.
Benítez will turn that around and his first game – a drab, tactical stalemate – proves the point that he will not care how attractive it looks.
The entire philosophy – or mixed messages about what it is supposed to be – is the most perplexing among numerous baffling recent events at Stamford Bridge. Benítez is not a manager who will offer a seamless transition to Guardiola. The idea that he will go on there, steady the ship and then pass a developing, expressive team to the former Barcelona manager is nonsensical.
Benítez will impose his own ideas and make numerous changes because that's his nature. If those methods are not embraced or are not successful, it will be a case of ripping it up and starting again next summer under Guardiola, who has a different creed. It is one revolution after another.
Benítez can be successful if he is allowed to do the job his way, but if there is one club in the world where that may not be allowed it is Chelsea.
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