Why does he get substituted at halftime so often? I mean its great that he starts and plays so much, especially in comparison to some of our other young players. Its just weird.
Having seen most of his games this season I addressed this in another the thread. To quickly sum it up he's the newbie in a veteran midfield (Giménez, Rodríguez, Álvarez) that has started between 75-100 games together. JFT doesn't play timid per se but must defer to the vets first. They quite don't trust him but it's coming along. His manager feels the same. They think so highly of him that the don't what to put him in situations where his inexperience shows or in a position to fail. Pachuca are very guarded in terms of his development. Basically he gets sacrificed and he's the one to come out. But if think about it no matter when he is pulled his starting spot in the next match is never in jeopardy. JFT still has a learning curve and he's still trying to solidify himself in very good and very experienced midfield. Meza, his coach, is doing the right thing with him. It's not a cause for concern when he gets pulled. Edit: Here's three posts, one from myself, that hit on this subject: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17397812&postcount=18 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17398716&postcount=19 https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17400295&postcount=20
IMO, the reason is the following. His role is purely a distributor to the wings and forwards. If those guys are playing well, then he stays on because he keeps getting them the ball. If those guys are not playing well, then Pacucha brings in another attacking player at Gringo's position. What is the point of distributing to players who are struggling. So to me it seems it is less about how well Torres is playing as how well the attacking players are playing. I can't wait for the day when Torres has enough confidence in himself to see that the guys around him are struggling and he decides to be more aggressive.
BTW, big props to Torres for wearing all black shoes today. It made it a lot easier to keep track of him on the internet stream.