Liverpool’s Roy Hodgson Explains Fernando Torres U-turn

Torres stayed on the bench for the game against FC Utrecht

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson said he did not mean to mislead fans after leaving out Fernando Torres in the Europa League group game against FC Utrecht.

Hodgson had suggested he would play striker Torres, despite the Reds having already reached the last 32, but the Spaniard stayed on the bench.

“There was no question of needing a name to sell the game,” said Hodgson after the goalless draw at Anfield.

Hodgson also indicated he wanted to add to his squad in the new year.

The 63-year-old has spent almost £20m by signing Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen, Brad Jones and Danny Wilson since taking over at Anfield, but the club have struggled with inconsistent form and results in the Premier League.

However, Hodgson must first meet with the club's owner, New England Sports Ventures (NESV), who bought the club in October, before implementing his new-year plans.

“If there is any possibility of transfers in the January window that will make us a better team, I will be given the opportunity to take those players,” he said.

“I can't add to that other than my ambition to improve the squad is shared by the owners. But we have to wait and see what possibilities are there, if any, and what they want to do.”

Liverpool decided to let children accompanied by adults attend the game for free and, after Hodgson's indications in his pre-match news conference, it appeared they would be able to watch a strong starting line-up.

However, most of the fringe players and youngsters who have been used in the club's Europa League campaign were again deployed, while first-team regulars Torres, Glen Johnson and Meireles were unused substitutes.

Dirk Kuyt did come on late in the game against his former club in a stale affair with Liverpool through to the knockout stages as Group K winners, while Utrecht had been knocked out of the competition in the previous round.

“With discussions with the conditioning people in particular, they persuaded me to see the error of my ways even though I had this vision of Fernando going out there and having a great 45 minutes and maybe scoring a goal and giving him a lift,” added Hodgson.

“He was quite looking forward to playing but when I got back to the club in the afternoon [after my news conference] and started to talk about it again it seemed to me the potential disadvantages far outweighed the potential advantages.”    606: DEBATE

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The best chance came when Liverpool midfielder Milan Jovanovic's 30-yard shot struck the crossbar.

“I think we are all a bit disappointed by the game, it wasn't for want of trying,” said Hodgson.

“The problem is we lacked the technical quality in the final third.

“We got the ball into areas where we should have been capable of doing something and we didn't produce the pass.

“I was hoping, with so many people in – and some for the first time – we would produce a sparkling performance but unfortunately we couldn't.”

Utrecht suffered a blow with leading scorer Ricky van Wolfswinkel suffering a broken collarbone after falling awkwardly in the first half.

The Dutch side's manager Ton du Chatinier said: “We set out to play a good game and come away without any injuries but Ricky van Wolfswinkel has gone to hospital and it is a possibility they may have to operate on him here.

“He could be out for six, seven or eight weeks.”