Hodgson to Shift Transfer Focus To New Striker

ROY HODGSON is ready to crank up his search for a new striker in an attempt to ease the goalscoring burden on Fernando Torres.
Though Liverpool’s manager is hopeful Torres will be fit to lead the line when his side begin the new Premier League campaign, he has no intention of rushing him back ahead of schedule.
Torres, after all, has suffered enormously with injury during the past 12 months and damaged his thigh and adductor muscle during Spain’s World Cup final win over Holland on July 11.
If Liverpool are to make progress in the Europa League and the Premier League, they are going to need quality cover for Torres, as the lack of back up when the Spaniard was out last season cost them dearly.
At this stage, Torres and David Ngog are the only natural strikers at the club but if the opportunity comes along to add to Liverpool's firepower, Hodgson will explore the prospects of making an addition.

His most important task of all, however, is finding a way to get Torres fit and firing on a regular basis.
“The answer to that is quite simple and it’s to do with the quality of the sports science and medical department,” said Hodgson. “Ours is very, very good, so I am sure that will be an enormous benefit.
“The other thing is how big a squad you’ve got to enable players to be rested when they need one and to ensure they’re not being thrown into situations all the time where really and truly they’d have been better off having a rest.
“If we are to proceed in the Europa League, it is going to mean an awful lot of matches, so the strength and size of our squad will be of vital importance.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re Fernando Torres or anybody else – to play three games a week for something like 35-40 weeks of the year is an impossible task at the level we’re playing at. The little blows and injuries take their toll.”
Meanwhile, Hodgson – who saw Liverpool rewarded for beating FC Rabotnicki with a tie against the Turkish side Trabzonspur in the Europa League play-off round – has revealed Javier Mascherano could be involved against Arsenal next week.
The Argentine midfielder has not played in pre-season so far and is the subject of interest from Inter Milan but with that move failing to come about as yet, Mascherano is still in Hodgson’s plans.

“In the perception from the outside world, everyone was portrayed as wanting to desert the ‘sinking ship’,” said Hodgson, who could not pick Mascherano against Rabotnicki as he had not been named in Liverpool’s Europa League squad.
“But as we have established very firmly, that isn’t the case at all. Even Mascherano is still here, doing his job well in training and if nothing happens will play against Arsenal.
“Basically speaking, that was an anxiety that was fuelled by the speculation about Torres and Gerrard and, to some extent, Mascherano. But it seems to me now, we’ve put that to bed and so there is no reason to have any doubts about everyone’s commitment.”