Hodgson Gambling By Resting Stars For Europa

Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson will
field a shadow team tomorrow
night against Europa League
opponents Steaua Bucharest.
Hodgson will rest the likes of
Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard
and even Jamie Carragher for the
tie with Steaua Bucharest on
Thursday, even if it means yet
more criticism for his under-fire
side.
Torres in particular came in for
some savage stick for his
performance at Birmingham at
the weekend, where his body
language suggested he was
desperately unhappy.
But Hodgson believes the striker
must be protected as he carefully
continues a comeback from
injury problems that have
dogged him for the past two
seasons.
The Reds boss made clear at the
start of the campaign that it is
too much to ask his front-line
players to appear in the early
rounds of the Europa League,
and he reiterated that on Friday,
when he said:
"It is unfeasible to ask them to
play so many games over what is
going to be a long campaign,
and unrealistic to believe they
can sustain it over a whole
season."