Roy Ready To Unleash Torres On Birmingham

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson
is happy that his striker
Fernando Torres did not play in
Spain's recent international
friendly against Argentina.
The former Fulham boss had
previously asked his Spanish
counterpart Vicente del Bosque
to leave the forward out so he
could recuperate in Melwood to
make a full recovery from the
injury sustained during the
World Cup final.
However, Del Bosque chose to
take the hitman to South
America, but resisted the
temptation to bring him on even
as Spain slumped to a heavy
handed 4-1 defeat.
"We spoke to the Spanish coach
and they said it wasn't possible
for him to skip the trip," Hodgson
said, according to The Mirror.
"If he'd done that then a lot of
other big name players might
have wanted to skip it as well.
"Through fairness they felt
obliged to take everybody, but
luckily they listened to my plea
not to overplay him and the fact
he played no part in the game
hopefully means he will come
back in good shape and be able
to work with us instead."