Roy Rests Hopes On Gerrard And Torres

Roy Hodgson hopes Fernando
Torres and Steven Gerrard will
provide the spearhead for victory
over Manchester United at Old
Trafford on Sunday. The
Liverpool pair were left out of
Thursday night's Europa League
4-1 win over Steaua Bucharest
along with a number of first-
choice players as the Reds boss
made eight changes in an
attempt to give his side the best
chance at Old Trafford. Hodgson
admits the match between the
two North-West rivals has come
earlier in the season than he
would have wished but, by
giving his star players maximum
rest, the 62-year-old is confident
they can put in a good display.
But he maintains that will be
down to the players on the day
as despite all his preparation only
they can affect the outcome on
the pitch. Most of the focus will
be on Torres after his display in
last Sunday's goalless draw at
Birmingham was criticised in
many quarters. The Spain striker
has enjoyed a fruitful time at Old
Trafford in the past, scoring on
his last three visits and
terrorising centre-back Nemanja
Vidic on a number of occasions.
However, Hodgson does not read
too much into past results -
which may be a good thing as
his record against United with
Fulham was not that good. "I
give it no credence, none at all,"
said Hodgson in response to
Torres' record against United.
"But let's hope on Sunday we see
a great performance from him.
He is Fernando Torres - he is
going to have bad games and
wonder games. "As far as I'm
concerned you don't swing
between wonder and hopeless.
Either you are a good player or
you are not and he is a very good
player. "But like all good players
he will have games where people
will say 'We expected more of
you, we thought you could have
done better' and that was
probably the case against
Birmingham. "It will be the case
again on many occasions this
year but the point is he is a very
good player and we are going to
get an awful lot of benefit from
his services because good
players remain good players."
Hodgson admits he has no idea
whether his decision to rest key
players on Thursday will pay off.
It did against Steaua but that
provides no pointer to future
success, as the manager has
learned from experience. "I did it
once at Fulham last season when
I rested virtually the whole team
when we went to CSKA Sofia with
a reserve team," he said. "We
came back and got beat by
Wolves and I didn't think we
looked very fresh or sharp. "But
you know you can't burn out
players playing three matches a
week, week after week,
especially when some of those
matches are after international
trips. "Don't forget Torres only
came back from Argentina on
Thursday to play on Sunday last
week. "You have to make
decisions whereby you say 'I
think it will be in this player's
interest to rest' and 'This player
will be fresher and better
equipped to play on Sunday if he
misses Thursday's game'. "Now
whether that actually happens or
not who knows? We don't have a
crystal ball and you make
decisions on the basis of what
should happen but it doesn't
always happen." Matches against
United are always used as a
barometer of how good the
current Liverpool side are,
considering they have not won a
league championship since 1990
allowing their arch-rivals to draw
level with their record tally of 18.
Hodgson, though, will not be
judging his squad on the
outcome of one game - no
matter how big an occasion it is.
"It is a difficult encounter always
but it is a game which has
thrilled people throughout the
years and let's hope it is no
different at the weekend," he
said. "There is no point in me or
Alex (Ferguson) trying to build up
the game because it has been
built up anyway; all we can do is
get on with it and hope our
teams are well prepared on the
field and our players perform.
"The result will be very important.
This is going to be an even
league, more than half the table
is currently separated by a point
or two. "But it is going to be a
long haul for everyone this
season before you get into a
position where you hope you will
end up. "Games of this
magnitude coming so early in
our time here are not exactly
ideal but I'm hoping we will give
it our best shot and see what the
game brings."