Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has defended his decision to leave Fernando Torres on the bench against Utrecht, claiming it was down to the club’s medical staff.
The Reds boss had said that the Spanish striker would be involved against the Dutch side, but with qualification from the Europa League group stage already assured, it seems the risk was not worth taking.
"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," Hodgson said.
"He was quite looking forward to playing but when I got back to the club in the afternoon [after his press conference] and started to talk about it again, it seemed to me the potential disadvantages far outweighed the potential advantages."
The club tried to generate interest in the game by giving away free tickets to children, but Hodgson has denied that he used Torres’ potential involvement to improve ticket take-up.
"There was no question of needing a name to sell the game. I did honestly think it was a good thing.
"I didn't mean to mislead you. The physical conditioning people said to me that in any game there is a risk of injury.
"We want to do a good training session tomorrow and if he had played 45 minutes he would have been doing a warm-down instead of a major session.
"If he had had a wonder 45 minutes and scored a couple of goals it would have been really worthwhile but if he had played 45 minutes with the way they were playing the ball across the back, it would have been a complete waste of time for everyone.
"I am glad I was persuaded to change my mind on the subject."
Hodgson was left slightly frustrated by his side’s performance, though, believing the team were just lacking a little extra quality to get the win.
"I think we are all a bit disappointed by the game. It wasn't for want of trying. 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 last night - and some for the first time - we would produce a sparkling performance, but unfortunately we couldn't."
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