Hodgson blames headlines for Torres' lack of form

Roy Hodgson is tipping Fernando Torres to come back to his best - but admitted he is playing under the weight of great expectations.

The Liverpool chief saw Torres fluff a great early chance to score before his crafty touch set up the winner for Maxi Rodriguez and the Kop boss reckons the Spaniard is showing signs of recovery.

Hodgson said: "Quality is permanent. It will come for him. Front players play with small margins.

"If he takes the ball round Jussi Jaaskelainen and taps the ball in he is flying in the air. He doesn't and suddenly he can see the headlines facing him 'Torres misses again.'


"You can't change that, all you can do is to encourage him because I know he is a magnificent player. I know over the next 30-odd games he will do a good job for us."

Hodgson also admitted he was glad of the win as he faces talks with new owner John W Henry this week. He said: "We have contact on an almost daily basis, he is very interested.

"He is very committed and anxious. He wants to know what needs to be done and how to move the club forward. That is music to our ears.

"We will have lots of meetings and spend some time together and see how I see things panning out. I am delighted we are doing that after a victory.

"We live in a world of euphoria and tragedy. I try to keep it on an even keel between those two situations but the truth is we can't."

Bolton were fuming at referee Martin Atkinson for missing two penalty calls - a Jamie Carragher handball and a push on striker Kevin Davies who was bundled over by Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

Boss Owen Coyle said: "I thought we should have had a penalty from a clear handball and possibly another. You need to come out on the right side of decisions in those games.

"I seem to say the same things every week. If these things even themselves out we are due about 20 decisions between now and Christmas.

"I don?t think we deserved to lose, but we know the margins are very fine. We had opportunities and our application was first class. We are disappointed.

"Liverpool will feel it's a great goal, but on another day it hits Gary's shin and is cleared. They got the break and it went through his legs."

Liverpool did suffer some bad news, with Joe Cole picking up a hamstring problem that could see him sidelined for a month - the latest blow in his new career on Merseyside.

SG: He makes us different

Steven Gerrard believes an in-form Fernando Torres can elevate Liverpool into the leading pack of the Barclays Premier League over the coming months.

The club captain was delighted to see Torres score his first goal in six weeks against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday - and he hopes it'll have a dramatic effect of the frontman.

"It'll do wonders for Fernando's confidence," said Gerrard. "All week in training he looked dangerous and lively running in the channels, and against Blackburn he was exactly the same.

"He had Blackburn tormented, he kept the ball really well, and this team is so different when Fernando is on form.

"He's had a difficult summer with injuries and a difficult start to the season with a few niggles, but now he's starting to look fit and sharp and I'm sure the win and the goal will do him the world of good and hopefully he'll go from strength to strength.

"If we keep him fit and he's on form, we'll move up this table really fast."

Torres taps into spirit of Anfield

Whether Liverpool wheeled out Gerry Marsden for a rousing rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone in honour of the club’s new owners or in aid of Roy Hodgson is anyone’s guess, but it certainly set the tone at Anfield yesterday.


It was a show of unity in difficult times, demonstrating to the men from New England Sports Ventures what the Kop sounds like in full cry.

It was the former Fulham manager's second Barclays Premier League win, thanks to a second goal of the season from a revitalised Fernando Torres in a frantic five minutes after half-time. The victory took some pressure off the Liverpool manager even if it was not enough to lift his side out of the relegation zone.

His fist-pumping celebration of Torres's strike and relieved demeanour afterwards were understandable.

NESV co-owner Tom Werner was joined in the directors' box by new board members David Ginsberg and Michael Gordon for the first home game since their takeover, although a sick John W Henry had to watch from home in Boston.

He will have been heartened by this display but Hodgson, sacked by Blackburn before the midway point of the season 12 years ago, acknowledged that one win is not enough.

'We've got ourselves in a perilous position,' he said.



"One victory is going to help but it's going to take time until we can see daylight.

'It's all very well having must-win games but there's an opponent out there trying to stop you, and you can't get out of your mind how bad it's going to be if you make a mistake.'

For all Liverpool's enterprise yesterday and the chances they created in the first half, feelings of unease looked close to the surface.

It might have been different if they had secured the lead they thoroughly deserved before half-time, and for that they could blame Paul Robinson whose superb saves denied Joe Cole, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and, in particular, Steven Gerrard.

The irony will not have been lost on many at Anfield that Sam Allardyce's side were bullied in the air throughout.

Without regular centre backs Chris Samba and Ryan Nelsen, and with Steven Nzonzi limping off before half-time, a team who base their attack on high balls and set-pieces were exposed to the barrelling runs and aerial dominance of Kyrgiakos.

It was certainly no surprise when the big Greek made the breakthough three minutes after half-time.

Gerrard sent over a corner from the left and Phil Jones lost track of the excellent Kyrgiakos, who rose unmarked to power a header past Robinson - helped on its way by Michel Salgado.

'I felt there was huge relief around the whole ground when they scored,' said Allardyce.

There was. The last thing Liverpool expected was a Blackburn equaliser within three minutes, when substitute Benjani crossed from the right and ex-Liverpool man El-Hadji Diouf gave Martin Skrtel the slip and fired low towards the far post.

Paul Konchesky tried to clear but hacked the ball into the back of the unfortunate Carragher, who deflected it over the line.

'When it's in the back of the net you think, "How on earth did that get there?",' sighed Hodgson, adding it was not the first soft goal his side had conceded this season.

Carragher has now scored seven own goals in the Premier League for Liverpool - three more than he has managed at the other end. Only Aston Villa's Richard Dunne has more, scoring an eighth this weekend.

Luckily for Carragher and Konchesky, Liverpool were back in front within two minutes.

Again, they exposed the weakness of Blackburn's defence, Cole crossing to the edge of the six-yard box for an unmarked Torres to side-foot past Robinson.

It was a confident goal, Torres's first since Liverpool's only other league win, over West Bromwich in August.

Hodgson is hoping the player can revive the team.

He said: 'Torres was very down when he came back from the World Cup. People get down when they're criticised left, right and centre.

'Maybe he's just beginning to come out of that and find the joy of playing again. You can't infuse that into a player.

'You can ask him for it but he's the one who has to find it in himself.

'That was his best performance this season. But we need him to score many goals if we're going to move into the place in the table where we want to be.'

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.