Bore draw at Anfield

Liverpool 0-0 FC Utrecht:  

Roy Hodgson was forced to issue an embarrassing apology to Liverpool fans over his failed promise to start with star striker Fernando Torres.

Hodgson conceded he changed his team selection on the orders of the Anfield medical staff, having insisted on the eve of the game that Torres would start.

Although a dead rubber for Liverpool, with them already confirmed as group winners, Hodgson wanted to start with I had a change of heart," said Hodgson. "I must apologise to the reporters. I was certainly considering giving Fernando a start, I thought it would be a nice game for him and a chance for him to get his confidence back.

"But I also had a talk to our fitness people and they made me see sense that it wasn't the wisest thing to do. We have already qualified and, if he'd played, he would be taking the place of a young player who needs the chance to stake his place in the team.

"And, of course, it would be very bad for us if he'd picked up an injury. They [the fitness people] made me see the error of my ways. I listened to the reason around me and I changed my mind.

"I sensed that the potential disadvantages far outweighed any advantages in terms of Fernando playing.

"By reneging on my first idea of playing Fernando, I've got a totally fresh team to play against Fulham on Saturday. I'm sorry if I misled people, but I didn't do so intentionally.

"With so many fans here, I had hoped we would produce a sparkling performance, but it wasn't to be."

If, as Hodgson claimed, Liverpool's medical team had vetoed Torres playing, claiming it was a risk not worth taking, why was the Spaniard even on the bench? That decision made less sense than the U-turn itself.

Some fans even felt the move may have been a cynical ploy to ensure Anfield was a full as possible, the promise of Torres starting an attractive inducement to entice them into the ground. It was a theory shot down by Hodgson.

"It wasn't a question of needing a big name to sell the game, because almost 40,000 tickets were sold beforehand," said Hodgson.

Hodgson also claimed Pepe Reina would start, but revealed he decided to with Brad Jones in goal when he learned Australia coach Holger Osieck was in the Anfield crowd, giving the keeper a rare chance to impress his national coach.

Yet the absence of Torres saw 19-year-old striker Nathan Eccleston handed a first start, one of three teenagers in Hodgson's unfamiliar-looking line-up, with midfielder Jonjo Shelvey and centre-half Danny Wilson also included.

Eccleston made an instant impact, though not in the manner in which he would have liked, with a shocking sixth-minute challenge on Mihai Nesu which could have seen him issued with a straight red card, rather than the caution he received.

Liverpool's play lacked any kind of fluency, not surprising with Martin Skrtel and Joe Cole the only regular first-team players included in the starting line-up, insurance on the bench provided by Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Glen Johnson and Raul Miereles.

Milan Jovanovic provided the only moment of excitement for Liverpool fans in the first-half, his sumptuous, dipping 25-yard strike beating Utrecht keeper Michel Vorm but clipping the bar, the ball ending up in the Kop.

Liverpool upped the tempo after the break, Ryan Babel flashing an angled shot across the Utrecht goal. The Dutchman, taunted throughout by the away fans because of his Ajax past, should have done better when Martin Kelly drove the ball into the six-yard box. But Babel was unable to apply the finishing touch.

The introduction of Kuyt for Ivanovic, with 17 minutes to go, prompted the biggest cheer of the night, from both sets of fans. Joe Cole saw a goal-bound shot blocked at point-blank with eight minutes to go. It summed up a night Anfield will want to forget in a hurry.

Liverpool (4-4-2): Jones 5; Kelly 4, Skrtel 5 (Kyriagos 46, 5), Wilson 5, Aurelio 5; Jovanovic 5 (Kuyt 73, 5), Poulsen 5, Shelvey 5, Cole 4; Babel 4, Eccleston 4 (Pacheco 56, 5)

Utrecht (4-4-1-1): Vorm 5; Cornelisse 5, Keller 5, Wuytens 5, Nesu 5; Duplan 5 (Oar 71, 4), Silberbauer 6, Nijholt 5, Mertens 6; Maguire 5 (Sarota 84); van Wolfswinkel 5 (de Kogel 45)

Hero: Silberbauer. Commanded the midfield. 6

Liverpool's commendable policy of allowing children into the meaningless game for free lost some of its lustre in light of the absence of Torres, a decision Hodson felt duty-bound to explain.