Hodgson defends 'diabolical' Torres

| Tuesday September 14, 2010 00:00

Torres was once again a peripheral figure as Liverpool were fortunate to escape with a point - Jos Reina produced two outstanding first-half saves, to deny Cameron Jerome and Craig Gardner.

The Spain international, who was so disappointing at the World Cup in the summer following a season with Liverpool that was blighted by groin and knee injuries, looked uninterested for long periods and failed to produce a meaningful effort on goal until the 64th minute. His performance was so woeful before half-time that it prompted the former Liverpool midfielder and now Sky pundit Jamie Redknapp to call the 26-year-old's contributiosn 'diabolical' and 'terrible' and to question whether the forward wanted to play in the match.

'Fans will suffer to a certain extent when you give the ball away but they won't suffer a lack of effort,' Redknapp said at half-time. 'Out there today for 45 minutes, he has been terrible. He hasn't got hold of the ball, he hasn't chased. He's got frustrated, he could have been booked. He's been diabolical.

'I'm his biggest fan and I love seeing him. Of course you have to give [Roger] Johnson and [Scott] Dann [the Birmingham central defenders] credit but he's shown no appetite for the game. He's looked frustrated, sloppy, lethargic. He cut a frustrated figure. I know people talk about his rustiness but he's looked fed up.'

Having suggested immediately after the game that Torres had 'caused havoc' at times and also 'looked dangerous', Hodgson was a more circumspect with his choice of words in the post-match press conference.  The Liverpool manager maintained, however, that Torres, who has scored only once for the club this season, was improving all the time and rejected Redknapp's argument. (Guardian)