Liverpool 1 West Brom 0:SPANISH INTEREST in Fernando Torres is an irritation to Roy Hodgson right now as Vicente Del Bosque attempts to haul Liverpool's match-winner off to Argentina for an international friendly.
It will develop into a nightmare, if the Barcelona midfielder Xavi is to be believed, should Liverpool fail to convince the striker his ambitions can be sated at Anfield.
“Being brutally honest they haven’t brought any top-class players in to replace the ones they have sold,” claimed Xavi.
“They haven’t tried to improve the squad. Nando deserves to be playing with the best players like he does with Spain. If Liverpool have another disappointing season that will be it for him. Our coach Pep Guardiola is a big admirer of Nando. If he wanted to leave next summer I’d imagine Barcelona to be very much in the running.”
Hodgson will not be distracted by mere talk and, as this summer showed, there is nowhere for a contracted player to go if no one meets his employer’s asking price.
But yesterday was another pertinent reminder of Torres’s value to Liverpool as his first goal since April – and 50th at Anfield – condemned West Bromwich Albion to a harsh defeat.
“These kind of players only need half a chance,” said the visiting manager Roberto Di Matteo.
“That piece of magic made all the difference,” agreed Hodgson, although Torres’s 65th minute volley did not only divide Liverpool from a merited draw. It was in marked contrast to anything else on display.
Looking for impending arrivals in the Anfield directors’ box was preferable to watching much of this contest, notable only for Liverpool’s tepid first half and the vast improvement on Albion’s last away performance – the 6-0 drubbing at Stamford Bridge.
The Portugal international Raul Meireles was welcomed on to the pitch before kick off as Liverpool’s new €14 million signing and Paul Konchesky was present ahead of his move from Fulham, but Hodgson has ruled out a move for the PSV striker Ola Toivonen.
Concern about Liverpool’s form since the opening-day draw against Arsenal did not abate here. Despite Torres, Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Milan Jovanovic all returning after missing the Europa League play-off win against Trabzonspor, Liverpool started as poorly as they had done in Turkey.
Ponderous, disjointed and overly reliant on the long ball, Hodgson’s side invited the pressure that duly came from the composed visitors, for whom Youssouf Mulumbu shielded his back four expertly while James Morrison and Graham Dorrans took the game to their hosts.
Albion lacked both a cutting edge and the benefit of the doubt from referee Lee Probert to make this a damaging afternoon for Liverpool. The official dismissed Albion’s appeals for a penalty when Jonas Olsson was wrestled to the floor by Martin Skrtel, and again when Christian Poulsen almost removed the substitute Somen Tchoyi’s shirt in the second half. “All I’m asking for is a bit of consistency because in some games they’re given and in some they aren’t,” said Di Matteo.
The visitors’ grievance was compounded when Jara failed to convert Fortune’s cut-back to the far post and Liverpool counter-attacked to devastating effect.
Dirk Kuyt led the break, exchanged passes with Torres, and surged onwards down the left before picking out the unmarked Spaniard on the edge of the area with a perfectly weighted chip. Torres connected cleanly on the volley and found the bottom corner of Scott Carson’s net.
With five minutes remaining the striker was felled by a late swipe from Morrison and Probert, who also refused Liverpool a penalty when Jara handled a Torres shot inside his own area, showed the Albion midfielder the red card.
Hodgson reported no lasting damage to Torres but his immediate concern is the striker’s involvement in Spain’s European Championship qualifier in Liechtenstein on Friday and then the friendly in Buenos Aires next Tuesday. Hodgson said: “It would be very nice if Del Bosque would look kindly on him and us. There’s no doubt that he would prosper with two weeks of serious hard training, to continue his pre-season work here.”
