Source: FOOTYMAD
Roy explains duo omission
Roy Hodgson has explained why he left Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres out of last night's game. Reina and Torres were expected to play some part in the final Europa League group game against Utrecht but Hodgson changed his mind at the last moment and named Torres as a subsitute and left Reina out of the 16 altogether. "Following discussions with the conditioning people, they persuaded me to see the error of my ways," explained the boss. "I had a vision of Fernando going out there, having a great 45 minutes, it being good for his confidence, maybe scoring a goal and giving him a little lift. "I was only going to play him for 45 minutes. He didn't play against Aston Villa and he was quite looking forward to playing. "But when we sat down and we started to talk about it again, it seemed to me the disadvantages or potential disadvantages far outweighed any potential advantage. "In any game there is a risk of injury and we want to do a good training session tomorrow. If he had played 45 minutes he'd have been doing a warm down instead, but now we'll be doing a major training session preparing for the game against Fulham. "I would have had to have given up all of those things (if I'd played him), and what would I have given them up for? "If he had a wonderful 45 minutes and scored a couple of goals it would have been really worthwhile. "But if he'd just played the 45 minutes with the way Utrecht were playing today, moving the ball across the back, it would have been a complete waste of time for everybody. "I'm glad I was persuaded to change my mind." "He [Reina] actually helped me [make the decision]. He did say after the Steaua game he would like to give Brad a chance in the next game, and then we found out the Australian national coach was coming to the game tonight," he added. "So in actual fact, it wasn't difficult because he realises this was a chance for Brad to show what he can do in front of his national coach. "The thing about Pepe is he just loves to play, but he made it very easy for me I've got to say."
