• Premier League

Hodgson claims Torres injury was costly

Roy Hodgson revealed Liverpool played the majority of the second half effectively with ten men against Stoke, because Fernando Torres was struggling with an ankle injury.

Liverpool spent long periods defending at the Britannia Stadium, eventually losing 2-0 thanks to goals from Ricardo Fuller and Kenwyne Jones.

Torres suffered a kick to the ankle that saw him momentarily leave the field, but the Liverpool boss kept his prized asset on the field, later adding David N'Gog alongside Torres as they chased an equaliser. The Reds now have a week until they host West Ham, and Hodgson hopes the Spaniard will recover.

"We missed Fernando Torres in the second half, he took a kick to the ankle and twisted it slightly but we have got a week now and hopefully it's okay," said Hodgson, who felt Liverpool were beaten by Stoke's set-piece.

"The 1-0 goal came from a long throw, I thought we worked hard on defending that as well as we could during the week but once we went behind we had to take more risks. We hoped that would get us back in the game but unfortunately not.

"Today most of the day is about defending long throws and long balls forward, against Chelsea (a game which Liverpool won 2-0) it's a team moving the ball around the field, you can't compare games against Stoke with games against Chelsea, everyone knows this (Stoke) is a very special game.

"The way we finished the game we finished strongly, I don't think it's a question of legs, it was just a failure to deal with the problems Stoke cause you. We don't have that weapon in our armoury, we have to use our own weapons and I don't think we did that well enough until the last 25 minutes."

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