Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson will field a shadow team tomorrow night against Europa League opponents Steaua Bucharest.
Hodgson will rest the likes of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and even Jamie Carragher for the tie with Steaua Bucharest on Thursday, even if it means yet more criticism for his under-fire side.
Torres in particular came in for some savage stick for his performance at Birmingham at the weekend, where his body language suggested he was desperately unhappy.
But Hodgson believes the striker must be protected as he carefully continues a comeback from injury problems that have dogged him for the past two seasons.
The Reds boss made clear at the start of the campaign that it is too much to ask his front-line players to appear in the early rounds of the Europa League, and he reiterated that on Friday, when he said:
"It is unfeasible to ask them to play so many games over what is going to be a long campaign, and unrealistic to believe they can sustain it over a whole season."
