New Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson will fast-track several key players from their post-World Cup holidays in time for Thursday night’s Uefa Europa League qualifier against Rabotnicki of Macedonia.
The Anfield side travel to Skopje for a first leg qualifier which could go a long way towards shaping their European journey in the coming season.
And Hodgson, apparently unimpressed with his squad’s lesser lights in pre-season friendlies against Kaiserslautern and Grasshoppers, is unwilling to take any chances by allowing his big names the evening off, hinting that club captain Steven Gerrard for one will make an earlier than anticipated return to action.
The former Fulham boss said, “I don’t know what to do at this stage. I will have to liaise with them and (head of sports science) Peter Brukner and make a decision by Tuesday on what sort of team I can put out.
“I can promise the Liverpool fans we will put out the best possible team, without compromising the future. It is going to be a difficult discussion between myself and Peter because his feeling is we shouldn’t use any of them and I am going to be tempted to say I want to use quite a few of them.
“The only players I will take will be the ones that I definitely think will play a valuable part in the game. If we are talking about senior players, it would be players prepared to start the game. I would not take Steven Gerrard there to play for the last 10 minutes as a substitute.â€
Alberto Aquilani, Rafa Benitez’s big-money Italian acquisition who struggled for form and fitness in his first season at Liverpool, is expected to play a part while some of Gerrard, goalkeeper Pepe Reina, defenders Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson and summer signings Joe Cole and Milan Jovanovic, all of whom were on duty at the World Cup in South Africa, could also be included, but Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano, both of whom have been linked with moves away from Anfield, are unlikely to play any part.
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