Today's Banter: Torres left off Spain (yes!), Hicks after Roma?, Fulham post-match rubbish, & more

Luis Aragonés just became my favorite international manager. The 69-year-old Spaniard decided not to call-up Fernando Torres for Spain's two Euro-qualifiers with Sweden and Northern Ireland. With Xabi injured and Arbeloa not under consideration, it means only Pepe Reina will be with La Furia Roja, though with Iker Casillas still the number one, Reina probably won't play. I can now breathe a little easier knowing that Torres will more than likely start against Newcastle on the 24th at St. James Park. Rafa is happy with the 23-year-old striker's omission as well.

Word is Tom Hicks has inquired about possibly purchasing Serie A club AS Roma. First off, it's highly improbable that the club would sell to a foreigner since no Serie A club is owned by a non-Italian. Second, if there is even a glint of truth to the matter, it means that Hicks might be looking to get out of his co-ownership with George Gillett. UEFA rules prevent one person owning more than one team participating in UEFA competitions, so Hicks would have to sell his interest in LFC. Maybe the rumors of a rift between the two parties is true.

Was Lawrie Sanchez watching the same match that everyone else was on Saturday? Apparently not. The Fulham manager seems to think that his squad deserved at least a point for their efforts and that Liverpool was fortuitous to get the win. The 48-year-old said: "I actually felt that Torres mis-hit his final shot, and that is what confused Hughes and Niemi. It was a soft goal in the end to concede... As for the penalty, I don't believe it was in the box, it wasn't a penalty. I felt we had kept them quiet, restricted them to shots from outside the box in the first half." Well, as lucky as we were to get a 'mis-hit' goal and a penalty called for a non-penalty, we were also unlucky not to score a couple of more goals as well.

Meanwhile, Rafa Benitez has had plenty to say on a whole range of subjects. First, he expects Pepe Reina to get more assists like he did for Torres goal. I honestly don't think Rafa should be encouraging any long ball tactics especially if there's a chance the player could get carried away with the notion. It's nice to have that option, but only when it's used sparingly. Most of the time a goal doesn't come of it.

Next up, Rafa has said that not changing his line-up from the Besitkas match was just as much a risk as changing it would have been. In the end, he felt a few of the players were ineffective due to fatigue. I still don't understand why Riise was left in, he was pretty useless for the third or so straight match.

Finally, Benitez claims that Torres is not our side's most natural finisher. He feels that Kuyt and Voronin are naturally better. Uh, okay. Also in that link he talks about how Torres' pace was very effective against the tired Fulham side, which is why he decided not to start Fernando but instead use him in the super-sub role.

Steven Gerrard has spoken up about how he believes Steve McClaren is the right man for the England job. What is Stevie-G smoking? McClaren is well out of his element and lacks the vision, creativity, and balls to put a squad out for the Three Lions that will challenge for anything. The excuse that England doesn't have the horses of other European sides is a joke. The only countries that I would say have more talented are France and Spain. What England lacks is motivation and the right mix of players, but McClaren is incapable of the former and doesn't have the guts to put out any squad other than what is accepted as England's best though they may not be able to play with one another. Cheers.