Under-fire strike duo backed to silence the detractors

Opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed ahead of what is always one of the biggest games of the season that he had to step in and stop Dimitar Berbatov beating himself up about his Manchester United performances.

Liverpool's top pair were left out of Thursday night's Europa League 4-1 win over Steaua Bucharest along with a number of first-choice players as the Reds chief made eight changes in an attempt to give his side the best chance at Old Trafford.

Hodgson admits the match between the two north-west rivals has come earlier in the season than he would have wished but, by giving his star players maximum rest, the 62-year-old is confident they can put in a good performance.

Most of the focus will be on Torres after his display in last Sunday's goalless draw at Birmingham was criticised in many quarters.

The Spain striker has enjoyed a fruitful time at Old Trafford in the past, scoring on his last three visits and terrorising centre-back Nemanja Vidic on a number of occasions.

However, Hodgson does not read too much into past results – which may be a good thing as his record against United with Fulham was not that good.

"I give it no credence, none at all," said Hodgson in response to Torres's record against United.

"But let's hope on Sunday we see a great performance from him. He is Fernando Torres – he is going to have bad games and wonder games.

"As far as I'm concerned you don't swing between wonder and hopeless. Either you are a good player or you are not and he is a very good player.

"But like all good players he will have games where people will say 'We expected more of you, we thought you could have done better' and that was probably the case against Birmingham.

"It will be the case again on many occasions this year but the point is he is a very good player and we are going to get an awful lot of benefit from his services because good players remain good players."

Hodgson admits he has no idea whether his decision to rest key players yesterday will pay off.

It did against Steaua but that provides no pointer to future success, as the manager has learned from experience.

"I did it once at Fulham last season when I rested virtually the whole team when we went to CSKA Sofia with a reserve team," he said.

"We came back and got beat by Wolves and I didn't think we looked very fresh or sharp.

"But you know you can't burn out players playing three matches a week, week after week, especially when some of those matches are after international trips.

"Don't forget Torres only came back from Argentina on Thursday to play on Sunday last week.

"You have to make decisions whereby you say 'I think it will be in this player's interest to rest' and 'This player will be fresher and better equipped to play on Sunday if he misses Thursday's game'.

"Now whether that actually happens or not who knows? We don't have a crystal ball and you make decisions on the basis of what should happen but it doesn't always happen."

Ferguson has also stood by his leading striker, Berbatov, who has been forced to endure as many brickbats as plaudits during his two seasons at Old Trafford.

Although the Bulgarian is undoubtedly a player of immense talent, there are many who do not appreciate his languid style and feel he does not put enough heart into his performances.

Comparisons with the obvious industry of Carlos Tevez, who was squeezed out by Berbatov's arrival and eventually opted to leave for Manchester City in a highly controversial move, have often not been favourable.

And it seems Berbatov has taken too much notice of the bad publicity as Ferguson has revealed he had to tell his club record 30.75m record signing to stop taking so much notice of the critics.

"Not everyone has questioned Dimitar," said Ferguson. "He has a lot of admirers, particularly at this club.

"But when we buy a player for a lot of money, there is more focus on him. If they have an odd bad game there is a criticism which other players may not get.

"He worried about it himself, however, as I told him, he has to dismiss the press.

"Dimitar has had some terrific games for us. He is enjoying his football and he will play on Sunday."