RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed he has held talks with Steven Gerrard over the midfielder’s struggle for form as he looks to the Liverpool captain and Fernando Torres to end the club’s alarming slump.
Liverpool host Wolves on St Stephen’s Day having won only four times in 17 matches, with two rivals for a Champions League place, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, to follow.
A miserable campaign reached what Benitez hopes will prove its nadir at Portsmouth last Saturday, with Gerrard on the margins as the Premier League’s bottom club secured a comfortable 2-0 win.
The 29-year-old has made nine appearances since recovering from the adductor problem that kept him out for a month but his influence has been limited in a season disrupted by injury, the departure of Xabi Alonso and the prolonged absence of the Spaniard’s intended replacement, Alberto Aquilani. And Benitez admits he needs Gerrard to rescue Liverpool once again.
“Steven knows that he has to improve but that for me is very positive,” the Liverpool manager said. “He knows he is a very important player for us and we were analysing his statistics and he is doing much better. In the last game he wasn’t at his level but that can happen in one game.
“I was talking with him this week about how to improve. He wants to give more.”
Benitez insists the onus is on every Liverpool player to lift the club and fulfil his guarantee of a top-four finish, although the manager concedes there is an added burden on Gerrard and Torres.
“They are very important for us and in any team it would be the same,” he said. “They have to play well and that means the rest of the team would be better. But if everyone can improve a little bit it will be good for the team.”
With Javier Mascherano commencing a four-match suspension on Saturday, there is an opportunity for Aquilani, who missed the defeat at Fratton Park with a calf problem, to finally make his first league start four months after his arrival from Roma. And Benitez admits the Italian’s recovery period contradicted medical advice Liverpool received before signing the midfielder.
“We spoke to three different doctors and the worst-case scenario was that he would be out for two months,” he said.
“He wants to play and we have to manage different players in a different way.”
Chelsea will be without Nicolas Anelka, Michael Essien and Deco for the Christmas programme, the Premier League leaders have said.
With Didier Drogba also about to depart for African Nations Cup duty, Chelsea’s squad is suddenly at full stretch and coach Carlo Ancelotti said it was a chance for some of the fringe players to make their mark.
“Anelka has a small muscle problem but he is not ready to play these games,” Ancelotti told the club website.
“We have some problems because we have to play without Anelka, Essien and Deco in these games.”
Chelsea face Birmingham City away on Saturday and Fulham at home on Monday.
Drogba will play at Birmingham where he will be partnered up front by Dean Sturridge, but that could be his final appearance before joining up with his Ivory Coast colleagues.
“I have a lot of confidence in my strikers, not only Drogba, not only Salomon Kalou, not only Anelka, also Sturridge and (Fabio) Borini. Against Fulham maybe we have only Sturridge and Borini, but in January we have Anelka.”
- Guardian Service
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