Reds boss admits Torres concerns

26/12/2009 12:02 +0100

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez admits the Reds are performing a delicate balancing act with the fitness of striker Fernando Torres.

The Reds number nine has persistently struggled this season and was absent for several weeks due to a groin injury which created rumours that he requires a hernia operation.

Torres was far from his best as he started Liverpool's defeat at Portsmouth last weekend, but he is again expected to be a member of the first XI for Boxing Day's meeting with Wolves at Anfield.

Liverpool, who sit eight points off the Premier League's top four, then face crucial matches against fourth-placed Aston Villa and fifth-placed Tottenham, with a trip to Reading in the FA Cup sandwiched in between.

Benitez is desperate to have Torres available, but confesses it is an uncertain process of nursing his record signing through matches, saying in the Daily Mirror: "We know it is difficult for Fernando and we have to do it a different way.

"If he is okay, we can give him time. If he feels something, we have to rest him.

"We have to manage his injury. He could manage a full Christmas programme, but we will see if he can start."

Meanwhile, Benitez has dismissed suggestions that he has held a specifically-arranged meeting with Steven Gerrard to discuss his captain's lack of form and confidence.

The Reds boss said in The Independent: "Have I had a meeting with him? We have a lot of corridors here and we bump into one another. We don't need to organise a proper meeting.

"I have a lot of conversations not just with Steven but a lot of players and they know they want to improve. Sometimes they try too hard.

"I was talking this week about how to improve. I was really pleased because they were positive."