Rafa Benitez: Robbie Keane can ease the goalscoring burden on Torres
RAFAEL BENITEZ believes Robbie Keane will help take the goalscorring burden off Fernando Torres - and form an attacking axis that can finally bring the Premier League title back to Liverpool.
The manager unveiled the latest addition to his forward line yesterday after Keane completed his move from Tottenham for a fee that will eventually rise to £20million.
Only Torres - bought last summer from Atletico Madrid - has cost Liverpool more money in their history.
But Benitez expects instant payback from the 28-year-old, who is Ireland's all-time record goalscorer and has a proven record of consistently finding the back of the net in the top flight.
Keane, who is set for his Liverpool debut in the friendly at Villarreal tonight, scored more than 20 goals in each of the last two seasons for Spurs and reached double figures in all six Premier League campaigns he featured for them.
Benitez said: "Everybody knew Torres was a good player but he needed to settle down in the Premier League - but Keane is already settled down and has played well at this level. So it is easier for him to come in and do what we want him to do.
"I think defences will be worried for sure but we will see. Other managers and defenders will try to do things but the presence of Gerrard or Kuyt or Babel, those players will causes problems for defenders - and maybe they cannot cope with everyone.
"It is important for Torres to have another player who can score goals but we have more options with better players.
"We have more offensive players."
Benitez added: "We have been signing a lot of young players - Skrtel, Mascherano, Babel, Lucas and this year Ngog.
"Now we are signing players with experience who have settled down in the Premier League so we are keeping the balance.
"When you have more quality and more experience it's easier to fight for titles because more experience can be a big difference.
"But if you want to be at the top of the table and fighting for trophies you need good players and big names."
Torres should also return to the Liverpool line-up to play some part in tonight's game and he, along with Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Villarreal's Spanish international contingent, will parade the Euro 2008 trophy before kick-off.
But Benitez is still remaining open-minded over the issue of Tores and Keane forming a straightforward striking partnership or whether his new man will be required to operate in wider areas.
"Everybody knows Keane is a very good player, a clever player.
"He can play on the right, as a central striker or in a deeper position," Benitez added.
"You can play 4-4-2 with Keane and Torres, you can play 4-2-3-1 if he is on the right or left. It won't be a problem."
For his part. Keane is in no doubt about the role he wants to occupy as a central striker - but knows he might have to wait his turn.
He said: "I have to earn the right to play. I would be naive to think I am going to walk straight into the team and everything will be rosy.
"I am looking forward to the challenge. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge and that is what this is."
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RAFAEL BENITEZ believes Robbie Keane will help take the goalscorring burden off Fernando Torres ?? Excuse me, but didn`t Peter Crouch do that whenever he was given the rare privilege of coming off the bench? Anybody who has watched Keane over the years will no doubt realize that he is the ultimate "tap in" specialist and rarely scores intelligent goals, unlike Crouchy, who has a football brain and a special gift that seems to have eluded the Spaniard.I guess Peter wasn`t pretty enough. This is all soooooo stupid and a waste of money.
I hope Crouchy bangs in a couple at Anfield this season for Pompey!You don`t know what you have got till its gone.
I, like the majority of Liverpool supporters was sorry to see Crouchee heading for the exit door this season. I agree that when Crouchee played he more often than not made a valuable contribution and probably wasn’t given enough credit for how good he was with the ball on the floor and what a clever footballing brain he had. It would be true to say that he wasn’t used as often as he should have been and that a Crouch/Torres partnership was never really given a decent chance to flourish. However it is worth remembering that Peter Crouch wanted to leave (not that we can hold that against him for obvious reasons) but to say that Robbie Keane is a tap in specialist is ludicrous.
If Robbie Keane scores 30 “tap ins� next season in the Premier League I will be very happy because players have to have the footballing brain and movement to get themselves into the correct positions to score goals like that. A prime example of someone who was brilliant at this was Ian Rush an absolute legend who rarely hit a thunderbolt from 30 yards but was always sniffing out chances closer to goal. I’m not saying Robbie Keane can be as good as Rush (he won’t play for us as long as Rush did for a start) but he does have excellent movement, he’s intelligent, he can play in the hole, up front alongside Torres or even on the wing and most importantly he WANTS to play for Liverpool football club.
To summarise Peter Crouch will always have a place in the hearts of the red half of Merseyside but Robbie Keane will bring something completely different to the Liverpool set up. I dare any red to say they’re not excited by a potential Torres, Keane partnership next season!!!!