Liverpool's defensive strength is vital - Rafa Benitez
DESPITE spending £20million on Robbie Keane to bolster his forward line, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez believes that his improved defensive options could be the key to his side chall- enging on all fronts this season after they kept a third successive clean sheet in Saturday's 4-0 win at Rangers.
He said: "We conceded some goals last season that normally we would not be conceding.
"This year we have Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger all fit so we have four good centre-backs.
"We have Andrea Dossena and Fabio Aurelio when he's fit so we have good options on the left and on the right Alvaro Arbeloa, Steve Finnan and Philipp Degen are three good players."
Benitez believes it is premature to assess whether Liverpool can end a title drought that would extend to 19 years at the end of the campaign if they are not crowned champions, but he feels that his squad possess the qualities needed to go the distance. He said: "We will try to win from the first game and will see what the situation is but clearly we have confidence in ourselves.
"It's too soon to say but we will be work- ing really hard to be as competitive as we can. Everything is important. Europe is important, the Premier League is important as are the FA Cup and the Carling Cup.
"We will try and win every trophy - you never know.
"I think we have quality and we will try to win every game. The key will be the first game (of the Premier League season) to see if the team has confidence. We started really well last season and we also finished really well - hopefully we can do the same but will be better in the middle of the season."
Saturday's dismantling of last season's UEFA Cup finalists was by far Liverpool's most convincing display of the summer so far and Benitez was understandably pleased with his side's performance.
He said: "The team showed from the start of the game that we wanted to impress and we wanted to win. We were playing against a good team in the first half and both teams were working hard.
"We had plenty of possession and tried to play high-tempo. We had one or two problems towards the end of the half but I felt that we controlled it.
"In the second half with the game more open it was easier for us to move the ball."
The game saw the pairing of Liverpool's new £40million strikeforce of Robbie Keane and Fernando Torres for the first time but Benitez was also pleased with how the pair connected with the other attacking players in Liverpool's team. He said: "Both players were doing really good move- ments and also the understanding with Gerrard was good.
"We had Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt too so there were five offensive players who are very clever so we were a threat all the time.
"Robbie has settled in. He's a clever player who is working hard. He's really pleased to be at Liverpool and is happy here so hopefully we'll see a lot of good movement and also some goals."
Meanwhile, Republic of Ireland international Keane's every touch was booed throughout by large sections of the Rangers crowd but Benitez shrugged off the verbal abuse of his new signing.
He said: "Robbie is a professional, he will not be worried about this. You need to support your players because he is a fantastic professional.
"For me it doesn't matter, (why they were booing him) he just has to play well for us."
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