Star arrivals can play key role in Liverpool FC's resurgence
THE last time Lazio visited Anfield they came across a Liverpool side "boasting" new signings Bruno Cheyrou and El Hadji Diouf.
Perhaps not too surprisingly, the Italians recorded a 1-0 win as the Reds' preparations for the 2002/03 season hinted at what lay ahead.
Tonight, Lazio make their return to Anfield with Liverpool's fans hoping the players brought in by Rafa Benitez during the summer will fare better than Messrs Diouf and Cheyrou.
Robbie Keane, Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri and David Ngog will all be given their home debuts as Rafa Benitez looks to give his new signings an early taste of what lies in store for them in the season to come.
Dirk Kuyt believes the Liverpool fans will be impressed by what they see and is backing all of the Reds' new acquisitions to make a positive impact both tonight and in the future.
"The new players have come in and all done well," he said.
"It is always good to have a few new faces in the group and hopefully we have made them feel welcome also.
"Sometimes you only need a few changes to make a big difference and hopefully the players who have been signed will help us achieve that.
"We already had a really strong team and now we have added to what we had so that can only be a good thing.
"Our fitness levels are improving all the time and we have scored a few goals in recent games, so everyone is feeling positive and looking forward to playing at Anfield again.
"You always have to work hard in pre-season and you look forward to the big games. We have had a few of those recently and playing Lazio at home is certainly another one.
"I'm sure the fans will be excited to see the new players because they have played well so far and hopefully that will continue tonight.
"The important thing for all of us now though is to use these games to make sure we are ready for the new season and I am sure that we will be."
It hasn't just been the new signings who have impressed during pre-season, though, with several youngsters from Gary Ablett's reserve side also having come into the first team set up and done well.
The likes of Stephen Darby, Jay Spearing, Emiliano Insua, Damien Plessis, Krisztian Nemeth and Dani Pacheco have all shown that they have the talent to provide an added dimension to Benitez's squad, and Kuyt is delighted with their emergence.
"Like the new signings, the young players have all done well," he said.
"The tour to Switzerland and the games that followed it gave all the players a good opportunity to get to know each other better and the young players came in and settled in well.
"It is always good to have young players coming through and the ones who have been involved with the team have done a good job."
Fernando Torres was among the last to return to pre-season training following his Euro 2008 winning exploits with Spain, and Anfield will afford him a hero's welcome tonight.
After hitting the target 33 times in a fantastic debut season, Torres quickly established himself as the darling of the Kop and his stock has risen still further on the world scale with his performances for Spain in Austria and Switzerland.
Having worked with him for the last 12 months, Kuyt is in no doubt that Liverpool are fortunate to be able to call upon the services of one of the best players in the world and he also believes the Spaniard will only get better.
"Of course he can improve," said the Dutchman.
"Fernando had a fantastic first season with us, but he is still only young and that means he can still get better.
"After scoring the amount of goals he scored last season I am sure that the defences of other teams will be even more wary of him and they will know what he can do but it is not easy to stop a player with the kind of qualities that he has.
"The other thing is that he did really well for Spain at Euro 2008 and scored the winning goal in the final so he will have the confidence from that, so I am sure he can get better."
The impact Torres had at Anfield last season may be a ridiculously hard act to follow but it is those kind of standards - and not the ones set by Diouf and Cheyrou - which Liverpool's new signings will hope to live up to, with tonight's meeting with Lazio at Anfield an ideal starting point.
tonybarrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk
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