BENITEZ: WINNING STREAK MUST CONTINUE
Louise Goulding 25 September 2009
Rafa Benitez today urged his players to continue their good run of form by taking three points from Hull City at Anfield on Saturday.
Liverpool are on a five-game winning streak and the Spaniard wants his team to keep the run going for as long as possible.
"It is important, especially in the Premier League, because you cannot lose too many games. For us it is important to win, if possible, every game," Benitez told his weekly press conference.
"I think at this moment with five wins in a row the mentality is really good.
"The strikers need confidence, the team needs confidence - so we are doing well.
"We are scoring goals and the players are going forward with energy and determination, and it is more difficult for the defenders to stop us.
"Sometimes people analyse things in a short time, but I think we have to wait and see how everything settles down, because it is too early.
"It is always the same - people say it is better to win one game than to draw two, but I think it is too early."
Ryan Babel is one man hoping to have made a claim for a starting place after his run out against Leeds United in midweek.
Benitez believes the Dutch winger knows what he has to do in order to become a regular.
"Ryan clearly wants to improve. He knows that he has been here for three years, he knows the people and defenders too, and he knows what the fans want.
"He is working very hard. He was very good in pre-season, so he started the game against Tottenham - because he was doing really well.
"After the game we needed to change something, but again he is ready and you can see he is a threat for the defenders."
Benitez also praised Fernando Torres, who scored two goals against West Ham last weekend.
"He is improving," said the gaffer. "I had to answer questions about his fitness - people were saying he is not fully fit, he is not ready, and one week later people are saying he is fantastic; he is on fire.
"I think everybody can see that he is improving and doing well and hopefully he can continue doing the same for us this weekend."
Glen Johnson has settled into life at Anfield very quickly and the Liverpool manager believes he can be a potent weapon in attack.
"Arbeloa was a very consistent full-back who was quite good at going forward and quite good at defending. I think Glen is very, very dangerous in attack," said the boss.
"We were trying to bring in someone who could also create something in the right direction and he is doing really well in attack for us.
"He goes forward more frequently than Arbeloa and also is very good at crossing and can score goals. He has already scored two goals and I think he is a very good addition in attack."
Meanwhile, Benitez was quick to support Hull's under-fire manager Phil Brown, whose side currently sit second bottom of the Premier League.
He added: "You always have to support other managers, because you know how difficult the job is.
"When you are winning everyone is on your side, when you are not winning it is always more difficult, but we will see what happens after this weekend.
"You know I always want to win, but after the game I will wish him all the best."
Benitez was also asked about his opinion on the idea of having an independent adjudicator in charge of time-keeping following last week's Manchester derby in which United scored beyond the allocated injury time.
He said: "I have spoken about using videos for disputes, so maybe if we could have someone controlling the time it would be easier for the referee to be focusing on the game."
Let's hope the lads keep the momentum going and get another win tomorrow, easy it might look, but there are no easy games in the Premiership.
I still feel that we're not firing on all cylinders yet, and that we 'haven't really got going this season' that's all good news if we are third in the table and still to hit our best form.
Would like to see a really good performance tomorrow with plenty of flowing football and lots of goals, don't want much do I?
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