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."
