Rafa Benitez has told Fernando Torres to
'concentrate on football' after a spate of petulant
incidents.
The Spanish striker has picked up five yellow cards in his last
seven games and could have been sent off against Manchester United
if the referee had punished his angry kick at the penalty
spot.
"Fernando knows he has to focus a little bit more," said Rafa
Benitez. "He can score more goals by concentrating on
football.
"All strikers, especially top-class strikers, they are marked a
little bit more closely than others and that is normal. It's not
easy every game.
"People don't understand when you're a player on the pitch and
you're fighting and sometimes you can't understand these
things."
Benitez has admitted that he is looking towards Torres, the
under-performing Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano to deliver
the fourth place he guaranteed.
"Sometimes, when you talk about big names, top-class players,
you are expecting something from them when the team isn't doing
well," he said.
"You expect them to say, 'It's OK, follow me'. We have had this
conversation with Fernando and the rest of the team. It was
something we were expecting from Torres and he was really good the
other day against Lille."
