Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Rafa: We'll Scare You To Death

Rafa Benitez insists his Premier League rivals are running scared of Liverpool’s new strike force.

Benitez yesterday completed the £20.3m signing of Robbie Keane and can’t wait to unleash him alongside Spanish hotshot Fernando Torres.

Keane scored 23 goals for Tottenham last season, while Torres smashed 33 for the Reds in a blistering debut campaign.

And Benitez believes the arrival of Keane will ensure an avalanche of goals next season to leave opposition defences quaking in their boots at the sight of the team-sheet.

“I think defences will be worried for sure,” he said.

“Other managers and defenders will try to do things (to stop them).

“Robbie is one of the very best forwards in the Premier League.

“Everybody knows he is a very good player, a clever player.

“He can play on the right, as a central striker or in a deeper position.

“He scored twice at Anfield last season, he knows where he has to be to score and where he must be to support team-mates. He is very clever.

“We have known he was a good player for a long time, the goals he scored against us just underlined what we already knew.

“We wanted the player, he said he was a Liverpool fan and wanted to come here. We are happy, our fans are happy.

“It is important for Torres to have another player who can score goals.

“In addition to Torres and Keane, we have Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel.

“Those players will cause problems for defenders and maybe they cannot cope with everyone.”

Keane, 28, will get an early taste of action in a Liverpool shirt in today’s friendly against Spanish side Villarreal.

Benitez claims that he has yet to decide how to deploy his new goal-scoring weapon.

But he insists Keane gives Liverpool a much better chance of getting close to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in the league.

But he admitted he will need to sell before he can bolster his ranks again by finally signing Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.

“We knew that we could only spend money by selling players and we have been doing this (for Keane),” said Benitez.

“We are still trying to sign the players that we need. And if we need to sell someone now, OK. We will do so.

“If we can do it (the Barry deal) before the end of the transfer window, we will continue to try.”

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