RAFAEL BENITEZ is determined to get to the bottom of Fernando Torres’ hamstring crisis and welcome the striker back to action in a matter of weeks.
The Liverpool manager is confident that his record signing can shake off the persistent problems that have severely disrupted his second season in English football.
Torres has already missed seven Liverpool games this season following the hamstring tear he initially sustained playing for Spain in a World Cup qualifier with Belgium in September.
And he will be out for a further three weeks after he aggravated the same muscle in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Marseille.
Benitez is sure there will be no long-term effects for the player but he has admitted he and his staff are back to square one in trying to identify exactly what is causing his agony.
Former Liverpool forward Michael Owen’s career was blighted by constant hamstring problems when he was at Anfield, but Benitez isn’t anticipating similar problems for Torres.
“In a few weeks Torres will be okay,” said the manager. “Each player is different so now I have a lot of confidence that we can find a solution sooner rather than later. When you get two or three injuries in the same muscle it’s something you have to consider.
“Sometimes it is a problem with your back or how you walk so you need to analyse everything because small things can change everything.
“It’s not a question of what the players do every day, but there may be one or two things that are important.
“We need to check all the things that they were doing before and change things if necessary.”
Benitez insists Torres was not rushed back into action too early after his second setback last month, which he also sustained on international duty.
He was eased back into action as a sub against West Brom and Bolton, starting the League Cup defeat to Spurs in between before once again coming on as a sub for Spain against Chile in a friendly last week.
The striker then played 90 minutes of the 0-0 draw with Fulham last Saturday and also completed the 1-0 victory over Marseille on Wednesday – with Benitez insisting Torres was in good condition to play ahead of all those games.
“We have been doing some prevention work but now we need to look at maybe changing the way we do things and analyse more things,” said Benitez. “We were doing everything right and the player was sharp. You could see that he was ready but he has the same problem now and we have to analyse and change things if necessary.
“All the players do specific work, and normally with injuries you know the weakness of the player and work with the physios and fitness coach and you do different exercises to prevent certain things.
“We played him at Tottenham in the Carling Cup for 55 minutes so we had an idea, a timing and everything was under control. So he was training really well and you could see he was sharp – that’s why he played the other day because he had lot of confidence.
“And I can guarantee you that the other day we were training and we were really pleased with him and Steven Gerrard, because both were working very hard and you could see the sharpness of both.”
Torres will miss Monday’s home game with West Ham, along with Fabio Aurelio who is out for two weeks with a calf problem.
The Liverpool manager is confident that his record signing can shake off the persistent problems that have severely disrupted his second season in English football.
Torres has already missed seven Liverpool games this season following the hamstring tear he initially sustained playing for Spain in a World Cup qualifier with Belgium in September.
And he will be out for a further three weeks after he aggravated the same muscle in Wednesday’s Champions League win over Marseille.
Benitez is sure there will be no long-term effects for the player but he has admitted he and his staff are back to square one in trying to identify exactly what is causing his agony.
Former Liverpool forward Michael Owen’s career was blighted by constant hamstring problems when he was at Anfield, but Benitez isn’t anticipating similar problems for Torres.
“In a few weeks Torres will be okay,” said the manager. “Each player is different so now I have a lot of confidence that we can find a solution sooner rather than later. When you get two or three injuries in the same muscle it’s something you have to consider.
“Sometimes it is a problem with your back or how you walk so you need to analyse everything because small things can change everything.
“It’s not a question of what the players do every day, but there may be one or two things that are important.
“We need to check all the things that they were doing before and change things if necessary.”
Benitez insists Torres was not rushed back into action too early after his second setback last month, which he also sustained on international duty.
He was eased back into action as a sub against West Brom and Bolton, starting the League Cup defeat to Spurs in between before once again coming on as a sub for Spain against Chile in a friendly last week.
The striker then played 90 minutes of the 0-0 draw with Fulham last Saturday and also completed the 1-0 victory over Marseille on Wednesday – with Benitez insisting Torres was in good condition to play ahead of all those games.
“We have been doing some prevention work but now we need to look at maybe changing the way we do things and analyse more things,” said Benitez. “We were doing everything right and the player was sharp. You could see that he was ready but he has the same problem now and we have to analyse and change things if necessary.
“All the players do specific work, and normally with injuries you know the weakness of the player and work with the physios and fitness coach and you do different exercises to prevent certain things.
“We played him at Tottenham in the Carling Cup for 55 minutes so we had an idea, a timing and everything was under control. So he was training really well and you could see he was sharp – that’s why he played the other day because he had lot of confidence.
“And I can guarantee you that the other day we were training and we were really pleased with him and Steven Gerrard, because both were working very hard and you could see the sharpness of both.”
Torres will miss Monday’s home game with West Ham, along with Fabio Aurelio who is out for two weeks with a calf problem.
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