Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ian Rush: Lay-Off Will Prove The Perfect Lift For Liverpool

By the time Liverpool kick off against Manchester City on Sunday it will have been more than a fortnight since their last game – and for me those two weeks may be the most important of the season so far.

As a player you love the games to come thick and fast, especially at this stage of the season because the more matches you play the more likely it is that you are doing well.

But it is absolutely vital that you get some rest at the right times and this is exactly what Liverpool have just had.

They would much rather have been involved in FA Cup action at the weekend, there is no question about that, and I am sure all the players and staff at Anfield did not enjoy looking on as other teams took part in round five.

But you have to take the positives from every situation, and in this case the benefit to Liverpool was clear in that the cup weekend came hot on the heels of an international break and this has allowed them to recharge their batteries.

Even though several of Rafa Benitez’s players went off on international duty this could still be beneficial because sometimes you just need a change of scenery and a different environment before getting back to the daily grind at Melwood.

The two biggest plus points for me are that the break will have allowed Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to work on their fitness.

Gerrard, in particular, will have been delighted that there has only been one match since he picked up a hamstring tear against Everton.

At almost any other stage of the season Liverpool’s captain would have expected to miss several matches with that kind of injury.

So if it turns out that he only ends up missing one then it will be more than welcome both for him and for the team.

Torres had been looking a little short of his absolute sharpest after coming back from his own hamstring problems and this was why Benitez only brought him on during the final stages of Liverpool’s 3-2 win at Portsmouth.

So the fact that he has since played an hour for Spain and has also had the opportunity to work on his overall fitness at Melwood is another boost to Liverpool.

The challenge now is to make the most of the recovery time that the last fortnight has afforded them.

There can be no excuses about tiredness when Manchester City come to Anfield because the Liverpool players should be as fresh as they have been at any other time this season.

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