Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina has defended Fernando Torres' form, blaming the lack of quality service from team-mates for the striker's return of just two goals this season.
Torres hit only his second goal of the season in Sunday's 2-1 win over Blackburn and has looked out of sorts mentally and physically for much of the season but Reina said the basic problem was that his team-mates had not been doing the Spanish forward justice.
"All strikers are about scoring goals, scoring winning goals, and I think he can build on that strike from now on,'' Reina said. "It is more or less what is happening to David Villa (who has scored just twice in the Primera Division) at Barcelona now. It is about time because they are great players but when strikers are not scoring fingers are pointed at them - it is not fair.
"I think we were not assisting him rightly in the last few weeks and he could do nothing at all. He can win you a game easily but we have to feed him in, that is the point.''
Reina believes things have started to improve, and in the first 70 minutes against Rovers the team was almost unrecognizable in its attacking intent from the one which performed so badly against Blackpool on their previous appearance at Anfield. Reina thinks playing a side like Blackburn helped them in their approach, but he knows it is something they now have to carry forward into Sunday's game at Bolton.
"It was an important game, we knew that, and that is why we started with a high tempo,'' he added.”We knew it was going to be a more physical game against Blackburn and that is why you are even more focused on the second ball and partly because of that we were making sure we were covering those long balls. That is probably why we were a bit more focused but this is the way we have to be every single game.
"The supporters were great once again because we were showing a little bit of the old spirit and we have to keep believing in ourselves because we are not such a bad team. If we play like that and deliver this kind of performance there will be more victories than defeats. It is all about confidence, when you are not winning games it is difficult to be out there and competitive.
"We just have to win a couple of games in a row and get ourselves back on a better track and keep that philosophy that we have had for the last few seasons. We are not a bad team but we have to show it week in, week out. We have just to keep winning games and not give it up.''
Reina is hopeful the club will be able to make great strides forward following the £300million takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise.
"It was an important step and it has been a great moment for the club,'' he said.”Let's see if we can build up from now and they (NESV) can help us a little bit in the winter transfer window. They are very committed to the club and, from what I understand, they have been doing really good stuff in Boston so we have to be optimistic now.''
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