Battle for places vital says Rafa

Last updated : 04 September 2007 By Al Campbell
Liverpool now have two quality players for each position and every player knows they must keep performing or they will lose their place and that can only be good for the club says Rafa Benitez.

"There is a long way to go, what is more important is to make sure the team maintain the same mentality," said the Spaniard.

"The understanding between Torres and Kuyt is fine, but then when it was Kuyt and Voronin that was good also. It is the same when Crouch is playing with Torres, Voronin or Kuyt, I am pleased with all the combinations.

"All of them know what we want, their movement is good and I am sure it will improve even more over the coming weeks.

"Now we have four players with quality and different skills. I can now manage in a different way because you know all of them can score goals.

"You cannot say that Torres will score more goals that Kuyt, Voronin or Crouch. They can all score and they are all equal.

"We are different from last season. We are able to finish teams off, we can score the first and then the second, and the game is over. It is different to some of the games last season.

"I am sure the fans will enjoy where we are. But for me that is not important now, it is too early. We must keep going and see what happens in a couple of months' time.

"The work rate of the team is so good, Kuyt did not score against Derby but his effort and running was fantastic. Torres, Voronin too, I was really pleased with them all.

"We are better than before, we have more confidence and we are scoring more goals and winning games.

"Now we must keep winning and after a month or two, maybe we can then talk about whether we are at the beginning of a fantastic season."