"Mascherano can give us the balance and allow the other players to play their own game," said the Liverpool boss.
"When you have a midfielder who is in a good position and can play the ball properly and always supporting the centre-backs and also the attack, it's really important for players like Torres that they can go forward and sometimes forget they need to defend.
"We have a lot of very good players now with that mentality. Javier has a very good mentality, he's very professional.
"If you don't use him he never complains, he's always ready for the next game. He trains really hard.
"He's the kind of player you want as a holding midfielder. He doesn't need to score a lot of goals, just keep the balance of the rest of the team."