The 23-year-old Norwegian international was more gulity than most of resorting to the long-ball during Gerard Houllier's reign, but he has revealed that pass and move is once again the Liverpool groove for Benitez.
Riise said: "Everything we do in training is about the use of the ball. Yes, we have our physical exercises with our running, but for Benitez training is about telling us how we use and keep the football. The players like that.
"I definitely think we will play more of a possession game in future. The manager has made it clear that for us to win more games, we need to keep the ball.
"Sometimes you can hit the opponents hard on the attack, sometimes you have to build slowly and keep it at the back, but it's always better for us to have the ball.
"There's more confidence about the squad now. All of us want to play the kind of football the fans want to see and I think under Rafa Benitez we can play some good stuff. There is a real hunger within all the players.
"Every time you get a new manager there is a lot of optimism and I can understand why the fans back home are excited. I think they're justified to be so.
"I think we're happy enough with our performances so far. Pre-season is for experimenting a bit and that's what we did against Porto. We've all been tried in different positions. I've played left back and left midfield now. Stevie Gerrard played right midfield on Friday.
"Against Porto we knew it would be very tight, but they took their chance although even at the end we could have equalised."
