Torres omission tactical

Torres was a suprise omission from the starting line up against Birmingham yesterday especially since the Reds failed to score again. The omission was a tactical one according to Rafa Benitez.

"We knew they would be deep and narrow and compact, so we needed the strikers to play between the lines," said the Spaniard.

"Kuyt and Voronin can do this. After, when we needed fresh legs, we brought on Fernando, but you could see how many times he got behind defenders - never. That's because there was no space."