Benitez underlines Gerrard importance

RAFAEL BENITEZ has underlined just how crucial Steven Gerrard is to Liverpool’s future after the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor criticised the over-use of the England midfield star.

And Liverpool chief Benitez will have his skipper leading from the front today in a crunch Barclays Premier League clash at Blackburn, with Mark Hughes’ men now one place ahead of the Anfield club in the table.

Taylor, the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive, said of Gerrard: “If that was a racehorse,

the RSPCA would be on the case.”

But Benitez has shifted the blame onto England for the punishing schedule that Gerrard has had to endure this season, having started six games in the last 18 days.

And Benitez has also claimed that when Gerrard is not in the right confident frame of mind, Liverpool do not play well.

With vital league games on the horizon and three make-or-break Champions League games before mid-December, the workload will not diminish for Gerrard, who also has England’s vital game with Croatia at Wembley on November 21 to contend with. Benitez said: “Gerrard now has his confidence back, when he is in that frame of mind he plays well and Liverpool play well.

“Beforehand he was injured, he needed to get fit but he still had to join up with the national team. He was the hero of his country because he was playing with injuries, but it is not easy to play a lot of games in a row when you are not 100% fit.

“Everybody was pushing him to do everything well for his country and the team and to play two matches in a row, sometimes that is not easy in those circumstances. It has had an effect on him ever since.’’