Benitez grateful for Kop’s new God
Football supporters are prone to hyperbole and Fowler’s nickname did not sit comfortably with many, who felt that comparisons to the man upstairs were taking things a little too far.
Yet the sentiment is easy to understand. Fowler was seemingly capable of miracles once in sight of goal and Torres, who became the first Liverpool forward since Fowler 12 years ago to score 20 league goals in a season with his match-winner against Reading, clearly has the same magical ability.
The Spaniard has now scored 27 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool since his €34 million summer arrival from Atletico Madrid. He scores headers, tap-ins and breathtaking individual goals and there is a sense that Liverpool’s destiny this season lies at his feet, literally.
Take Torres out of the Liverpool team, however, as Rafael Benitez did against Barnsley in the FA Cup last month, and they are a wholly different proposition.
Neither Dirk Kuyt or Peter Crouch has the ability to frighten defences in the same manner and Steven Gerrard is not the same player without Torres in front of him.
The obvious conclusion is that Liverpool are becoming over-reliant on Torres — labelled “the stand-out striker in European football” by Jamie Carragher on Saturday — but Benitez insists that is not the case.
He said: “We have Kuyt, Crouch and (Andriy) Voronin, three strikers who can score goals. Today we have Ryan Babel, Kuyt, Gerrard and Torres and all of them are offensive, all of them have chances in every game. If you don’t have one player, you must use another player, so I think we have enough quality.
“It was important for Torres to score 20 league goals and also for us. Everyone was talking about the money we spent, but it’s funny because everyone says ‘fantastic signing’ and then when you don’t spend money on a player and he’s free and it’s not working, they say ‘really bad signing.’ Why? Because he was free.
“In this case, he was expensive and now he’s really good. When you have more money, it’s easier to sign better players.”
When Reading opened the scoring on five minutes with a spectacular long-range effort from Marek Matejovsky, it became a test of Liverpool’s credentials. Reading were committed and, at times, belligerent, but Liverpool withstood the physical pressure to overturn the deficit.
Javier Mascherano’s equaliser, an equally impressive strike from distance, gave Liverpool a platform and Torres secured the victory when he was allowed the space to head in Gerrard’s free-kick from six yards early in the second half.
Yet but for a narrow escape in the final minute, when referee Andre Marriner ignored Reading appeals for a penalty after Gerrard had blocked Dave Kitson’s shot with his hand, it could have been a different story.
Reading manager Steve Coppell said: “This can be a daunting place to come to and the very fact that, in the last five minutes, they were taking their time over things while we were the team with impetus tells me we could easily have got something from the game.
“We maybe would have got the penalty had we been at home. They (Liverpool) would have got that penalty had it been at the other end.”
LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Reina 6, Arbeloa 6, Carragher 7, Skrtel 6, Aurelio 6, Alonso 7, Mascherano 9, Gerrard 8 (Hyypia 90, 5), Babel 7 (Riise 83, 5), Kuyt 6 (Benayoun 80, 5), Torres 8.
Subs Not Used: Itandje, Crouch.
READING (4-4-2): Hahnemann 8, Rosenior 6, Bikey 6, Ingimarsson 6, Shorey 7, Oster 7 (Kebe 72, 5), Harper 6, Matejovsky 7 (Cisse 74, 6), Hunt 7, Doyle 5, Long 5 (Kitson 63, 5).
Subs Not Used: Federici, Sonko.
REFEREE: Andre Marriner (W Midlands) 5: Booked five Reading players in a slightly unbalanced performance. Also enraged Reading by failing to award a late penalty following a Steven Gerrard handball.
MATCH RATING: **** Reading belied their lowly position, but with Gerrard, Mascherano and Torres in such impressive form, there was always going to be only one winner.
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