Benitez today backed Dirk Kuyt as the player comes in for a bit of stick for his recent wastefulness in front of goal.
Kuyt has been criticised for failing to put away a number of chances at Blackburn and, derby penalties aside, has never looked like being able to find the net in recent months.
Benitez has come out in support of the Dutchman and praised his hard work in front of goal, trotting out some classic cliches in the process:
“When you miss chances and you have two or three, it means you are there. If you are not there, you cannot miss the chance,” said Benitez.
“I will not criticise Kuyt because he plays a lot of games and over 90 minutes his work rate is fantastic.
“He is creating chances. When you have a player who can create three or four chances for himself, normally sometimes he will score, so I think I must be pleased and positive with Kuyt.
“We need to profit from the work he is doing up front and it will be easier for him to score if his team-mates can score the first goal.”
So that’s it then – we can’t expect a striker to score the first goal – one of his team-mates has to do it. Either way, somebody, and I don’t care if it’s Reina at this point, HAS to find the net on Tuesday.