TOMKINS: IN PRAISE OF A WORLD-CLASS SPANIARD Paul Eaton 08 January 2008

It's an end of the pitch where the difference is made, and an area where Benítez got it spot-on when winning La Liga. Get it right in this position, and you can win trophies and titles.
Yes, step forward Pepe Reina: to my mind quite possibly the best goalkeeper Liverpool have ever had. (Oh, and that lad Torres isn't bad either, at the other end of the pitch.) I've heard Benítez say that praise can weaken you, and in many ways that is true; certainly when it comes to the first flush of success. But on the whole he doesn't buy weak characters who are prone to having their heads turned by a few kind words. And while Torres is winning the headlines, Reina, with a phenomenal 49 clean sheets in 87 Premiership matches, deserves all the plaudits that come his way. If a striker had 49 goals from 87 games (plus plenty more in the Champions League) you'd call him world-class. But of course, a keeper can obviously only keep a maximum of one clean sheet per game, not to mention that in some matches he will have no chance of stopping a goal. So to have a rate far better than one every two games is outstanding. (Then again, he could get a clean sheet without ever making a save but I imagine such instances are rare.) Reina will be the first to admit that the defence, midfield and even attack play their part, but they'd also point out how much they can relax with him behind them. For me, he mixes Grobbelaar's gymnastic agility with Clemence's concentration and composure. But he also –– and this is a crucial distinction over any of his forebears –– has a fair bit of Jan Molby's ability with the ball at his feet. His inch-perfect passing from the back, along with his super-quick thinking, is a big factor in turning defence into attack. It sets him apart from the rest. While he's no midget, the only thing he lacks to make him truly invincible is the really imposing frame of a taller keeper such as David James. (Or, indeed, the girth of Molby: with which he could quite literally fill the goal.) Last season Reina made a couple of bad mistakes, as do all keepers, but Petr Cech has made as many gaffs in his last two games as did Reina all season. Over his two and a half seasons, the Spanish keeper has made precious few serious errors, and is on course for his third successive pair of Golden Gloves for the most clean sheets. Let's also not forget the manager's role in organising the defence at set-pieces. Despite a couple of goals conceded from free-kicks recently, for the first time in the league this season (a situation not helped by the absence of Hyypia as well as Agger to injury, and Crouch to suspension, and also due to some poor clearances more than marking issues). The zonal marking system still has a remarkable record for the Reds. Chelsea have been leaking goals from bad man-marking, United conceded two in one game at West Ham, and Spurs have conceded five in their last two matches. It's very difficult to foretell who will be a success, and to what degree. I've been wrong about players before, as I'm sure everyone has. I felt Cissé and Morientes could succeed; I still don't think either were ‘failures', given that the former scored a decent amount of goals and played a part in the European and FA Cup successes, as well as the 82-point league haul, while Morientes played his part in the latter two of those three achievements. But Cissé never lived up to his price tag and potential, and Morientes never lived up to his reputation. But with Fernando Torres I felt the most certain I've ever been of any player succeeding. Having said that, I still thought it would take him longer than it has to settle. So that's been a bonus. Other big signings, like Collymore, Clough and Diouf started brightly only to ultimately fail, but no-one has started their Liverpool career this well for years, spread over half a season. And it's no fluke. I feared I might have gone too far over the summer in comparing him with Thierry Henry, and while they are different players (despite some similarities), Torres has the ability merit the comparison. Now he has to show the Frenchman's consistency, season after season. The Christmas period, and the Manchester City game in particular, has perhaps shown one of the toughest parts of adapting to life in England: lots of games in quick succession. Even Sam Allardyce, a stereotypically old-style English centre-half from the ‘70s and ‘80s as a player, but one who tries to adopt an enlightened modern approach as a manager, says that there is too much football played at this time of year, and that you wouldn't ask the same of racehorses. Being a striker is all about lots of movement, whereas being a defender is often about taking a few steps here and there; reading the game, rather than running. So strikers feel it more. While Torres coped well on the whole, scoring three goals in four festive games, he wasn't as devastating as he can be. Of all Torres' many qualities, my favourite aspect of his game is the way he takes the ball onto his left side, despite being right-footed. Sometimes he'll do it to get away a left-foot shot, other times he'll still use his right foot. When he does use his left, he can score goals, as he has against Derby, Reading and Fulham. One-footedness, and a proclivity to do anything possible to use the favoured foot, is a weakness in football. Some can get away with it: Patrik Berger was perhaps the best I've seen when it comes to a Liverpool player somehow working space to shoot on his favoured side, but if he'd used his right foot as well, he'd have been even better. Torres' very first Liverpool goal, against Chelsea, summed up his unpredictability: the position of the ball clearly favoured a left-foot shot. But the problem was that doing so would take the ball closer to Cech, and any curl would possibly take it wide of the post; a right-foot shot could have the ball curl past the keeper and in towards the far post. Which is what he did. To perfection. At the time I feared the finish (unlike the way he beat the defender) was less a clever decision and more a case of the Spaniard wanting it on his favoured foot. But the more I see of him, the more assured I am that it was sublime thinking, and that he'll always use the foot that the situation requires. For me, this is one of the most important things in a striker. It makes him impossible to suss out. While Torres' form may dip from time to time, he's as far from a one-dimensional forward as you can get. How many times has he faced a defender and turned him square-on, only to breeze past him to the left? As well as the Chelsea goal, there was the run for the opening goal against Portsmouth, and the superb individual strike at Pride Park. The defenders know that they must stop him running onto his right foot, as he can do what he did in Marseilles: drift past players in the blink of an eye and finish with supreme accuracy. But that leaves them open to a left-side burst. The willingness to use his left foot not only bamboozles defenders, but it also doesn't allow keepers to set themselves. His goal against Fulham came from an early left-foot shot. Against Derby at Anfield he also pulled a shot back across the keeper with his left foot. Sixteen goals at the halfway point for a player who doesn't take penalties (unlike the others in the top-scorers' chart) is a great return, particularly as he's also missed quite a few games through injury. I had a lot of correspondence about Torres over the summer, with fans expressing their doubts. But for me there was never any question he was the real deal. The comparisons with Morientes were as lame as you could get: both talented Spanish strikers called Fernando, but one infinitely more suited to English football. Sometimes you have to pay a lot of money for top quality. But even at £20m, Fernando Torres looks a bargain. Other times you can find a gem for a far cheaper fee, as was the case with Pepe Reina, at just £6m. With these two young Spaniards, the Reds' should have years of success at both ends of the pitch.