Rafa: Torres can get even better

Rafa Benitez claims Liverpool fans have yet to see the best of Fernando Torres despite his sensational hat-trick in the 6-1 victory over Hull City on Saturday.

The Spain international all but secured the points against Phil Brown's men before Steven Gerrard and Ryan Babel (2) added their names to the scoresheet.
 
Torres now has eight goals from seven games this term, yet Benitez is adamant that he has yet to reach his full potential.
 
"He can do even better," said the boss. "In the last three games he's been really good. He's improving and his mentality, workrate and movements show his ability.
 
"Still I think he can do better. The main thing is the mentality of the player. I always say the same: he's keen to learn and that's the main thing. That means he will improve. How much depends on him.
 
"£20 million is a massive figure for us, so we knew he was good. But the main thing when we decided to bring him here apart from his quality was the potential, his age and the future he had. So, we are very pleased now but he can still improve."
 
The 6-1 thrashing of Hull contrasts sharply with a frustrating 2-2 in the corresponding fixture last term.
 
Yet Benitez insists he has not changed his system in a bid to quash damaging home draws.
 
He said: "We are not changing anything. Here, if you look at the team, it was more or less the same. It depends on the movement of the players. The system is more or less the same.
 
"Maybe we have more accuracy this year. If you look at the statistics we're having more shots on target this year and we are scoring more goals.
 
"We were playing with a lot of confidence here and creating a lot of chances. At the end we could change players, give players a rest and think about the next game.
 
"Six goals is fantastic but it could have been even better because we had some chances. That's another positive - the mentality of the team going forward, winning the game and still trying to score more."
 
Liverpool are now just three points behind league leaders Chelsea following their 3-1 defeat at the JJB.
 
Benitez thinks this is more evidence that the Barclays Premier League title race will be hard to call this season.
 
"We talked about this before," said the Spaniard. "The top sides will lose games. You'll see more teams losing and there will be more competition at the top of the table. That's positive for the fans and for the press - because you can write more things every single day. It will be a funny year."
 
Liverpool meet Carlo Ancelotti's men at Stamford Bridge next weekend on the back of six straight wins.
 
Benitez added: "It is important to win some games in a row, so confidence is high. But Chelsea are a strong team with quality, so it will be a very, very tough game."