Rafa: Gerrard not on form

Rafa Benitez has explained that he feels Steven Gerrard's exploits for his country has conincided with a dip in form for his club Liverpool. Gerrard did not play the previous three Premiership games before England's Euro 2008 qualifying double header against Israel and Russia due to a broken toe.

"It could be that playing twice for England has had an impact," Benitez told the Liverpool Daily Post.

"They (the England staff) knew (what I felt about Gerrard playing in both games), but in this situation everyone was talking about how important this situation was for England.

"His national team is England, but it is clear that these players cannot play every game for 90 minutes.

"Gerrard was not 100 per cent physically fresh, I don't mean fit but fresh.

"In these kind of games you need to keep the tempo really high and if you play too many games in a row for 90 minutes, especially if you are not fit, then normally you have problems."