nítez, the Liverpool manager, has said that he expects his "big names" to lead by example and drive the club on to finish fourth and ensure they win a place in the Champions League qualifying round.

Liverpool have seven matches left – with only one to come against a top-four club, Chelsea at home – to achieve their goal and Benítez expects his experienced players, and Fernando Torres in particular, to lead the way.

"Sometimes, when you talk about big names, top-class players, you are expecting something from them when the team is not doing well," said Benítez. "You expect them to say, 'It's OK, follow me.'

"We have had this conversation with Fernando and the rest of the team. It was something we were expecting from Torres and he was really good the other day [scoring two against Lille]."

Benítez said he was not overly concerned by Torres' display of petulance against United, when the striker kicked the penalty spot before Wayne Rooney equalised for Manchester United and was later booked for a foul on Park Ji-sung and subsequent dissent to the referee, Howard Webb.

But the manager has told his centre-forward to concentrate on causing problems for opponents and not allow himself to be distracted by their spoiling tactics.

"Fernando knows he has to focus a little bit more," said the manager. "We were talking about this at half-time [at Old Trafford] so that is something that will be better for him and better for the team. He can score more goals by concentrating on football.

"All strikers, especially top-class strikers, they are marked a little bit more closely than others and that is normal. It is not easy every game. People don't understand when you are a player on the pitch and you are fighting and sometimes you cannot understand these things."

Left-back is another area of concern for Benítez, with Emiliano Insúa coming in for criticism for failing to cope with Antonio Valencia. The manager said the likely replacement, Fabio Aurélio, is probably a fortnight away from a comeback after a thigh injury, which means the 21-year-old Argentinian will continue in the role.

However, Benítez said that Insúa, who has played all but two Premier League matches this season, needs more support from his team-mates. "It is not just one situation where you can point to someone," he said. "The team has to take care of the situation. We have to share the responsibility."