Robbie Keane will make us better

Robbie Keane is 28 and cost Liverpool in excess of £20 million. This is indeed a gamble for Rafa Benitez because there's no re-sale value and he has no time to bed in. We saw Keane get his first taste of life as a Liverpool forward against Villarreal and the signs are positive. He looks likely to get a run with Torres against Rangers this Saturday.

As Liverpool fans we know we have brought proven quality and most of us are looking for the same type of instant return as that provided by Torres. Keane has scored a lot of goals for Tottenham but the demands of a top four club are different, he will need to produce a level of consistency that he hasn't had to before. There's a lot of encouraging signs and I certainly think he's going to give us a lot more options up front.

Keane is far from the final piece of the Premiership winning team puzzle but I think if Keane is a success then it will certainly push us closer. If Torres and Keane can click they are going to be a pretty potent strike force and it will certainly ask a lot more questions of defences. In the past couples of seasons we have relied heavily on Gerrard and even last season, Torres was the match winner on many occasions. With Keane, we have a proven second striker we can rely on should Torres get injured. That is progress and gives us a new dimension.

Benitez has got a couple of options. He could either go 4-4-2 and play Keane and Torres up top, which might dictate that Gerrard is pushed back on to the right. Or he could go 4-2-3-1, as he did last season, with Torres up top on his own and Keane and Kuyt out wide with Gerrard through the middle. It will be interesting to see whether he can produce top form regularly. Spurs are obviously one of the clubs who are moving closer to the top four - but this move is a significant step up and presents a whole new series of demands.
It will be interesting to see how playing in the Champions League regularly affects his form in the league with the extra number of high-pressure games. But he's a player with no shortage of confidence.