Rafael Benitez has issued a caustic riposte to critics of his decision to rest Fernando Torres and claimed Liverpool cannot win the Premier League if the €39-million striker represents their only hope of success against the likes of Birmingham.

Liverpool were held at home by Steve Bruce's team last weekend and Benitez has attracted unaccustomed criticism from his own support for leaving out Torres for two successive games, and goalless draws, in the competition he described as the club's priority this season.

Bewilderment at Benitez's selection policy intensified on Tuesday when Torres started in the League Cup at Reading and responded with the first hat-trick of his Liverpool career. Yet the manager - who has been urged by his captain, Steven Gerrard, to start the club's record signing at Wigan this afternoon - insists he was correct to field Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin against Birmingham.

"If you say to me that I would have had to play Torres to be capable of beating Birmingham, then I'd say we couldn't win the league," said Benitez. "We didn't win because Torres wasn't playing, but because too many players did not perform at their level."

Few, if any, would dispute the success of Benitez's rotation policy at Liverpool or Valencia, where one European Cup, one FA Cup, one Uefa Cup and two La Liga titles in six seasons provide an emphatic case for the defence.

"You can understand Rafa's method, but you can also understand the fans who want to see (Torres) out there for every minute," Gerrard admitted last night. "I think the reason Fernando was on the bench on Saturday was because the manager thought Birmingham wouldn't allow any space behind their defence.

"Reading played really high and there was a lot of space in behind them, and by running onto the through balls Fernando exploited that space really well.

"I don't want to get involved in Rafa's team selection, but I think any centre-forward who scores a hat-trick really should be played in the next game because his confidence is so high."

For his part, Benitez refuses to veer from the approach that has delivered success over his career and his experience also suggests he believes the rotation issue will return to the sidelines once Liverpool have collected their next Premier League victory.

"We've played a final at the end of each season I've been here," he said. "Why? Because we've had a big squad and we were going into games with fresh legs. That proves that the system can work. Torres can play 20 or 30 games in a row without any problem, but he won't be at the same level in the last few months of the season when we hope to be playing for trophies.

"Sometimes I will make mistakes, but I was 100 per cent sure it wasn't a mistake not to play Torres against Birmingham. Torres is young, and is fit and strong. He can play, but I want to make sure he can be playing during the end of the season. The last 10 games of the season are probably the most important and you won't win anything if your players aren't physically ready."

Tottenham's chairman, Daniel Levy, has admitted there is an "element of truth" to the rumours regarding Martin Jol's future at the club but insists the manager has the backing of the squad and board for the meantime.

Jol's position at Tottenham has been uncertain following a dismal start to the campaign and the now-infamous meeting by club officials with Sevilla's coach, Juande Ramos. Jose Mourinho was also linked with the club after leaving Chelsea nine days ago but Jol has remained defiant.

Levy, speaking on Setanta Sports, said: "Obviously with any speculation sometimes there's an element of truth, but there has been a lot of stuff that's been written in the papers which has just been completely untrue."

Jol appears to believe his chairman's sentiments and feels the board have recognised his achievements by sticking with him after a start of just one win in seven Premier League games that has left Tottenham rooted in the bottom three.

Expectations had been high before the start of the season after the club spent around €60 million on Darren Bent, Younes Kaboul, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Gareth Bale while hanging on to the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Pascal Chimbonda despite interest from other teams.

"I think it's inevitable with the quality of players we have that when we're not performing on the pitch there's bound to be speculation," Levy said. "I've made it very clear that I very much want Martin to succeed. Martin is fully aware of our ambition, he also has got ambition - he just needs to get results. I think we're all fairly thick-skinned, if I'm honest, and I just think Martin and the players need to ignore the outside pressure and just win."

The British politician John Reid is to become chairman of Celtic. The former minister of state for Northern Ireland (60) will succeed Brian Quinn, who will stand down from office at the club's agm on November 19th.

Reid is standing down as an MP at the next General Election.

Meanwhile, Andy Reid has given his word to Charlton manager Alan Pardew that he will stay with the club as they attempt to win promotion back to the Premier League.

Pardew confirmed the Republic of Ireland midfielder has a gentleman's agreement with him not to leave the London club during the January transfer window. In return for that commitment Pardew has made Reid captain. Pardew said: "I have an agreement with Andy that he will stay here all season. One of the reasons I gave him the captaincy was to get that promise from him." ...