Rafa Benitez has told Fernando Torres to 'concentrate on football' after a spate of petulant incidents.
The Spanish striker has picked up five yellow cards in his last seven games and could have been sent off against Manchester United if the referee had punished his angry kick at the penalty spot.
"Fernando knows he has to focus a little bit more," said Rafa Benitez. "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's not easy every game.
"People don't understand when you're a player on the pitch and you're fighting and sometimes you can't understand these things."
Benitez has admitted that he is looking towards Torres, the under-performing Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano to deliver the fourth place he guaranteed.
"Sometimes, when you talk about big names, top-class players, you are expecting something from them when the team isn't doing well," he said.
"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 against Lille."
