Teenage star Jack Hobbs will emerge from his searching examination during Liverpool's pre-season a better player, claims boss Rafael Benitez.

Hobbs, 17, a star of the club's FA Youth Cup triumph last season, has figured in all four of Liverpool's senior pre-season friendlies with varying degrees of success.

On Saturday he had a disaster against Kaiserslautern in Liechtenstein, being blamed for all three of the goals in a 3-2 defeat.

But a meeting with Benitez ahead of Tuesday night's friendly against Grasshopper in Zurich seems to have worked. Hobbs, despite the 2-0 defeat, had a much better game and shows he is learning quickly.