Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has played down fears over Steven Gerrard's fitness.
Gerrard was restricted to a late cameo appearance in Friday's Asia Trophy final against Portsmouth after missing the opening game of the tournament against South China earlier this week.
The England international has been struggling with a stomach muscle problem, but Benitez insists the midfield dynamo will be fit for the big kick-off next month.
"I think it was okay, he is at 80 per cent, so we didn't want to take too many risks," Benitez told Sky Sports 1.
"We used him at the end and he scored his penalty and in two or three days he will be okay for sure.
"There is no problem for the start of the season."
Benitez was disappointed to lose the final to Portsmouth on penalties, but he could take positives from the club's trip to Hong Kong.
"I am a little bit disappointed," added Benitez, "We dominated the game, we had some chances and you need to take your chances, in football it is always the same.
"I think we had plenty of possession and also some clear chances but it is football and you need to score.
"This tournament was good for us. We played two games against good teams and you can see the mentality of the players and also the competition for each position."
He was signed by Roy Evans in the summer of 1995 for what was then a British record of 8.5 million pounds. I remember vividly when we signed Collymore, we had actually been in a battle with Everton for his signature and in the end Roy Evans had to pay what seemed a ridiculous amount at the time in order to secure his services. I was in London the day he signed and I remember it being the lead story on the radio in the car journey home back to Liverpool. I still recall my dad and I whooping with joy as we were both convinced that this would be the signing that proved we deserved to be back at the top again. This was only heightened after Stan’s debut at Anfield when he scored an absolute screamer against Sheffield Wednesday. Unfortunately he got injured in the next game but when he came back a few games later he scored an even better long range goal against Blackburn Rovers, who were the reigning Premiership Champions at the time. 
Once Michael Owen started coming through Collymore was sold to his boyhood club, Aston Villa, for seven million pounds. Despite his reputation off the pitch he was actually quite a popular player on the Kop. At the end of what turned out to be his final game for Liverpool he went over to salute the fans in the Kop and even threw his boots into the crowd. My Uncle Marty actually caught one of the boots. See the enclosed pictures of the boot he caught. On the first picture you can see the grass still on the studs from the hallowed Anfield turf. In the second picture you can see that the boot has been stitched so these boots obviously meant a lot to him as he didn’t replace them when they ripped. What a fantastic souvenir! 
That leads me to the point of this article. My one major concern left, is Rafa’s inherent tendency for caution. Too often, against clearly inferior teams, he tends to approach games with far too a high degree of caution. Whether it be a line up of 4-5-1, or a team top loaded with defensive minded players, we’ve dropped far too many points, and lost far too many games, by showing inferior opposition far too much respect. This is almost exclusively true when playing away from home. Those same players and teams who have derailed our title challenge at grounds like the Riverside, Bramall Lane and the Valley, are routinely dispatched without breaking sweat at Anfield. 
