Olympique Marseille midfielder Bolo Zenden believes Rafa Benitez may be missing his former Liverpool No2 Pako Ayesteran this season.

"Pako had all the physical details of every single player," Zenden told BBC Sport. "He's the one who had all the answers and it showed when players were fatigued or at peak level.

"It's something completely new the way we worked at Liverpool, although obviously you can't measure the state of mind of a player with a computer.

"I always enjoyed working with Pako. He was someone who really knew his territory.

"Pako was one of the main figures behind Rafa and probably a big part of the success Benitez has had.

"I didn't expect him to leave and I didn't see it coming. He had a big influence and was very important to us and they had worked together for such a long time.

"Pako was the one who did all the physical work, the one who measured all the strength work, all the stamina work, had all the computer details, and he was on the pitch every day.

"I valued him a lot. I worked with him for two years and I worked with him likely nobody else on that level."