LIVERPOOL (AFP) - Rafa Benitez believes Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Manchester United will provide the impetus to get his side's spluttering title challenge back on track.
Benitez's team ended a run of four successive defeats in emphatic fashion as second half goals from Fernando Torres and David Ngog breathed new life into a campaign that was in danger of spiralling out of control.
The Reds are still six points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea but that gap looks far less daunting than the 10-point divide that would have stood between them and United if the champions had won at Anfield on Sunday.
Most importantly, the win over their bitter rivals eases the pressure on Benitez, who, as Liverpool's results went from bad to worse over the last month, had come under greater scrutiny that at any time during his five-year reign.
Instead of presiding over Liverpool's worst spell for 56 years - his fate if United had won - Benitez can now justifiably talk of a brighter future.
"We needed to win for the confidence, so I think it will be a big boost for the team," he said.
"All the players didn't want to lose. They wanted to show character and this was the perfect response.
"It was against a good team so the fans are delighted and then you can see all the players feel the same way. It has to be positive.
"Hopefully this will be a turning point. If we can keep the momentum I am sure we have a good team and can win some games in a row.
"We need to win against Arsenal in the League Cup on Wednesday and continue against Fulham on Saturday."
Benitez deserves tremendous credit for keeping his players focused while the flak was flying this week. Not only did the Spaniard ensure they kept their eye on the ball but he also came up with the perfect gameplan to subdue United.
His fiesty midfield trio of Javier Mascherano, Lucas and Fabio Aurelio never let United settle, while Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt provided astute support for Torres.
Few strikers in Europe could have taken the chance Torres converted in the 65th minute when he took Benayoun's pass and left Rio Ferdinand for dead before lashing past Edwin van der Sar.
Nemanja Vidic's red card for a professional foul on Dirk Kuyt added to United's misery and Ngog finished off the champions in stoppage time after Mascherano had been dismissed for a second booking.
Yet without Torres the result could still have had a less appetising look for Benitez, who took a last minute decision to start the striker on the coach journey to Anfield.
Torres had missed the last two matches with a groin strain and he was only able to take part in a couple of light training sessions ahead of the United game.
But, with Steven Gerrard already ruled out with a groin injury, Benitez realised it was worth gambling over Torres's fitness.
"It was difficult because he was not training much, he only had two light sessions and we couldn't push him too hard," Benitez said.
"I decided to play him from the beginning on Sunday morning after talking with Fernando on the coach to the game.
"Talking with him and the fitness coach we thought it was better to start him.
"You could see he was not 100 percent but sometimes 80 percent of Fernando can make the difference."
Losing four times in the league this season still leaves Liverpool with plenty to do before they can dream of a first title since 1990.
But Benitez knows beating United will buy him precious time to get things right.
"I'm really pleased for the club, for the players and for all the staff," Benitez added.
"We knew we needed to change the luck and we needed to win. It was a fantastic win. Before we were sayng maybe it was the perfect game.
"We needed to perform against a good team in front of our fans. It was a fantastic performance."
Comment 12 - 31 of 31
Be careful Taggart you don't look too well these days, old man.
I hope Liverpool will be English Champion! they deserve it more than any other club!
Nobody praises David Ngog... He's learning the ropes and he calmly beat a worldclass goalie by skinning Van Der Saar... Well done David, well done Yossi.... Big up Fernando bigtime!!! Kop King 4 Life...
How shallow Rafa and Liverpool fans are....they think their troubles are over because they beat Man Utd.
1 game dont change anything. If he doesnt win the league this year, he has to go. Mourinho / hiddink in.
As a Liverpool fan, I was getting worried, 4 games lost? But yesterday's game was the perfect answer from the players! From the keeper to the forward, that was team work! We didnt let them sit on the ball, we didnt give them time to put together 4 attacking passes, we didnt give them time to think, except for the Gum chewing Hair dryer! OMG he was hilarious when Carra was only shown a yellow, thought he was gonna chuck his dummy out, stamp his feet and start rolling around on the floor! Thats why Berba wanted to go to Man utd, so he and gum chewer could share stories about when they got their own way by crying!
But back to the better team...
Rafa has done it again, tactics, players choice and motivation. It was good seeing all of our boys having a good game, especially Lucas. I still think I would like to see more creativity and goals from the midfield, they played really well but there was only a goal threat from Torres and Yossi. Lets hope Aquillani can give a little extra.
Well done boys, it was lovely to see Torres and the boys taking the @$%& out of "cant keep up up with the pace" vidic, "donkey" ferdinand, "shrek" rooney, "cry baby" berbatov, "old men" giggis and scholes, "gum chewing hair dryer" SAF and "judas" owen!
HI Vegas......We won, you lost......FACT! How do the slums of s.hitchester look today. Many mugginGs, drug murders or granny rapes, oh sorry Wayne was too pissed off to go on the prowl laST NIGHT.
Chris79... where are you? Hopefully you were kerb crawling on your mountain bike around Moss side, trying to sell some drugs to school kids and got caught in the crossfire of some scummy manc shootout. - Chrismas come early perhaps?
HE'S ONLY A POOR LITTLE SCOUSER
WHO TOOK HIS BEACH BALL TO THE GAME
IT WENT ON AND SCORED, THE SCOSERS ALL ROARED,
AND RAFA HAD NO ONE TO BLAME !
CARRAGHER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT OFF YESTERDAY , WITHOUT DOUBT ! BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENS AT BINDIPPER CENTRAL !
" SAME OLD SCOUSERS ALWAYS CHEATIN' !"
all played well in this game. Lucas provided a good pass for the second goal. He is hardworking and can be seen all over the pitch. Keep it up !!!
I THINK mu PLAYED BETTER THAN THE GAME THEY PLAYED AGAINST MALAYSIA DURING PRE SEASONS.
BUT UNLUCKY LIVERPOOL IS NOT ANOTHER MALAYTSIA.
HIGH TIME FOR SAF TO RETIRE, NOW HE CANT DIFFRENCIATE BETWEEN FACTS AND FICTIONS.
SOME ONE PLEASE TELL SAF TO FORGET LOOKING FOR REF TO HELP HIS TEAM AND ASK HIM TO TRAIN HIS PLAYER BETTER TO GET RESULTS.
syafique, wake up current 3 meetings we scored 8 against 2 of yours(1 penalty). thats show how good you good. dont talk the past, if i bring the paST YOU WILL LOOSE MORE.
liverpool was all over man u,and rooney and coy were given little space.i still think man u"s shortcomings were exposed in this game.they must have maybe used rooney in midfield(bt he looks lyk he is running out of energy)so as to dumpen liver midfield.man u strikeforce is blunt.a creative midfield which is hungry for goals cld have helped.may b Anderson,good game liverpool,weldone.i didnt expect that.bt you hav to descipline your fans.VIVA man u,VIVA.
He is cracking up.
ho many ar@eholes support liverpool.
Who care about the premiership...erm...everyone..
outclasses utd....no game played by 2 average teams
we are not a one man team....2 man team and one wasn't playing
It was a poor game from utd and the scum were marginally better with support from the ref how many times did lucas foul without a card the dodgy picture of rafa he has must of included the ref and the donkey.
Keep dreaming bin diggers
I would like to see rafa playing this team in some early easy FA matches.
reina
kelly caragher darby insua
el zhar spearing babel
Aquilani
voronin Ngog
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I can bet my last credits on Liverpool loosing in their next matches....That's the Truth....They won United..Congratulations for coming out of the dark but they'll be sent back there soon....
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