Kuyt flying high as rampant Reds ease pressure on Benitez

THROUGHOUT Liverpool’s season-long ‘blip’, one of Rafael Benitez’s buzzwords has been ‘character’ and for those that doubted whether his players were with him as insipid display followed poor performance, last night provided the response.

Once again Benitez could only call on a desperately mediocre team but they blew away a Tottenham side that had everything to prove and Dirk Kuyt’s early goal and late penalty made it 66 away games at ‘Big Four’ teams without a win for Spurs.

Spurs could not live with the pace in the first half and when they finally came to their senses, they could not break through a Liverpool team, with the likes of Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Philipp Degen playing like heroes.

The chance has always been there to back up Benitez’s belief that the top four will be achieved and the fact that, for all their problems, Liverpool’s win moves them to within a point of fourth-placed Spurs says plenty about how seriously the Londoners should be taken.

After a pre-match huddle that quivered as Jamie Carragher screamed instructions, it was clear Liverpool, despite the deficiencies in their starting line-up, could not be accused of not being up for it.

There was an early scare when Pepe Reina took three attempts to gather Gareth Bale’s cross but, with just five minutes gone, they pulled ahead from the Spaniard’s booming clearance.

Kuyt flicked on and Alberto Aquilani just guided the ball away from Michael Dawson and Kuyt skimmed a shot into the corner of Heurelho Gomes’ net to give the hosts a perfect start.

In their attempts to hustle their old team-mate Peter Crouch by the touchline, Carragher and Javier Mascherano even tackled each other, such was the desire in the Liverpool ranks in the opening stages.

Kuyt was doing a reasonable job of making the ball stick up field but Aquilani was still intent on sliding balls into channels that the Dutchman had no chance of catching.

Robbie Keane jogged out from the Tottenham bench to warm up and the Irish striker was given the warmest of receptions at the Kop End, where many must have preferred having him on the bench rather than Ryan Babel.

Liverpool, oozing desire and purpose, were the better side but neither was creating much until Gomes started flapping in the closing stages of the opening period.

Riera’s whipped free kick from the right was desperately punched away, but with the Brazilian stranded, Martin Skrtel failed to make contact with the follow up.

A loose ball on the touchline saw Carragher burst past Bale and Niko Kranjcar, simply because he wanted the ball more than they could ever imagine, and the Liverpool captain’s cross was knocked wide.

From the Riera corner that followed, Gomes flapped again but Kuyt’s header was blocked by Bale before Skrtel drilled over the bar.

At the start of the second period, confusion between Kyrgiakos and Reina looked to have gifted Tottenham an equaliser but Jermain Defoe’s stab at goal was controversially ruled out for what appeared obstruction or a very late offside flag.

Carragher may not like playing out on the right but he continued to impress and sent over a cross that Cafu would have been proud of that Riera met perfectly, only for Gomes to get the slightest of touches to divert the ball on to the bar and Lucas was well off target with his follow up effort.

It was a far more open game in the second period and Defoe teed up Modric, whose low drive was held by Reina and Tottenham’s greater fluency was summed up by quick passes from Palacios and Defoe, allowing Jenas to hit a powerful swerving drive that was palmed away by the goalkeeper.

But from the midway point, the hosts seemed to settle, and substitute David Ngog, Kuyt and Kyrgiakos all passed up chances to add a second.

But after quick passes from substitutes Stephen Darby and Maxi Rodriguez, Sebastien Bassong chopped down Ngog in the area and, despite having to retake the penalty due to encroachment, Kuyt rolled in confidently to secure a significant win.

Substitutes – Liverpool: Darby for Degen 90, Maxi for Riera 81, Ngog for Aquilani 79. Tottenham: Hutton for Corluka 61, Bassong for King 81, Keane for Kranjcar 65.

Referee: Howard Webb (England).