[lfc-news] Future excites Kirkland as penny begins to drop - Post

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Liverpool Daily Post, 5 Nov 2004
Future excites Kirkland as penny begins to drop
By Andy Hunter, Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ can start to think in terms of millions if Liverpool
overcome Monaco at the end of this month, but on Wednesday it was the penny
that appeared to drop for his players against Deportivo La Coruna.

Both encounters with Javier Irureta's team have offered a new benchmark for
Liverpool in terms of their progress under Benitez.

Their Anfield duel may have been shrouded in frustration at the procession
of clear-cut chances that got away in the goalless draw but, in terms of
passing, pressing and movement it was, according to the club's new coach,
the best performance of Liverpool reign.

Until Wednesday. It required opposition defender Jorge Andrade to provide
the clinical touch to finally stamp Liverpool's superiority over last
season's beaten Champions League semi-finalists.

But that superiority was evident before and after his 14th-minute own goal
as Liverpool attacked with quality and intelligence on the counter and
defended as a unit to leave Deportivo's second-half recovery without a
genuine sight of Chris Kirkland's goal.

For the man himself, welcome inactivity at the Riazor was the clearest sign
yet that Benitez's instructions are becoming second nature among his
players, as the Liverpool manager always insisted they would once constant
international interruptions were out of the way.

As Kirkland explained: "The defence is doing really well just now. It all
starts from the front. As a team we are defending well and with the players
we have got in our side we are always going to create chances.

"It was a perfect result for us and in many ways it was the perfect
performance.

"We showed a lot of resilience. Deportivo are a good side and playing away
from home is never easy in front of a hostile crowd.

"The important thing was to get off on the right foot. We got at them from
the first minute and we ended up with what we deserved."

He added: "We work a lot on the training ground on tactics now. The manager
is very thorough, he knows what he wants, he gets his point across and the
players are taking them on board.

"The language barrier is not much of a problem now either. His English is
very good.

"Everything is planned out in training now and the lads are really enjoying
it."

The next step, as far as Kirkland is concerned, is for Liverpool to adopt
the winner's mentality that brought such rich rewards for Benitez at Valencia.

"We have got to start believing we can get results against anyone,"
admitted the Liverpool keeper.

There is no point going into matches thinking we are going to be up against
it here, we have to think we are going to win. We are defending very well
as a team and have got the players in the side who can make things happen."

And even fringe players who can make things happen now too, if Igor
Biscan's brilliant display in Spain is anything to go by.

The Liverpool squad was united in its praise for the Croatian midfielder
after Wednesday's performance erased any fears the loss of Xabi Alonso, on
top of the absent Steven Gerrard and Djibril Cisse, would seriously damage
the club's Champions League qualification chances.

Kirkland said: "Xabi is a world-class player and it was a blow to lose him
but Igor came in and had a great game. All credit to him for that.

"In training he is always like that. The fans give him a bit of stick but
he takes it in good humour. With a performance like that hopefully a lot of
people will get on his side."

Jamie Carragher believes success in the Champions League will allow
Liverpool to afford a striker in the January transfer window.

Qualifying for the next round of the tournament could earn the club more
than £10million, which is critical to manager Benitez's spending plans.

Carragher said: "It is important that we now qualify for the next stage of
the Champions League, because we obviously need to do something to bring in
cover for Djibril Cisse.

"Everyone realises the Champions League creates a lot of money for the club
and if we do qualify it will help us strengthen the squad when the transfer
window comes around in January."

Liverpool - who are nicknamed "The Benitles" in the Spanish media - have
been linked with Real Zaragoza striker David Villa and Real Madrid's
Fernando Morientes while in Spain.

Carragher was delighted with the confidence-boosting victory on Wednesday
night that gives his side a good chance of progressing.

He added: "Deportivo have proved over the years what a good side they are,
they reached the semi-finals last season to underline that.

"But that is a credit to us because we restricted them to very few chances
and deserved to win it.

"The boss knows them well, obviously, and we worked hard in training to
stop them doing what they do best."

He added: "The whole team looked solid, and the manager is big on making
sure we realise it is a team game and that individuals are not important
and you could see that on the pitch, the strikers were putting in the work
to stop them building their play up."


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