IN the cold light of day, it’s time to assess where Liverpool go from here – because there’s no point beating Manchester United if you don’t build on it. It is, admittedly, a decent platform to start from. It’s relieved the external pressure on the side, not that there was any pressure internally after Christian Purlsow and Kenny Dalglish gave Rafael Benitez their full support. But the fact that the Anfield press box was suddenly populated by journalists from London for a north west derby shows just how much the circling cultures were sharpening their talons. I reckon a losing run of five games for the first time in 56 years was already chiselled in to a few laptops. So the result gave some people a reality check. But now it’s time for Liverpool to get one because there are still some niggling doubts about the current side that are undeniable. First of all, without Fernando Torres, there’s a real problem. If Steven Gerrard is out you can just about get away with it but not a world class superstar leading the forward line. Despite his goal, David Ngog is not ready to take on that kind of role yet. Also, the squad is still too fragile. You’re talking about getting back into a title race here, and whether Liverpool can live with United and Chelsea over the course of a full season rather than 90 minutes is open to question. However, issues like that can always be resolved in January. What Benitez needs to do now is figure out how he is going to make sure all Sunday’s good work doesn’t go to waste. First of all, he needs to take note of the table. Liverpool have lost twice as many Premier League games as they did throughout the whole of last season and yet they are still well placed to be in contention for the title again. And it’s because they have finally forgotten how to draw games. The 4-4 against Arsenal is the only time they have taken just a single point from a game in 22 and those six wins in 10 games have really taken the edge off the disappointment of falling to four defeats at such an early stage. It proves the value of going out to win – and, more importantly, not being afraid to lose. It was one of my bugbears last week after the Sunderland game, that fielding too many defensive players sent out the message that Liverpool were happy to hang on to what they had, rather then being willing to take the game to the opposition. But that’s exactly what I want to see them do now. And to do it, the best players need to be played in their best positions. | 
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