EPL 2008/09 Season: Benitez: Win will give us title belief

LIVERPOOL: Rafa Benitez insisted Liverpool's 2-1 victory over Manchester United yesterday will give his players the belief to mount a serious Premier League title challenge.
Benitez's side savoured their first league win against arch rivals United since 2004 thanks to Ryan Babel's late goal at Anfield.

Carlos Tevez had given United an early lead but Wes Brown's own goal drew Liverpool level and the hosts were the more dynamic force after that.

Reds boss Benitez is convinced his first league success over Sir Alex Ferguson's men could be a springboard to win a first English title since 1990.

"I think it was really important. Our position in the table was good but now it is better," Benitez said. "It was important for the belief of the players to show we can do well against a good team.
"The players were really good. We conceded an early goal but after that we showed character.

"We were on top of them. We were doing a good job in the first half against a good team but we talked at half-time about showing confidence to go for a win."

Ferguson admitted Liverpool deserved the victory but he was furious with his side's lacklustre performance.

"Losing our composure the way we did is not expected from Manchester United," he said. "The defending was very poor for both goals. Over the whole match Liverpool were the far better team.

"We started excellently and at that point we needed to establish ourselves, but Liverpool produced a performance of tackling and harrassing and we weren't able to cope with that. We have to give Liverpool credit but we have to cope better.

"We didn't have one good performance, possibly Rio (Ferdinand) but that was it."

As if that wasn't bad enough for Ferguson, he also saw Nemanja Vidic collect a late red card that will rule him out of next weekend's trip to Chelsea, while Michael Carrick suffered an injury that is likely to keep him out of Wednesday's Champions League clash with Villarreal.

"We got three players booked and one sent off. Is that a reflection of Manchester United being a dirty team? I don't think so. The crowd played their part in that," Ferguson added.

While Ferguson left Merseyside licking his wounds, Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher echoed Benitez's verdict that the Reds' confidence will be sky-high now.

"It's not just the three points that are important, it's the belief and confidence," Carragher said. "We've just beaten the champions of Europe, a team that we've got a lot of respect for.

"For too long now we've been off the pace and it's been Manchester United and Chelsea going for the league. It gives us a bit of breathing space at the top and that's where Liverpool should be.

"Hopefully this should spur us on. We haven't been playing that well, that's the best we've played this season by far.

"We'll see at the end of the season whether we're good enough to win the league.