Monday, December 24, 2007

Dirk Kuyt: We Must Win Our Next Three Games

Dirk Kuyt emphasised the importance of avoiding a third consecutive Premiership defeat with the win over Portsmouth on Saturday.

The last time Liverpool suffered such a run was when Portsmouth beat them 1-0 in October 2003, but after recent losses to Reading and Manchester United, Liverpool ensured there was no repeat as they completed a comfortable 4-1 victory.

And Dutch striker Kuyt hopes it will kick off a run of three-pointers over the Christmas and New Year period.

He said: “Every defeat in the league is big one for us because you just want to win and compete with Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea so we can’t afford to lose any more.

“We just have to look at the next games and look forward.

“We have to win our next three now at Derby, Manchester City and at home to Wigan and if we can get nine points from those games I think we will get closer to the other teams.

“We want to go on a run and win a lot of games.”

Kuyt was Liverpool’s top scorer in the Premier League last season with 12 in his debut season in English football, with all of them coming from open play.

But two of his three league goals this season came from the penalty spot in the derby victory over Everton as he has taken a back-seat to 14-goal Fernando Torres in the scoring stakes.

Kuyt, however, admits that the extra firepower the Spanish record signing, who scored twice against Portsmouth, was necessary to bring in in order to improve the side’s title challenge during this campaign.

“Fernando is unbelievably quick and it’s what the team needs,” added Kuyt. “Quick players and clever players.

“We have got everything in our squad now and we can do something really good so we’ll see how far we can go this season.”

Yossi Benayoun, who opened the scoring, also outlined how vital the victory over Portsmouth was after the first home league defeat of the season to United last Sunday.

“We played a great game against a strong rival in Portsmouth and it was an important win for us after we lost to Man United,” Benayoun said.

“It was good to get back to winning ways and to prove that we can still go to the end of the season. So overall I think it was a good performance for us.

“It was nice to score and the goal was a bonus,” he added. “But it’s not the main thing for me. The main thing is to keep playing and try to do my best for the team so that we keep winning.

“I enjoyed the goal and I caught it well but I’d have to give credit to Harry Kewell because he delivered a great cross from the left to pick me out.

“It gave us the start we needed and we went on from there.”

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