Rafa Benitez hailed a "perfect" victory over Newcastle which sees Liverpool travel to Inter Milan in the Champions League highly confident of finishing the job they started at Anfield three weeks ago.
Another inspirational Fernando Torres performance propelled Benitez's side to a comfortable 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Newcastle at Anfield on Saturday.
The Spain striker scored one and was involved in the other two as Liverpool clocked up a fifth successive wins. They are now just two points behind third-placed Chelsea in the Premier League, although the London club does have two games in hand.
More importantly they head for Milan to defend a 2-0 first leg lead playing their best football of the season.
"We needed to win against Newcastle," said Benitez. "We scored three goals, conceded none and I was able to rest some players ahead of our Champions League game. Everything was perfect."
Torres now has 25 goals since joining from Atletico Madrid for 26.5 million pounds in pre-season. And his understanding with captain Steven Gerrard is beginning to prove fruitful for Benitez.
The duo have scored 29 of Liverpool's 53 league goals between them this season and Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan, an Anfield legend in his playing days, believes the duo can bring the glory days back to the club.
"I think Gerrard and Torres is a combination that can only get better. I think they will get even better," said Keegan.
"If you're spending 20 million pounds on a striker then I don't think it's a gamble. It's not like my situation when they spent 30,000-pounds to bring me from Scunthorpe."
Newcastle remain three points above the relegation zone but they have now played a game more than third-from-bottom Bolton. Defeat in their next game against fellow strugglers Birmingham could see them slip into the bottom three.
"I've told my players that I didn't think our performance was quite good enough," added Keegan.
"It's important we get to 40 points but we're still four wins away from that with nine games remaining."
Newcastle can feel hard done by after falling behind to a bizarre goal. But they can have no complaints about the other two goals and they were thoroughly defeated in the end.
There had been little to choose between the two sides before a huge slice of luck allowed Jermaine Pennant to give Liverpool a 43rd minute lead.
There appeared little danger when Jose Enrique cut out Torres' ball into the Newcastle penalty area, but the Spanish defender's attempted clearance cannoned off Pennant before looping over keeper Steve Harper into the net.
Liverpool fans were still celebrating when Torres made it 2-0. A defence-splitting pass by the impressive Gerrard found Torres with time and space to fire home his seventh goal in three Anfield appearances.
Newcastle were completely deflated and within six minutes of the second half they were 3-0 behind.
Torres was once again involved but this time he turned provider as he teed-up Gerrard to hammer home his 19th of the season and kill the game.
To their credit, the visitors continued to plug away and they were unfortunate not to score a consolation in the 70th minute through substitute Obafemi Martins.
The powerful striker showed great initiative with a stunning shot-on-the-turn from 30-yards which cannoned off Jose Reina's crossbar and away to safety.
Another inspirational Fernando Torres performance propelled Benitez's side to a comfortable 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Newcastle at Anfield on Saturday.
The Spain striker scored one and was involved in the other two as Liverpool clocked up a fifth successive wins. They are now just two points behind third-placed Chelsea in the Premier League, although the London club does have two games in hand.
More importantly they head for Milan to defend a 2-0 first leg lead playing their best football of the season.
"We needed to win against Newcastle," said Benitez. "We scored three goals, conceded none and I was able to rest some players ahead of our Champions League game. Everything was perfect."
Torres now has 25 goals since joining from Atletico Madrid for 26.5 million pounds in pre-season. And his understanding with captain Steven Gerrard is beginning to prove fruitful for Benitez.
The duo have scored 29 of Liverpool's 53 league goals between them this season and Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan, an Anfield legend in his playing days, believes the duo can bring the glory days back to the club.
"I think Gerrard and Torres is a combination that can only get better. I think they will get even better," said Keegan.
"If you're spending 20 million pounds on a striker then I don't think it's a gamble. It's not like my situation when they spent 30,000-pounds to bring me from Scunthorpe."
Newcastle remain three points above the relegation zone but they have now played a game more than third-from-bottom Bolton. Defeat in their next game against fellow strugglers Birmingham could see them slip into the bottom three.
"I've told my players that I didn't think our performance was quite good enough," added Keegan.
"It's important we get to 40 points but we're still four wins away from that with nine games remaining."
Newcastle can feel hard done by after falling behind to a bizarre goal. But they can have no complaints about the other two goals and they were thoroughly defeated in the end.
There had been little to choose between the two sides before a huge slice of luck allowed Jermaine Pennant to give Liverpool a 43rd minute lead.
There appeared little danger when Jose Enrique cut out Torres' ball into the Newcastle penalty area, but the Spanish defender's attempted clearance cannoned off Pennant before looping over keeper Steve Harper into the net.
Liverpool fans were still celebrating when Torres made it 2-0. A defence-splitting pass by the impressive Gerrard found Torres with time and space to fire home his seventh goal in three Anfield appearances.
Newcastle were completely deflated and within six minutes of the second half they were 3-0 behind.
Torres was once again involved but this time he turned provider as he teed-up Gerrard to hammer home his 19th of the season and kill the game.
To their credit, the visitors continued to plug away and they were unfortunate not to score a consolation in the 70th minute through substitute Obafemi Martins.
The powerful striker showed great initiative with a stunning shot-on-the-turn from 30-yards which cannoned off Jose Reina's crossbar and away to safety.
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