Better football last year, better at grinding out result this year - Liverpool's win over Blackburn was not for the purists but its importance should not be dismissed.
It was hard work but when you come up against a side like Blackburn, the first thing that you must do is fight and it was really encouraging to see Liverpool roll their sleeves up and battle.
With Tottenham and Manchester City winning, we had no other option but to do likewise to keep ourselves in the running for fourth place; our two main rivals are refusing to go away and the remainder of the season is going centre on which team can hold their nerve.
There is some speculation that it will take a tally of around 80 points to win the title, so what do you imagine it will need to clinch the final Champions League spot? Looking at it from this distance, with 10 games left, I'd say 68-70 points will be enough to achieve that goal, which effectively means Liverpool need to win another seven times before May 9.
With games against Chelsea and Manchester United impossible to predict, you are working on the basis that we need to win every other fixture to get to where we want to be.
Some will say that is too big a task, that Liverpool have struggled for consistency all year, but the signs against Blackburn suggested Liverpool are going to be able to embark on a winning spree. All the good football that was played at Anfield came from men wearing Red shirts and it was great to see Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres all linking to good effect.
It was no coincidence that Steven and Fernando got on the scoresheet and the longer they play together, the better Liverpool will be on the run. As Jamie Carragher said after the game, you have always got half a chance when your special players are fit.
The way things stand, though, inevitably Liverpool are going to have to keep churning out results under pressure, as the majority of games they will play now will be on a Sunday.
Next week, of course, it is Monday night but that won't be a bad thing, as the international contingent will have a few days extra to recover for Wigan.
And that means they will be in good shape if they need to fight once more.
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