Benayoun hails Reds response

// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Yossi Benayoun believes it was vital that Liverpool gave their season an early kiss of life by hammering Stoke after an opening defeat at Tottenham. The Reds slumped 2-1 at White Hart Lane last Sunday in their first game of the new campaign, sparking suggestions that they would struggle to contend for the league title.However, Rafa Benitez's side responded in style with a 4-0 victory over Stoke at Anfield in midweek to revitalise expectations.Benayoun, who was an impressive second-half substitute at Spurs before starting against the Potters, feels it was essential that he and his team-mates bounced back. The Israel midfielder said: "It was very important for us to win our first game at home, especially after what happened at Tottenham last weekend.Important"We never expected to lose that game and so it was very important for us to recover quickly and get that win against Stoke. We want to start our season now."We were lucky that we had our next game quickly to recover from the Tottenham defeat, we did many things better especially in the second half and we deserved the win."We wanted it more against Stoke, I think. We ran more, we pressed more and we worked harder. In the first half at Tottenham they had the ball, and the possession for large parts of the game."Against Stoke it was different. We moved the ball and we had good movement without the ball and this was the difference for us."We know we have quality players and when we keep the ball we create a lot of chances and after getting four against Stoke we will have the confidence to play better and better."

Source: SKY_Sports