Rafa defends Dirk Kuyt

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has expressed his satisfaction at the work rate put in by Dirk Kuyt despite the Dutch striker missing several scoring opportunities this season. Kuyt has scored three goals this year - but two were from the penalty spot.

Benitez said: "When you miss chances and you have two or three, it means you are there. If you are not there, you cannot miss the chance.

"I will not criticise Kuyt because he plays a lot of games and over 90 minutes his work rate is fantastic.

"He is creating chances. When you have a player who can create three or four chances for himself, normally sometimes he will score so I think I must be pleased and positive with Kuyt.

"We need to profit from the work he is doing up front and it will be easier for him to score if his team-mates can score the first goal."