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It was really, really important for Christian Benteke to get off the mark so early in his Liverpool career.

I was lucky enough to score on my home debut against Southampton in a 1-0 win and it really takes the pressure off. The monkey is off his back now and I still remember how long it took for Peter Crouch to get his first goal in a red shirt.

Benteke did well in the game generally and it was great from my point of view to see his power and strength.

He provided an outlet ball and took a lot of the pressure off our defenders.

Listen, Barcelona are on a different planet but for everybody else there are times when you have to grind out a result. It’s hard work the Premier League.

With Benteke we’ve got to keep working hard to get players around him and playing off him.

Far too many times last year we were passing the ball around at the back and going nowhere. Having that outlet ball is so important – Chelsea were winning championships like that when Drogba was around.

It’s not long ball, it’s a long pass. Liverpool will always look to get the ball down and play – and I’m certainly not suggesting we start lumping it, though there are times when you might have to – but I enjoyed seeing him take the ball down on his chest and bring other players into the game.

Obviously there was controversy surrounding Benteke’s goal and for me the offside rule is a joke. I might have scored another 100 goals with this type of a rule!

At the end of the day Christian Benteke was onside. Coutinho was very naive, he should have kept going out of that area and we were very fortunate. We got away with it.

But their ‘goal’ was definitely a foul. Lovren got himself into a bad position but Tommy Elphick was all over him.

I’m not sure what Gary Neville was talking about on the TV – he shoved him so that’s a free-kick. It might not have been back when he or I were playing but it is every time now.

We were the better team and maybe got a little fortunate but we take it and we move on. That’s six points in the bag without playing well. Certainly though we’ve got to get better and need to see the players start gelling better.

That will need work on the training field and games. Sometimes line-ups gel straight away and it just works, like with Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling while others take time.

I’d really like to see the two wingers being more incisive with their runs when Coutinho is on the ball, to work really hard to get in behind because Coutinho will find you with those passes and then we’re in business.

Why Lucas must start at the Emirates

After last year, we’ve got to be wary going to Arsenal that we don’t let that happen again.

I was very impressed with Arsene Wenger’s team at Crystal Palace. The speed of their attack with Sanchez was excellent and they’ve started to look really tasty. Sanchez makes such a difference to them and we’ll need to make sure we’re nice and compact. People will say that after two wins, we should let them worry about us and of course you look to go there and win the game.

But we’d take a draw now, of course we would.

Let’s just be careful and make sure the plans are right.

I’d play Lucas and I think we could have done with him at times against Bournemouth when we looked a little bit open and things got a bit tetchy. He’s our only player for that situation. Henderson doesn’t do it, Milner doesn’t do it, Allen does it a little bit.

Milner could then be moved out to the right for the game to make us more solid.

I know he’s been promised that he’ll play centrally but sometimes the manager has to say ‘just take one for the team’ and there's nothing to stop him going back to the centre the following week.

Liverpool 'reserve side' best I can remember

Sakho was left out again against Bournemouth and we’re going to have to be careful with that situation.

If you look at Liverpool’s ‘reserve team’ now, it is probably as strong a squad as I can remember.

You’ve got Bogdan in goal who is a better keeper than Brad Jones, Moreno and Flanno when he gets back, you’ve got Sakho and Toure, Allen, Can and Firmino who didn’t start, Sturridge when he’s coming back, Markovic, Origi and Ings.

That’s a team which we might need to play in the League Cup and in Europe and leave the others in possession to concentrate on the league for now.

Clyne our best player so far this season

I think Nathaniel Clyne has been Liverpool’s best player in the opening two Premier League games. It’s great to see a full-back with that energy and that defensive ability, very little gets past him. I think he’s going to prove a fantastic buy for Liverpool.

Joe Gomez did well against Bournemouth as well. Sometimes he looks a little bit awkward because he’s a right footer playing on the left hand side of the defence but he’s doing a good job for the team.

As I said last week I really think Liverpool have found something special in this kid.