THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT A “Rafa-lution” when a Spanish coach inspired Liverpool to lift the European Cup in his first season in charge, but if that amazing triumph in Istanbul can be overlooked for a moment, the story of Rafael Benítez’s reign on Merseyside has not been one of overnight success.

Compared with Stuart Pearce, whose infectious enthusiasm and fresh ideas led to a dramatic surge in form as soon as he took charge of Manchester City last season, Benítez has struggled as much with the unique demands of English football as with the peculiarities of the English language, but finally things are clicking into place for Liverpool in the Premiership, as well as the Champions League.

As with his command of English, there remains a lack of fluency, but Benítez can claim to have made a breakthrough over the past month or so. With four consecutive league wins, six successive clean sheets and a defensive record that is second only to Chelsea’s, it is little wonder that Benítez seemed more contented on Saturday evening than at any time since the glorious aftermath of their European triumph.

“I think we are a better team now,” he said. “It has been more difficult for me because my English is not the best. Also because it was not like at Valencia, where I knew all the players, the league, the referees. We still have things to improve, but we’re going in the right way.”

The most notable area for improvement is the attack, where Djibril Cissé remains an enigma and Peter Crouch is waiting for his first goal for the club, but when a team have kept clean sheets in nine out of 12 league matches, one goal is usually enough. On Saturday it came in the 61st minute, when the best move of the match, involving Dietmar Hamann and Steven Gerrard, ended with a typically thunderous left-foot shot from John Arne Riise.

The match was no spectacle, thanks in part to the way that Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher snuffed out the threat of Andrew Cole and Darius Vassell as City’s youngsters ran out of ideas after a lively start. But it was precisely the type of strong-arm display that Liverpool were incapable of last season, when they lost 11 away games in the Premiership. “Now we play with the heart and the brain,” Benítez said. “When you do that, you have a good team.”

And that, despite the European success, is something Liverpudlians have not been able to say with conviction for some time.