Benitez is back to his tactical best

As the Liverpool manager attempted to explain — following a pulsating derby win over Everton — that he wanted a more cerebral presence in midfield for the last half-hour, after the opposition had been reduced to 10 men.

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Someone who listened to his head more than his heart.

The furore over one of the most contentious rulings of his three-year reign was only just subsiding when Benitez took his seat in the dug-out at Anfield yesterday, but one thing soon became clear. His line of thinking may not always endear him to others, but it applies to himself as well as his players.

Liverpool needed a manager who used his head for the visit of Arsene Wenger's latest brand of Invincibles and were served as well as at any time since the studious Spaniard replaced Gerard Houllier.

There have been times in the last few weeks when the man who disrupted the long established order in Spain by winning two La Liga titles with Valencia looked to be losing his touch, if not the plot.

From the baffling decision to leave Fernando Torres on the bench against Birmingham in order to save him for a Carling Cup start at Reading three days later, to his failure to guard against complacency in an alarming home Champions League defeat by Marseille, Benitez has found his methods questioned like never before.

Another reversal against Besiktas in Istanbul on Wednesday has left the five times European champions on the brink of elimination but, if misgivings over Benitez are beginning to surface, they were exposed as wholly misplaced by an overdue return to his tactical best against previously unstoppable Arsenal.

Should a Flair Play League ever see the light of day, there would surely be only one winner. Arsenal would run rings around the opposition, just as they currently do on a weekly basis. Most neutrals would join in the applause for a team who eclipse even Manchester United as the game's great entertainers.

Not the hard-nosed Benitez, though. Sensing some opponents were standing back and admiring Arsenal's artistry as much as any diehard Gooner, his priority was to draft a masterplan unashamedly designed to stifle a style that weaves intricate passing moves the length of the pitch at breakneck speed.

He could — and did — reason that the inclusion of Fernando Torres as a spearhead, flanked by Dirk Kuyt on the right and Andriy Voronin on the left, signalled Liverpool's attacking intent. The argument was further reinforced by the sight of Gerrard being given licence to charge forward from the centre of midfield, but this was no blueprint for throwing caution to the wind.

Goals may be their stock in trade, but the job requirements for Kuyt and Voronin also demanded keeping a watching brief on the offensive instincts of Emmanuel Eboue and Gael Clichy, so often a key element of Arsenal's attacking armoury.

Behind Gerrard, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso were under orders to deny Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky the space they use to such devastating effect and, as with every detail of a carefully devised game plan, instructions were followed to the letter.

Arsenal may remain unrivalled exponents of the quickfire, one-touch approach. But Liverpool may just have shown the rest how to combat them. In front of Sir Alex Ferguson, too. There was the faintest of smiles on his face as he left.