Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has paid tribute to the influence Dirk Kuyt has made on their excellent start to the season.

"His teamwork is amazing. When you talk about a team, that's the most important thing," Benitez told Liverpool's website.

"Players like Kuyt are key. You can use the quality of people like Fernando Torres or Steven Gerrard, but you always need players working really hard.

"If you have players with offensive mentality, you need players who can do the ugly jobs.

"You need to work hard in defence. As a striker, Kuyt is doing his defensive work very well and also scoring important goals."

Benitez added: "He was scoring goals in the Champions League and now he's scored in the league. I think it was important for him and in the end it was important for us too.

"Everyone, especially all his team-mates, will be really pleased for him because it is amazing how he works every day, every training session and every game."