Kuyt: We're heading forward
Dirk Kuyt believes Liverpool's dominant display in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Manchester City illustrates how the Reds are a team in the ascendancy.
Table-toppers City arrived at Anfield having dropped just two points all season and they took the lead via a Vincent Kompany header in the first half.
However, Joleon Lescott deflected Charlie Adam's shot into his own net just minutes later - and Liverpool could consider themselves unfortunate not to have collected all three points from the contest after they controlled the majority of the second half.
It took a top-class goalkeeping performance from Joe Hart to ensure Roberto Mancini's men claimed a point - but Kuyt feels the Reds can take a multitude of positives from the manner of their display.
The forward told Liverpoolfc.tv: "I think we deserved to win. The performance was really good, especially in the second half when we pushed them and created chances.
"We were really unlucky not to score and make it 2-1. I thought Joe Hart gave a fantastic performance and kept Manchester City in it.
"There are positives to take - the way we played, the way we were on top of them and we created enough chances to beat them.
"In my opinion, City have so far been the best team in the Premier League, so we can take lots of positives from our performance. We will keep going and in a couple of days we have another big game for us, so we'll prepare for that now."
He added: "We controlled it better (in the second half). Everybody knows Manchester City have a very good side, which they showed during the game. Although in the first half I thought we were on top of them, they showed a couple of times they are very dangerous.
"In the second half, we controlled the game, were on top of them and created chances to win.
"I think if you had said we would take four points from Chelsea away and City at home, you would probably have signed up for it - but I think we could have walked away with all six points.
"That's football and we can't blame ourselves. We worked really hard, did everything we could, and we just have to keep going from here."
Liverpool remain unbeaten from clashes with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal so far in 2011-12.
While Kuyt is unsure where the Reds' display against the Citizens ranks in terms of their best this term, he believes their record against the other top sides speaks volumes about the direction in which Kenny Dalglish's men are heading.
"I don't know if it was one of our best performances of the season so far," he said. "It's just one game and we need to look at other games as well.
"The way we have played against the top sides has been fantastic - we beat Arsenal and Chelsea away and I think we deserved more against United and City. We will keep going in this way.
"We have also played well against the other teams and I think the future is bright."
The result means Liverpool have now stretched their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions.
Kuyt continued: "We can be very satisfied with that. To be unbeaten for a long time says something about the team, the squad and the management.
"We are on the way forward. That's what we want and we need to keep going and hopefully we can do enough to qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season."
Liverpool return to action on Tuesday night with a Carling Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
With memories of Glen Johnson's dramatic late winner in the league meeting eight days ago still very much fresh in the memory, and confidence high following a commanding performance against City, Kuyt insists the Reds will journey to London full of belief.
He said: "Normally in football you get a couple of days to recover and to prepare for a game - especially a big game like the quarter-final of the Carling Cup against Chelsea.
"It's tough to play again in 48 hours but it is like it is and we're looking forward to the game and want to win. It would be a great achievement for this team to get another good result at Stamford Bridge.
"Every game is different. We have lots of confidence from our win there, and from the year before. We will go there to try and beat them again - hopefully we can do that."