Dalglish delighted by Reds

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish praised the team-work and togetherness of his side after they demolished Birmingham 5-0 at Anfield.

Maxi Rodriguez scored his first hat-trick for the club, Dirk Kuyt hit his seventh goal in six Barclays Premier League matches and substitute Joe Cole added a late fifth.

Rodriguez, who replaced injured £35million striker Andy Carroll, grabbed the headlines, and Dalglish said: "Maxi is a very intelligent footballer. He's not a direct replacement for Andy but he's got more goals than him in that one performance. Maxi has not played for a few weeks and came on and did a fantastic job for us."

He added: "Joe also got his reward because he has trained well and he came on and got a goal.

"It won't do Joe or Maxi any harm and the joy the players got from Maxi scoring his hat-trick and Joe scoring his goal reflects how close a group they are and that is great for the club. They are all playing for each other and the players are going to play better if they are confident and if they are happy going to work they will get better results."

Liverpool were in control from the moment Rodriguez put them ahead in the seventh minute and apart from a 10-minute spell from Birmingham after they conceded, the hosts were rarely troubled throughout.

"Getting a goal early doors set us on our way," added Dalglish.

"They put us under pressure after that without us being over-worked.

"We then got the second goal but the third was the most important.

"I think we were deserved winners, we played some fantastic football and we have had a good day and it was very enjoyable for us."