Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was delighted for hat-trick hero Maxi Rodriguez in their 5-0 romp over Birmingham City.
Maxi 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.
"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," he said.
"Maxi has not played for a few weeks and came on and did a fantastic job for us. 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."
