WITH a sweet sense of timing, the ‘old’ Anfield chose the day the go-ahead was finally given for its upstart offspring across Anfield Road to remind us just what the newcomer has to live up to.

While Tuesday night was no Juventus, Chelsea, St Etienne or Inter Milan in terms of the raucous atmosphere created as famous victories were recorded, nevertheless the classic football stadium was host to another memorable European night.

Though the true implications of this performance will only be revealed over the next few weeks, the number of fans taking photographs of the scoreboard at the end of the game gave sure indication that this match deserves to take its place in the Anfield compendium of triumphs, filed under the sub-category ‘routs’.

Poor though the Turks were, they were no Stromgodset or Dundalk, victims of the Reds’ highest scores in European competition.

A closer parallel is with the 8-0 win over TSV Munich in the 1967-68 European Fairs Cup, when the German outfit were a serious force in the Bundesliga.

Then 45,000 fans watched the drubbing, and in the away leg, guess what? We lost 2-1.

Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this performance was its source, given the generally ragged form that had preceded it, in particular the abject display in Istanbul against the same opposition.

It was disappointing in the extreme to hear fans at the ground and on the airwaves ascribe it to the absence of certain players, rather than the positive impact made by their replacements.

Dirk Kuyt in particular has come in for some hysterical, vitriolic criticism following his poor performance at Blackburn, a common refrain being the epithet “headless chicken” and that he should “never play for Liverpool again”.

Now I know I should be able to ignore this sort of tripe by now, but it irks me when I hear these ravings trumpeted before a national audience, besmirching our reputation as knowledgeable fans.

Sure Dirk could score more goals, but his record of 14 in 43 league appearances compares favourably with those of Crouch (17 in 69) and Kewell (12 in 84).

Hardly the record of the worst forward we’ve ever had is it? Despite struggling for form, he’s put some of the other players to shame in recent months in never giving up, and never, ever hiding.

So if some of our so-called supporters feel an irresistible urge to vent their spleen to the nation about poorly-performing players, I’m sure there are more worthy targets than Dirk Kuyt.

Personally, I thought the most encouraging aspect of Tuesday night was the verve shown by the side in getting forward in numbers, as they did against Arsenal but singularly failed to do at Blackburn.

Maybe it’s time to give this side its head and take more risks, as we were led to believe would be the case at the start of the season.

With the injured players trickling back, we might just be able to look back at Blackburn as an aberration amongst a run of fine attacking play, rather than the norm we’ve come to expect recently.

AN ‘EXTENSIVE’ survey of 13 Premiership players revealed great support for a mid-winter break last week, which was immediately backed by the PFA and several managers.

Hardly an earth-shattering answer to a question that could be alternatively phrased as ‘would you like an extra holiday?’

Strangely, the view of the fans was not sought.Our opinions as customers irrelevant to the needs of the exploited professional footballer.

Had they asked, I feel sure that the majority would have accepted being plunged further into gloom during the depressing post-Christmas period, while our hard-working heroes jet off to warmer climes for a refreshing break or lucrative exhibition match.

I wonder why they didn’t ask us?