ALL eyes would have been on the return from international action of England heroes Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson – perhaps Burnley should have paid more attention to the fortunes of Israel.

For while England were celebrating a 5-1 thumping of Croatia, in no small part to the Liverpool duo, and the ensuing qualification for next summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa, Yossi Benayoun and Israel were having an equally eventful midweek.

A 7-0 thrashing of Luxemborg, with the Liverpool player captaining the side, helped ease the painful 1-0 loss to Latvia, Israel suffered last Saturday and soothed the furore around Benayoun’s reaction to being substituted on the hour mark.

Frank talks with the national coach Dror Kashtan, much in the same vein as pre-international break meeting with Rafael Benitez, may just have given Benayoun the motivation to plot the downfall of Burnley.

Benayoun would score a hat-trick on Saturday, an afternoon when there was almost a celebratory atmosphere in the air at Anfield.

With England, Spain and Brazil’s plans for next summer finalised, the bulk of the Liverpool squad are back to concentrate on their club exploits, the ground was packed, Premier League football had returned and the sun was out – it was like the season was starting all over again allowing an indifferent start to be forgotten.

The late summer feel before kick off would ultimately play out on the pitch as Liverpool strolled to victory in routine fashion, so comfortable in fact it almost felt like a pre-season game.