Costly defeat

Out of the cup, quel dommage. Good goal by Rodwell for the winner but what an appalling match? Both teams were shit but Everton were better once Luas got his second yellow. While I don't really care too much about the FA cup this year, we'll be counting the cost for a while. Firstly our captain came off injured after 15 mins on Wed. He's out for 3 weeks and the gaffa is worried. Luckily, there is an international break in that time so he should be back in time for the Real Madrid game.

Secondly the players had to play 120 mins which won't leave them feeling fresh ahead of the Portsmouth match on Saturday evening. Torres didn't have a great match but is regaining fitness after his lay off so I'm hoping we see the Chelsea Nino, rather than the Everton one. In fairness to Jagielka, he played well and shackled Torres by and large.

Rafa reckons he has enough attacking options without Keane. That may be true while Torres stays fit but if he breaks down then we're screwed. He did hint that the likes of Nemeth and Pacheco may get a look in at some stage. Degen, not for the first time this year, is injured and dare I say it, not for the last time either. I would like to actually have a look at him play some time. If he can't make an appearance by the summer he should get shipped out.

The myth that our full backs "never cross the halfway line" (TM Andy Gray), seems to have become an accepted fact by the masses. Funny how we saw both Aurelio and Arbeloa rampaging down both wings against Chelsea. Aurelio put in the cross for Torres goal and has four assists in the league which compares favorably with any other full back. I'll wager that this figure would be higher if he hadn't been injured for a while.

It's interesting to hear that we failed in a bid to sign Kerrison in Jan. He's a player that we've been linked to in the past but he has a complicated third party ownership contract which made any transfer very difficult. Spurs tried to offer us one of Jenas, Bently or Bale in part exchange for Robbie. Bently would have been useful as an option for the right but he seems to be a complete knobend and I don't know if he would have fit in. Fans and players don't have a very high regard for him. Anybody who rocks the dressing room boat doesn't last long at Anfield i.e. Bellamy.

Xabi says that he's going nowhere for the duration of his contract. So we can look forward to watching the maestro for the next 3 years at least.

It looks like Rafa is trying to rob Barca. The object of his attempted larceny is none other than Gerard Deulofeu, a 14 year old prospect. He too could follow in Pacheco's footsteps. Speaking of the underagers, Ince, Pepper and co beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA youth cup last night. Let's hope they can repeat the success of Spearing's team a few years back.