Rick resigns as reds rumbled riverside

Liverpool suffered their second league defeat of the season as Boro won 2-0 at the Riverside. Why is it a team who hasn't won in 14 games manages to turn it around against us? The likes of Downing, O'Neil and Wheater looked great but I'm sure they'll be back to their normal level of mediocrity next game. Carragher wasn't up to playing right back so Skrtel had to fill in for the injured Arbeloa. He was uncomfortable in this position and Downing made the most of it. Brad Jones had a great match and made some superb saves. We were the better team for the first 30 mins and then Xabi put the ball into his own net towards the end of the first half. But after that Boro improved and fully deserved their win. We were blunt up front without the injured Torres. Then Gerrard had to come off in the second half and any chance of another comeback went with him.

El Zahr started his first senior match for the club. He put in a few decent performances from the bench early on this year but the young Moroccan offered very little here. Dirk had a poor day up front and missed an open goal. He wasn't the only one and very few of the lads can emerge from this with much credit. A shocking performance. We knew our title challenge was finished after the city draw last week but now it's surely game over. With Chelsea resurgent under Hiddink, we'll have to get our shit together. We've already lost second place and could really do with reclaiming it. Finishing second or third doesn't matter a huge amount but psychologically it might leave us in a better frame of mind regarding next season.

It's the black cats at anfield this Tuesday and a good chance for some of the poor performers to get their act together and show some pride. What we really need is an early goal. All too often this year we've been unable to convert our dominance and chances into goals, which gives the opposition hope if they keep us goalless until half time. This makes the Anfield faithful lose faith and their unease gets to the players. Let's hope we score a hat full in the first half to avoid this all too familiar scenario.

Tony Barrett in the echo revealed that Parry is leaving in the summer, which is great news for Rafa and the club. I was originally a fan of Parry but he's been a disaster in recent times. He was one of the major reason the yanks succeeded, we're poor commercially, ticket office is a joke, he's messed up loads of transfers through sloth and ineptitude (Walcott, Vidic, Alves etc), the list goes on and on. But with him leaving, it will mean that Hicks has a free reign to do what he wants at board level. This worries me. Hopefully he'll be forced to sell before he gets a chance to inflict any more damage.

The Brazilian media are linking us with a summer move for Olympiakos striker Diogo. He's a player that Arsenal, Chelsea and us have tried to sign in the past. He's only 21 and has done well in Greece since his move there. But whether he'd be able to make the step up to the premier league is a different story. Let the trail by youtube commence.