Dublin double downs Bagies

Robbie's happy. Rafa's happy. The fans are happy after watching this. Back on top of the league and all is rosy in the red half of Merseyside.

Well done Keane lad. It's been a long time coming but two quality strikes from Robert gave us a glimpse of what's to come from him. We all knew that the talent was there and that the goals would follow sooner or later. It was a little bit later than I'd have liked but he had been playing well and setting up goals for others, while not scoring himself. He looked really up for it on Sat, even before he scored. Once the first went in, he got hungry for more. Gerrard fed him with a beautiful ball for the first goal. I would imagine that he was slightly disappointed to be subbed when on two goals but Torres needs game time and we know team comes first for Rafa.

So we're back on top with Chelsea. I had hoped that Blackburn might take something from them but that was always unlikely I suppose. Utd betting beaten by Arsenal was great news. They're 8 points off the top now which is significant, but not insurmountable.

It's Carling cup this week which always gets the pulses racing. Spurs will be up for it to try and maintain the momentum they've built up in the league. I expect we'll see some of the kids on reserves on display so we might be heading for a beating. As is always the case with the domestic cups, to win a bonus but to lose is never a disaster.It appear that Torres and Babel were busy while they were out injured. They've both opened business in Clapham, south London. Fine entrepreneurs.

Alonso is once again being linked with a move, this time Valencia are said to be the club sniffing around. He's been superb this season so I hope that Rafa decides to keep him at Anfield.

Dossena is unhappy with his own form. I do think there is room for improvement there but he has being showing signs of a gradual upturn in recent weeks. The left back spot is up for grabs now if he or Aurelio can put a consistent run of form together.

Rafa thinks Maradona will make the correct choice in giving Mascherano the armband. The legend himself visited Melwood on Fri and all of the players got their photos taken with him. No sign of those snaps anywhere yet.

El Zhar scored a fantastic goal for the reserves in a 2-1 defeat to City this week. Nathan Ecclestone scored a hat trick for the u-18s when they beat Bolton 5-0. Their next game is against City.

Kerrison, the young Brazilian striker, is being linked to us again. I don't know anything much about this kid bar hearing Tim Vickery talking about him on the BBC 5live world football phone in.

A tale of three strikers

Exhibit A - Dirk Kuyt. Dirk had a terrible day at the office on Saturday. He is going through a crisis of confidence at the moment. He had a few chances but couldn't hit the target and when he did, Friedal was more than equal to it. Rafa is a big fan and seems to want to let him play through it. I don't think that he is clinical enough to play up front on his own, as he did on Sat. I like Dirk too but I don't think that he works well with Crouch or Voronin, only Torres.

Exhibit B - Peter Crouch. Crouch came on as as second half sub and almost changed the game. I don't know what he did to annoy Rafa, but he seems well out of favour at the minute. I would like to see him get more game time while Torres isn't ready because he looks like the striker who's most likely to score. I don't know if Crouch has a long term future at the club but I definitely think that he's the man for the moment.

Exhibit C - Fernando Torres. It sounds like the news might be better than had been previously hoped. He was back in training today after his muscle injury and faces a late fitness text for tomorrow. I can't imagine that he'll be risked after the last time but he might get a place on the bench for a last gasp throw of the dice if we need him. We're looking fairly blunt without him.

Harry Kewell was a welcome sight when he came on as a second half sub. If, and it's a big if, he can stay fit for a while, then he could do a huge job for us on the left and nail down that position. Despite his injuries, he's still the best winger that we have in my opinion. He did well in the 20 or so mins that he got on Saturday by stretching the play and taking his man on. I would imagine that he'll be an impact sub for the next few games while his builds up his fitness.

Babel started on the wing against Blackburn. Babel clearly has talent with his pace, power, control and shooting. But he hasn't really been able to put it all together so far. I feel that it might be after Christmas or next season before he beds in properly and makes a telling contribution. Here's what Wenger has to say on new signings.

"When I sign a player I don't judge him at all in the first six months. Never. I give him six months to adapt and don't put any pressure on him because I know what it takes. You have to settle and get the right level. You start to look at him really in January and February."

The draw for the Carling Cup quarter finals was made on Sat and we'll be heading to Stamford Bridge at the end of December. They have a superb home record so I'd be surprised if we get anything out of that one. It is only the Carling Cup though.

Oliver Kay has an article in the Times where he says that we're near an agreement for John Cofie From Burnley. United and Chelsea are after him too but it sounds like we're in the driving seat as he attended the Cardiff match last week. He's 15, plays up front and could cost anything between £250000 and £1m. Lauri Dalla Valle, a 16 year old Finn who I've mentioned before here, is also being tipped to arrive in Jan.

It's do or die against Besiktas tomorrow. It's time to stand up and spout cliches. Win and we have a chance, anything less and we're out. We should be more than capable but then again, I said the same about Porto, Marseille and the Turkish trip.

Here's hoping.

The boy's done well

Three and easy for Torres. It was a great performance from the new signing and a good team performance all round. Yossi opened the scoring the first half with an amazing individual goal. Nice to see him get off the mark and show his skill at unlocking a defence. Then it was time for Fernando to take the stage. Good work for Seb Leto set up Torres for the first goal. He held off the attention of the defender and slipped it under the keeper. His second came after a nice delivery when Riise got past his man on the left. El Nino finished from just inside the area with a shot to the corner which gave the Reading keeper no chance. His final goal was the result of a fantastic through ball from Stevie G. Torres was 1 on 1 with the keeper and showed great composure to shoot beyond the goalie. Rafa will be disappointed that we conceded two but the first goal was offside. The second was poor defending and our new keeper didn't cover himself in glory. Lucas wasn't bad in the midfield but did fade somewhat as the match went on. Overall a very satisfying night.

It's a visit to the JJB tomorrow. Wigan have done better than I've expected this season. I was tipping them for relegation in August but they're looking like they will stay up if their form continues. Heskey has been doing well for them but he's not fit for tomorrow which is good news. He has his critics, and deservedly so, but when he's on form he's a nightmare for defences. I expect us to win this one. We've taken 7 from 9 points away from home so far and 10 from 12 would be a good boost to our title aspirations.

Crouch praised how Torres has settled in here. Gerrard reckons that he could be a modern day Ian Rush. High praise indeed.

LFC TV has launched officially now. I've watched a few programmes but have yet to see the John Barnes chat show. I'm looking forward to that one as I'm hearing good reports.

Some great old photo's from the BBC here. The bootroom one is special. Bring a tear to the glass eye. Have a look at these for some great photos of Liverpool in the 80's.For those who've been to the city recently it's interesting to see how different it looked 20 years ago. Some changes.

Until next time.

Sometimes a point just aint enough

Maybe we aren't as good as the 6-0 win over Derby suggested. But I don't think we're as bad as some people think after the scoreless draw at home with Birmingham on Saturday. The reaction has seen some poeple question Rafa. I feel that it's way too early for that. It reminds me of the reaction to the Burnley FA cup defeat in 2005 when some people said that we were the worst Liverpool team in living memory. That wasn't true then and was proved to be a knee jerk reaction. Then, as now, patience is the key.

Let's take stock. We're upbeaten. We've yet to concede a goal in open play. We've dropped less points than Utd. We've taken 7 points from 9 away from home which is far better than any previous season under Rafa and is the best of any team in the league. On the downside, we're not playing well and don't look like scoring too many. We still struggle to break down a team without ambition away from home like Brum. There has been a lot of talk of rotation but regardless of that, the team we fielded should have been good enough to beat Birmingham at home.

They stuck all of their men behind the ball and didn't attack. They came for a point and got it, which is fair enough. They're entitled to do it and it's up to us to dismantle their massed defence. On Sat we were unable to do that. It was frustrating to watch. I hope that we don't have too many more days like it this season. It's a pity that Yossi couldn't play due to the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. I think that he could have been good at unlocking the packed defence. Gerrard was poor again on Saturday and hasn't looked right since the England game. There has been some speculation that he's still feeling his toe injury. I hope that he regains his form soon as we need him while Xabi is out.

Tomorrow night we can look forward to visiting Reading in the Carling Cup. This fixture ended up 4-3 last season when we beat them in the Carling Cup. I would be happy enough with that score again tomorrow. I would imagine that we'll see heavy rotation with many of the kids and fringe players getting a run out, and why not? The main fit defenders are likely to be rested giving the likes of Hobbs and maybe Arbeloa a chance at centre half. Let's hope that it does end up 8-0 and there aren't any injuries.

Deja vu

On the fan scale there are two extremes. At one end we have the knee jerkers. After a result like tonights in the Carling Cup, they call for Rafas head. There was one in the pub that I was watching the game in tonight. At the other end of the spectrum we have the superfans. They won't hear a bad word said against the manager, no matter what. I feel that I am somewhere in between. You won't hear me calling for Rafa's head but I do believe that he has made mistakes along the way. Being knocked out of the Carling cup isn't a disaster but the manner of the defeat at home was terrible.

The defence was as amatuer as a primary school team. Again we tried to play football, again we defended like children and again Arsenal picked us off with every attack. I have no problem with trying to play football but we have to be able to defend too. Paletta doesn't look anywhere near ready yet. Sami suffers when playing against pace. Aliadiere, a player I don't really rate, and Baptista, a player I rate very highly, tormented Sami. There is no point in playing him against teams like Arsenal. He is fine for matches like the Bolton one where the danger is primarily in the air. Peltier looked exposed as not yet ready for this level. Warnock was probably our best defender on the night but he still isn't of the required level for a premiership title. Dudek was poor again. Thanks for the memories Jerzey but it's time to go.

Arsenal's youngsters and reserves were much better than our youngsters and reserves which wasn't a major surprise. I think that this is something that Rafa is trying to change with his purchases. Wenger has a great eye for talent but he has had to pay a lot for his young stars. Our transfer policy seems to be changing from just local talent to include young prospects from abroad like Antwi, Astrit Ajdarevic, Insua and an Argentine winger called Leto who is currently being linked to us. If we can couple these young signings with local British and Irish talent like Jamie McCarthy, we should be able to build a strong team for the future. Rafa has said that he wanted to sign players like Walcott and Denilson but couldn't compete for price with Arsenal. Hopefully our investment will come off and we can sign the stars of the future too.

Both Garcia and Gonzalez came off injured. That leaves us a little short of left midfield options. It will probably be one of Riise/Warnock/Aurelio for now. The Lucas Neil transfer should go through in the next seven days according to the Lancashire Telegraph. I think that he'll be first choice left back for the moment if he does sign.

I think that it's time to refocus on the league. I hope that the team can forget about these last two results and concentrate on Watford away. This should be very winable. A good three points will get us back on track. A clean cheet would be a bonus after conceding nine in two games.

The Italian league comes back from it's winter break this weekend and Roma travel to Messina. In Spain Barca have to go to Espanyol hoping to bounce back from a draw last week. Good luck to both.