Europa joy

What would you prefer, a Europa cup or fourth spot in the league and a Champions League place? I would have said fourth spot at the start of the season but as time goes by, I'm warming to the idea of a Europa cup. The
4-1win over Benfica on Thursday night got the heart racing. It was a great performance from the lads. We went at them, like we often do at Anfield on a European night. If only we had taken this form into our away league games this year.

Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring and Lucas followed soon after. It was the Brazilians first of the season and he showed great composure to latch onto a superb ball from Gerrard and round the keeper. I think the kop would like to see more of that side of his game. Our third goal was a superb counter attacking move at pace with Dirk hitting a class cross from the right and El Nino slotting home. Torres lobbed the keeper for the last goal after a superb Lucas tackle in the middle set us on the attack. The only downer on the night was the consolation goal for Benfica when a free kick took a deflection off the wall and went in. It gave us a few nervous minutes before we got our fourth. Special mention to Javier and Fernando who avoided bookings which would have kept them out of the next round. Not so Sergio Aguero who was booked in Ateltico's match with Valencia and he'll miss the first leg, two weeks from now. Atleti will be a tough game but we should be able to beat them over two legs, despite their talented squad.It's back to the league matters tomorrow with Fulham visiting Anfield. The cottagers could be Europa cup final opponents if we manage to get that far. Their away form isn't great unlike our home form which means we really should be able to do them. I know the chances of sneaking fourth are slim but we have to keep pushing in case City do slip up.

Pepe Reina has given us a massive boost by signing a six year deal which will keep him at the club until 2016. This is brilliant news. I wouldn't swap him with any other keeper in Europe, with the exception of Casillas.

Rafa has said that we need investment in the team and we won't get back to competitiveness by wheeling and dealing as we have been doing over the last two seasons. If it's not forthcoming, I can see him leaving the club in the summer. That would suit Hicks and Gillett as they wouldn't have to pay him off and could get somebody cheaper in to do a job.

The Mirror have a transfer rumour with quotes from Dutch Wunderkind Georginio Wijnaldum, saying it would be a dream move for him to come to Liverpool. Let's hope that he lives up to his billing, unlike our last dutch Wunderkind, Babel. Feyenoord would want around £5m for him.

Toffees turned over

Another Darby victory, a 1-0 win at Anfield, was enough to put us back into fourth place. Other results went our way with Spurs drawing and City losing so our champions league faith is back in our own hands now. Things are a lot rosier than they were a few weeks back.

It was a poor enough game but lots of tackles and fouls which appeals to old school fans. I thought we were the sightly better team but there wasn't in it. It was an even enough first half. I thought Fellaini could have seen red too for the Kyrgiakos sending off. I've no arguments with the Greek getting done for that challenge. Pienaar should have gone for a shocking tackle on Mascherano in the first half. The Ref was poor enough all match.

Deadly Dirk did it again with a header before half time. He's making a habit of scoring derby goals. Moyes and the toffees must hate the sight of him. He performed well as did most of the team. Javier did a good job when moved to right back when Soto saw red. Lucas and Gerrard held the midfield and the defence dealt with what little Everton threw at us. It's a pretty damning indictment of them and their manager that they couldn't make their man advantage count and we were never put under any serious pressure.All of the results went our way yesterday. Was hoping for a Villa draw or win. Nice to see City fuck it up too. We've two massive away game with Arsenal and City in our next two fixtures. Arsenal lost to Chelsea yesterday and they might be vulnerable when they play us on Wednesday night. Even at that, they're good at home so I'd be surprised if we get more than a point there. We're coming back into form but they're still the kind of team who could rip us apart. I'd be more than happy with a draw in the Emirates as the City mach could be much more important in relation to the race for fourth.

LFC.tv showed the top ten derby goals of the decade this week and you can view them here. Some crackers in there but I think the Gary Mac one is still my favourite.

Here is Rafa putting a sky sports reporter in his place. About time.

Sky Sports reckon that we're going to sign Jovanovic on a pre contract agreement. Young Bulgarian Keeper Mihaylov has joined FC Twente for £1.5m. We made a very healthy transfer profit this Jan with the his sale added to that of Voronin and Dossena. Maxi was the only arrival and he came on a free.

Wolves and Trotters

We went to Molineux last wednesday to face Wolves. It was the first of what I viewed as two winnable games, with Wolves being the easier of the two. How wrong I was. We were shockingly bad. The only positive to be taken from the match was that we didn't lose and Gerrard returned to the first team. Other than that, we showed nothing.

Thankfully we moved on with a 2-0 win over Bolton at Anfield on Saturday. Dirk continued his good goalscoring form after Aquilani set him up with a far post header. Insua had swung in the cross and had a great game overall. I'm happy for Emiliano as he's been below par for a while as have most of the defence. What a difference a Greek makes? Kyrgiakos has come in and stabilised the entire back line. He's a no nonsense type who knows what his job is and sticks to it. Not the most cultured distributor of the ball, but one who get stuck in, wins headers and blocks at vital times. He cleared a ball off the line in the first half which could have changed the complexion of the match.Everton are level with Liverpool and Chelsea on 14 points from 18 according to the premier league form table. I'm happy to have Kyrgiakos in there to combat the aerial threat of Cahill and Fellaini. The defence will have a busy day as I'm sure the toffees will be well up for it, as they always are in the derby. This is another massive game, they all are now for us to finish fourth. A win would set us up nicely for the Arsenal match but I suspect we could be heading for a draw.

Not for the first time in recent years, the Liverpool rumour mill went into overtime and the word in the city was that Rafa was going to resign today. This proved to be rubbish, quelle surprise. The boss dismissed the rumours and said he's committed to the club.

In an odd move, promising German full back Chris Buchtmann has been sold to Fulham for £100k plus future conditional payments. I thought that he was rated highly so this is very strange unless the kid is having problems off the pitch.

We've signed a co-operation deal with Genk in Belgium. This will enable us to sign promising players from South America and Africa and let them develop in Genk, where the work permit laws aren't as strict. Arsenal and Man Utd have similar deals with Beveren and Royal Antwerp. I've always wondered why we didn't do this a few years ago.

The Liverpool Echo says that we've offered a pre contract agreement to Milan Jovanovic of Standard Liege as he's on a free in the summer. In the same paper Dirk talks about his Scouse family and their love of fish and chips. Dirk is one of my favourite players. He sounds like a really decent and down to earth bloke. Former target Nicolas Lodeiro won't be coming to Anfield as he's signed for Ajax. If the hype is to be believed, Martin Jol has pulled off a coup here as this kid is going to be a star.

Just as the transfer window was about to slam shut, it seems we managed to slip one through the gap. If some reports in Greece are to be believed, we've managed to sign Greek full back Vasilis Torosidis on loan from Olympiakos on loan. If everything goes well, this will become a permanent deal in the summer for around €7m. I really wasn't expecting us to do any business today so this comes as a pleasant surprise. As to the player himself and his abilities, I don't have a clue. He's good mates with Kygiakos, if that helps. Then again, it could be speculation which comes to nothing.

How good was that? A 2-0 win over Spurs at Anfield on a rocking Wednesday night was just what the doctor ordered. 'Arry said the Kop in full voice is "the most amazing sight in football". Get in.

We benefitted a lot from the early goal. Great strike from Kuyt after a clever bit of skill from Aquilani. He looked much better last night, playing the Gerrard role. You could say that creates a problem of where to play Gerrard when he returns but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The heart and passion shown against Stoke was upped a notch here. Carra was superb at right back. I know that he's expressed some reservations about playing there but if he played like that every week it wouldn't be a problem. Degen offered an outlet on the right and while he's limited, he did give us a bit of pace and drive which we lacked with Torres and Gerrard out. He was guilty of bottling it when he was put through on Gomes but chose to abdicate responsibility and pass back to Dirk instead.

Kuyt missed a few sitters and it should have been a lot easier in the end than it was. Balls of steel from Dirk to retake the peno and put it in the opposite corner. Spurs did cause a few problems at times but overall we were great value for the win. I really thought they'd give us more of a game given the injuries we had.

We're second in the premier league form guide with 13 points out of 18, only Arsenal ahead of us. Not bad form considering this is supposed to be the worst Liverpool team ever with a cretin of a manager according to the media.It seems that we did make an effort to get Jones on loan from Sunderland but they didn't go for it despite the player being interested. Fair enough.

Tony Barrett in the Times has an excellent piece on George Gillett. There are rumours that his share of the club will be sold soon enough. I really hope it's true this time but we've all heard these rumours before.

Cup runneth half full

Yesterday we saw the Reds settle for a 1-1 draw at Reading to bring the match to a replay at Anfield next week. In truth, it wasn't a great match and we didn't play well. Reading did enough to earn the draw and it's especially impressive considering they only have a caretaker manager at the minute. Gerrard hit a cross shot which Dirk dummied to confound the keeper and it was 1-1 at half time. We had played well enough as we neared the interval and looked like we'd push on in the second half. Alas, we let Reading back into it and it evened itself out overall.

So we'll have to do it all again. I suppose the owners will be happy at the extra pay day from the home match but I don't think Rafa will be jumping for joy at the extra match and possibility of injuries and suspensions. Carra praised young Steven Darby who filled in for GloJo at right back. He was much better than his previous game against Fiorentina but I still don't think he's up to our level. Martin Kelly could be back for the next game and I would expect him to replace Darby in the XI.It's another tough test this Sunday when Spurs visit Anfield. They're in top form and Defoe is one of the most dangerous players in the league this season. I'm attending this game so I'm hoping for a good display but I'm not overly confident. I wouldn't be surprised to see this ending in a stalemate.

Victor Moses could be available on the cheap according to the Daily Mail. Babel is "not for sale" according to Rafa. He also played down the suggestions that we might move for RVN.

Ngog we trust?

I've been pretty busy in work recently so updates have been lacking. Here's a brief overview of the last two games.

Sunday's match with Arsenal was really disappointing. Although, I was really happy at half time. We had started really well and Masch was closing them down to great effect. El Nino was back in the saddle even though he didn't look anywhere near 100%. He was presented with a great chance early on which he fluffed but I felt a fit and firing Torres would have finished with ease. But Deadly Dirk struck to put us ahead with a cool finish from close range. We might have been 2-0 up if the ref had have given us a peno when Gerrard was taken down in the box. But after the break GloJo was unlucky to score an o.g. After that our heads dropped and Arshavin struck again. He must with he could play us every week. After that we fell apart. There was very little effort and only a few half chances for us to go level. The contrasts between the halves was stark.Fortunately, we got things back on track with a 2-1 win over Wigan on Wednesday. This was a much more solid display. We created quite a few chances after Ngog opened the scoring. He started in place of Torres who is having his injury managed and can't play two games per week.

Yossi, Agger and Gerrard all had good chances to increase our lead before Torres, on as sub, went round the keeper and scuffed it over the line. Not the prettiest he's scored but they all count. It did get a bit easier after that but we still had a nervous ending as N'Zogbia got one back for them in injury time. On a positive note, Insua looked much fresher, and seems to have benefitted from a rest. Ngog continues to score and now has 6 goals this season. He's developing every game and his movement and link up play are improving rapidly. Given the fragility of our Spanish striker, I expect young David to continue to play regularly for the rest of the season. A £1.5m bargain from Rafa, despite the bosses reputation for profligacy in the transfer market.

Today's match sees us take on Portsmouth in Fratton Park. This hasn't been a happy hunting ground for us in the past but that was more under 'Arry. They're not in great form but have Grant in charge now and he may make a difference from their early season form. GloJo and Babel are back in the squad for this one. Happy to have Glen back but Babel is a waste of space. I expect another tough and nervy match given our fragile confidence and form but it's one that we should win ultimately.

The Ruud Van Nistelroy rumours won't go away. There might actually be something in this. I think he'd be a great impact sub or striker to have on rotation.

Danny Pacheco has a bright future according to the boss. I think we all saw hints of that future with his cameo against Fiorentina. I can see him getting more game time now that Voronin is out in the cold. Another youngster who made an impression in the Champions League group was Jovetic. He's a player that Rafa tried to sign in the summer before budgetary constraints kicked in, according to Dominic King in the Echo. I think he'd be superb for us but I fear he's out of our price range now.

I'll leave you with a one liner I came up over last weekend.

What's the difference between Berbatov and Voronin?

About £31m.

Pepe comes up trumps

Sometimes you get the rub of the green, and we definitely did here. A 2-0 win may have been more than we deserved on the balance of play as I thought Everton deserved a draw. But they didn't take any of their chances. We took two of ours and that was enough. They were on the receiving end of the kind of game we've endured this season, playing well but getting less than you deserve. "Ahhhhhhyyyyyyyy", as the Fonz might say.

Javier got lucky with a long range shot which deflected off and Everton defender. I was shouting at him not to shoot, which goes to show how much I know. Maybe he'll follow in Fat Franks shoes and make a career out of deflected shots. Pepe made a superb double save to keep us in it. I have no doubt that he's the best keeper in the league and has been our player of the season so far. Stevie had a poor enough game but harried Hibbert enough to lay the ball onto Riera. The Spaniard's shot didn't beat Howard but he could only parry it onto Dirk who finished from close range. Kuyt has been in shit form for a while so I'm hoping this will help him recover.A scrappy derby win can be worth a lot to a struggling squad. We now have a week off until the Blackburn game on Saturday. They aren't in good form either but we should really have enough to put them away. There is a chance that Torres will be back and Gerrard and Aquilani will have another week's worth of training.

Sky Sports have an article in praise of Liverpool's number 24 David Ngog. He's come on a hell of a lot this year. It's clear he's no Torres but he's scoring goals and improving his overall play. He's worth well more than the £1.5m Rafa paid PSG for him.

Aurelio has rejected a pay as you play contract. I'm a fan of the Brazilian but he is brittle. Hopefully he signs up and continues to contribute over the next few years. He could be a good mentor to Insua and Butchtmann.

Cottage calapse

Balls. When I saw the team sheet on Saturday I got very worried. 3-1 was the final result after a 1-1 draw at the break. We actually played well enough in the first half and things might have been different if Yossi had of scored rather than hit the bar in the first half. The defence we started was Insua, Carragher, Kyrgiakos and Degen which has a combined cost of £2.5m. Insua is having a poor time of it now and didn't cover himself in glory here. None of them did at the back. Degen was unfortunate to see a red and it may be rescinded on appeal. Then Carra went for a second yellow and we were down to 9. Laughable stuff. The only bright point was a stunning strike by El Nino.Lyon say that they're wary of the Liverpool threat. That threat has been lessened by the massive injury list we're suffering. The latest news is that GloJo and Aurelio aren't fit enough to travel. They will join Gerrard, Skrtel, Kelly, Riera and Dossena in the physio room. The more positive news is that Agger, Aquilani and David N'Gog have travelled. The big questions for me are who starts at right back as Degen isn't registered and dare we risk and Aquilani start? Darby may have to fill in for Johnson. It's either that or play Carragher there which hasn't worked at all recently. Starting Aquilani would be a big risk and I suspect it will be a case of him coming on for 20-30 mins at the end if he's needed. I'd love to see him start but I doubt he's ready for it. I'm really worried about this one. I think we'd win with our first team but we're far from that. A draw might be doable but I can't see us winning.

Dossena is being linked with a Jan move to Napoli. He's not playing much and will want to get some game time in to secure his world cup place. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him go if Rafa is assured he'll get to reinvest the funds. Spanish defender Mikel San Jose looks like he'll return to the Kop after a pointless spell on loan at Atletic Bilbao. We could be looking at a boost to our Hungarian community with Vladimir Koman who's currently playing for Bari. He's 20 and plays on the left wing and could cost us up to £4m.

Carling cup knockout

Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool was what the scoreboard displayed at full time. We were treated to two stunning strikes in a really open and attacking game. Both Insua and Merida provided goals to savour. We played quite well and could have won it. Arsenal carved us open a few times but they took their chances. Babel in particular spurned a glorious chance when he failed to connect a few yards in front of goal. That could have changed things.

Dirk was captain on the night and did his best to gee the lads on to victory. Cavalieri didn't really impress and I would worry if Pepe gets injured. The real surprise showing on the night was Degen who rampaged forward from right back showing great pace and attacking ability. It was heartening to see and we have some proper cover and right back now between him and young Marty Kelly.

All eyes were on Alberto when he came on near the end. He showed great touch and ability with one sublime raking ball to Degen on the right standing out. He might have won a penalty at the death when an overhead kick hit Senderos on the arm. Might have been soft but you do see them given. That would have been a dream debut for the little Prince.Now it's back to the league and we face a tough trip to Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon. Hodgson is doing a great job there and they've gone from being a shambles to a well organised team. I fancy them to blockade the goal and frustrate us, which is their right. We'll need to keep concentration on set pieces and hope that Torres & Yossi can carve them open.

Tony Barrett in the Times exposes the brutal truth behind life at Anfield under Rafa the cold and heartless dictator. Good lad Tone.

The Telegraph reckon we're after Juan Mata of Valencia. With what money? The Guardian say that we're offering Pepe a new deal. Sign him up quick smart. Best keeper in the league for me.

Click here to watch Jan Molby's legendary goal against Utd from 1985. It was thought lost for years but is now availabe to view online. Classic goal from the days before his butt was bigger as his talent.

Humble beginnings

A 1-0 win against limited oposition saw our champions league campaign get off to a dull thud, rather than a bang. Debreceni posed very little threat but were happy to sit deep and frustrate in numbers, which is perfectly acceptable for smaller teams away from home. It was up to us to break them down and we didn't succeed to any great degree. We had some decent enough openings but only converted the one with deadly Dirk poked in a shot after the goalie failed to hold a Nando rasper. Rafa will say that the objective is get qualified as qucikly as possible and top the group. We're on our way to achieving that mission. Agger is back in training but unlikely to feature against West Ham in Upton Park this Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the same team or Mascherano in for Riera with Gerrard moving forward and Yossi shifting left. Aurelio needs some more minutes before he's ready to start. We should be able to beat this lot but it's not an easy ground to visit. I predict a narrow win.

It sounds like Purslow and Rafa are getting on well. I suppose the boss is glad that the incompetent Parry is gone. Purslow does seem to be efficent in securing the new sponsorship deal. The problem is that the money he's earning will go towards the Yanks debts, which they've loaded onto the club. Hicks reckons that the stadium will be built - once there is credit available in international markets. We'll see about that. In the meantime, they'll continue fucking the club, it's fans and the residents of Anfield around. Cheers Tom.

Probably the best sponsorship deal in the world?

That's more like it. 4-0 at home and a job well done. After a nervy opening 20 mins we settled down and Yossi hit the opener after a pass in from the right by GloJo. The Israeli was on top form and completed his hat trick in the second half. He cut the Burnley defence to pieces time and again with his running between the lines.

Gerrard had a crucial role to play especially in the third goal. He was unlucky not to score himself when he beat the keeper but hit the post. Himself and lucas formed a tasty midfield partnership in Mascherano absence. Food for thought given that Javier is unlikely to stay beyond this summer.

Dirk scored the other, his second of the season. It will be great if he could repeat his feat of last season is getting 12 league goals from midfield. It's great to see players other than Torres and Gerrard getting goals for when our two match winners have off days. I'm hoping that Aquilani will bag himself a few when he gets going. He remains 2-3 weeks away from fitness.The defence held firm for the second time this season and Rafa says those calling time on Carra are premature. Tony Cascarino in the Times suggests that Carragher is the source of our early season defensive frailties. Skrtel came back in place of Kyrgiakos and I expect those two to be the first choice for the season baring injury. Agger will have a hard time displacing one of them. Aurelio and Insua will be an interesting battle for the left back spot as the season progresses. Insua has done well but Rafa's a big fan of the Brazilian and he gives us an option with free kicks.

West Ham were beaten yesterday and will want to bounce back against us in the late kick off on Saturday. Zola has them well organised and playing some nice stuff but we've a bit of confidence back now and we should be able to win it. This is the type of game that we might have drawn last year so I'd like to see us show we're different now and go for the three points.

Is seems we'll be saying goodbye to Carlsberg and hello to Standard Chartered as our £80m record equaling sponsorship deal was agreed this week. I did quite like the fact that we've had Carlsberg for many years but financial reality means we need to go for a more lucrative option. It could well mean more money for the Americans but that may mean less taken from Rafa's budget.

Pepe was asked if we could win the title and replied "I think so but there are other teams that are very capable of winning it", which is a fair enough assessment. It's going to be very tough. Rafa has tried to clarify Reina's comments.

Can I direct your eyes here? Top class from the Off the Ball team, Eoin and Ken. Cohen is a despicable human being. Great to know that he's off the air.

I'm disappointed but not surprised to read that Crewe are going to report us for tapping up one of their talented youths. 15 year old Max Clayton could head to Anfield but it might come at a high price. We've previous in this regard with Ziege a few years ago. I know that this happens a lot but I never like to see young players poached from their clubs for a small fee ala Macheda, Fabregas, Flamini and now Kakuta. Another young lad, Michael Ngoo has signed from Southend. 101greatgoals has a good feature on our Finnish boy wonder Lauri Delle Valle.

It was great to see that justice was done in the Michael Shields case as he was given a pardon. Better late than never but it'll be hard for the poor fella to rebuild his life after so long in jail for a crime he didn't commit. He wrote a piece in the Observer today which is worth a read.

Johnson's magic

It's hard to remember a better debut than Glen Johnson's last night. He scored one goal, was instrumental in others and kept a clean sheet. If he can do that every week, we'll have some player. He himself said it was a perfect night. He was good against Spurs but this was a whole new level. £17m is starting to look cheap. We've found ourselves an English Danny Alves after Rafa failed to buy the Brazilian one when he was at Seville.

4-0 was a decent way to get our Anfield account off to a flying start. Lucas was good in the middle again, El Nino opened the scoring and looked a little sharper. It may take him time to get back to full fitness after a short summer off. Yossi was vastly superior to Babel and should be there every game for now. Himself and Riera will scrap it out for that spot on the left but the Israeli gets my vote for now. Gerrard was pretty deadly and the build up to Kuyt's goal was a great team move, but a sublime touch from Gerrard capped it all. Young Ayala did nothing wrong at the back and kept it simple. It will have done him the world of good to have that clean sheet under his belt.We've a few days off until the Villa match next Monday night. It won't be easy as they've had a mediocre start to their season and will want to show the league that they're still contenders for a European spot. Skrtel should be back in action then, maybe wearing a mask. Riera could be in contention for the left midfield but that would be really hard on Benayoun. I'm expecting our injury crisis to ease in the near future.

Former Rangers defender Kyrgiakos is on his way to L4. I can see this happening as he'll be coming in as a cheap 4th choice centre back who's good in the air. A Sami replacement for those games where the ball is bombarded into the box. We'll need him as Agger had surgery on his back and will be out for 6 weeks. Leaving on loan will be Mikel San Jose who's off to Bilbao on loan for the year. Fair play to you boy.

Tony Barrett in the Times raise the slim possibility of a bid for Van Der Vaart from Real Madrid. He's a player that we've been linked to in the distant past but I can't see us having the cash now. The only way it could happen would be a loan deal with an option to buy next year. He'd give us great cover in the attacking positions. I don't see it happening in reality.

The King, the little Prince and the swordsman

Pre season training is nearly over. Any rustiness or sloppiness was swept clean, like this sloppy fecker. It started with a training camp in Switzerland and two friendlies. St Gallen drew 0-0 with Liverpool and then we were defeated 1-0 by Rapid Vienna. Then the asian leg of the tour started with a 1-1 draw against Thailand. Then things started to click into gear against Singapore with a 5-0 win. Kuyt and Nemeth were particularly strong performers. Then came an embaressing 3-0 loss to Espanol and a 2-0 win over Lyn Oslo featuring a goal from Babel. The final pre season game was a 2-1 loss against Atletico Madrid today, a big game for El Nino who hit the post and contrived not to score against his old team. Lucas was the scorer for us.

The second XI also played a few friendlies including a visit to Dunmanway in west Cork. I drove through the village last weekend and they were painting it red in anticipation of the red invasion. One of the worlds biggest teams playing one of the smallest. The match itself featured a free kick from young Danny Pacheco. This Monday will see the reserve squad play against Bohemians in Dalymount Park, Reds in Dublin. Not a 15 min walk from my own house here in the city centre.

The biggest news of the summer is that £30m+add ons Xabi Alonso will be replaced by £16m Alberto Aqulani who passed his medical on Friday. This is huge news. I really like Xabi, and he was probably my favourite red. A gentleman and a midfielder of such poise and technique that he lit up any game he played. He always made it look like he had much more time than everyone else. But now he's gone. He'll be missed but he gave us five great years and he wanted to move back to spain with his family, which is fair enough. He got a sword when he left Atletico, maybe he'll get a pan of scouse when he leaves merseyside? Good luck Xabi, unless you're playing against us.

While the Xabi saga rumbled on Bob Arbeloa was on his way to the bernabeu after a much quicker deal was agreed a fee of £3.5m + clauses for his transfer. I'm sad to see him go but he's only a year left onhis contract and clearly wants to return to Real Madrid. It means there will be opportunities for Degen and young Martin Kelly at right back. So out with the old and in with the new. Bertie Aqulani is setting up shop in L4 and let's hope he brings his girlfriend with him. There is no doubting the talent that this lad possesses. But what is doubtful, is his injury record. He has struggled a bit in recent times and is out at the moment with an ankle problem. But Roma fans seem to think that this is more to do with their training methods and medical staff. I'm hoping that we can get him fit and firing. His playing stats can be a little misleading because Spaletti often preferred Pizzaro to Bertie in recent years.5 Hungarian kids are coming over on trial and could end up joining their compatriots Gulasci Nemeth, Simon etc. Another young recruit is Danish midfield teen Kohlert who'll go into the reserves.

Hicks and Gillett have secured their refinancing deal which will require them to pay off some of their initial loan. While this sounds good on paper, I'm sure that they'll find a way to bill the club for the expense. They're a pair of leeches, sucking the life out of our club.

There is a certain purity and blind optimism to the first game of the season, you can legitimately expect all of the old problems to have sorted themselves out over the summer. It's a clean slate for all and the new recruits will make the difference. This time we'll go the extra yards. This year is our year. Number 19 is coming home.Celebrity red Samuel L Jackson is well up for the season. I'm sure he backs us to go far, maybe even the whole way to ending our 19 year league drought. The guardian season preview thinks we'll do it. I've been fairly cautious over the past few years and never said we'd do it. I correctly predicted second last season but this time I'm going to stick my neck out and say we'll reach the promised land of the league trophy. You can argue that we're weaker with the loss of Xabi and Arbeloa but the addition of Johnson and Aquilani doesn't leave us far off and might make us more attacking and capable of breaking down a packed defence, in time. There will be a bedding in period, for Alberto especially who hasn't had pre season with the team. If we can keep him fit alongside Torres and Gerrard, then we can do it. I know that's a big if but our inability to field our best XI cost us last year. I think we were the best team but Utd won the league as they had a best squad. I think the loss of Lady Ronaldo will be a problem for them as he destroyed teams and pulled goals out of nowhere so often. We we're very close last year, only four points off and I think that his loss will affect them more than our loss of Xabi. Of course, it will need the Americans to keep their noses out of Rafa's business and let him get on with training and coaching his team. Chelsea will be in there too but they'll need adaptation time to Carlo's methods and tactics. Sure we'll find out over the next 9 months, starting with Spurs on Sunday. The league is like a pregnancy. There are many bumps and kicks along the way but you have to wait until the end to find out the result. Here's hoping that it's the second coming of our league domination.

Sami signs off as reds slam Spurs

It's always sad when a legend leaves. So it was for Sami who left Anfield after 10 fantastic years. The friendly Finn made 464 appearances for the Reds and won just about every medal going bar the league. Rafa brought him on here in the dying minutes for Gerrard and he took the captains armband. He even had a header cleared off the line which would have been epic. You could see how much it meant to him when the players hoisted him shoulder high and the emotion of it got to him . I respect his decision to go and play but I hope that he'll return to join the coaching staff when he's finished in Germany.

The game itself almost seemed of secondary importance to Sami's swansong. Torres opened the scoring with a fine header from a Kuyt cross. Deadly Dirk took the second but was helped with a large deflection off Hutton. Yossi rounded off the goals with a cheeky effort. He has such quick feet that players buy his feints and dummies but now that he has a few months of form and confidence behind him, they are coming off and he has become extremely deadly. Keane scored a consolation goal for Spurs and didn't celebrate which was nice to see. It didn't work out for him at Anfield but I don't have any ill feelings towards him. He was the wrong buy but that's not his fault. Maybe if he'd scored more he'd still be here but I doubt it. I think he took away from our best XI rather than added to it.

Gaz Baz continues to be linked with a move to L4 just as consistantly as Alonso is being linked with a return to Spain. Rafa was asked about it post match and said:

"Xabi has three years on his contract and we're really pleased with him. We do not want to sell. He is not for sale. He says he's happy here in Liverpool. He says it to you in every single interview and press conference."

Oliver Kay in the Times reckons that we're going to open formal negotiations with Tevez after the champions league final. Sky are linking Youann Gourcouff who did really well on loan from AC Milan to Boureaux this season. Mascherano says that he would like to be reunited with Tevez. If this report is to be believed, we've had a €20m bid rejected by Napoli. He's a really exciting player and could be credible alternative to Tevez or Silva and might be easier to capture.

I'll put together a season review in the next few days but then it'll be hibernation on the blog for the summer. I may do an occasional post if we have a big signing but you can check out the twitter feed for brief updates.

Legend leaves for Leverkusen

Auf wiedesein Sami. In our defensive foursome, he was absolutely awesome. One Scandinavian defender signs as another leaves. The circle of life is complete. I'm sad to see Sami leave but I understand that he wants a last hurrah. It would have been hard to see him play against us for another premiership team so I wish him all the best in Germany. On the upside, it's great to see Dagger sign up for years. I was convinced that he was leaving in the summer so well done to Rafa and the staff for convincing him his future is here. Between him and Skrtel we're sorted at centre half for many a year. I expect one of San Jose or Martin Kelly will be promoted next season to cover as the fourth choice centre back.

Did this result put Newcastle down? 3-0 could have been 6-0 as we hit the woodwork three times. Xabi struck the crossbar twice with two fierce shots and Gerrard hit it once. Could have been a landslide. Yossi bagged the first with his knee after a cross from Dirk. It may have been marginally offside but any sense of injustice the Toon army had was soon wiped out when Dirk powered in a diving header from a Gerrard corner. Goals from corners always give me a special feeling, rare as they are. Our dominance continued in the second half but we had to wait until late on the for the third goal. Alonso was taken off after Joey Barton was red carded for a bad challenge on the Basque. Lucas came on and scored his first league goal with a close range header from a free kick from the right hand touch line. I'm happy for the Brazilian as he looked thrilled but it now looks like he could leave for £6m this summer according to the red tops.
We're off to Upton Park next weekend. It should be routine with or without Torres who didn't play yesterday. West Ham are quite safe now so don't have much to play for. I hope that we win all of our games to push Utd the whole way. I don't see Utd dropping the requisite points to make it interesting enough but I want to finish a close second with a small gap to the top. This experience of being in a title challenge to the end will do our players the world of good for next season.

The news that Rafa will have to sell to increase his transfer kitty is not unexpected. The BBC reckon Silva, Villa and Glen Johnson are targets. Javier Saviola is being linked with a free transfer in the summer. Gareth Barry has spoken about a summer move. I think he's quite likely to arrive for less than £10m. Given his performance's this year, I hope that it doesn't mean a Xabi departure. Sources in Italy suggest Juve might be back in for him this summer. Rafa says that Javier is going nowhere. What about Pandev of Lazio? He'd be a cheap option for a summer signing. His teammate Zarate has signed a permanent deal with Lazio so we won't be getting him. AZs Moroccan striker Mounir El Hamdaoui is being linked with us and Arsenal. Negredo of Almeria is a target. Rafa says that Yossi will get a new contract offer. If anybody deserves it then he does as he's been amazing in the last 6 months.

KC KO

A 3-1 win away from home was a case of job done. But it wasn't done very cleverly in a bad day at the office for most of the team. We were poor in a poor first half. Hull did well to close us down really quickly. Time and again we were caught in possession or had passes blocked by Hull players. Arbeloa and Mascherano were disappointing for the second game running. The whole team looked a bit rattled by the pressure exerted by Caleb Folan et al. But just before half time Javier broke down field and got a free kick when he fell over. It was really harsh on Hull but got worse when Xabi put it away. His initial effort hit the wall but he cracked the rebound into the bottom corner on the volley. Lovely strike, his fourth league goal of the season. I don't really understand how his passing is so sublime but his delivery from frees and corners is often askew. Strange.

The second half started much better than the first. Once Folen lost the plot and got sent off for a kick on Skrtel, things got easier. Dirk got a touch on a Skrtel shot to make it 2-0. Giovani pulled one back for them to make a little more tense. But Kuyt scored again in the 90th minute to put the result beyond doubt. Game over. Dirk now has 10 league goals which is superb given his position and reputation. He might even improve on that over the next few games.

Insua lost his man for the Hull goal but was much better than our other full back Arbeloa who had a really poor game. It's a pity that the spaniard has lost his form in recent games as he's had a good season to date.We can look forward to the Toon army visiting Anfield next Sunday. Shearer and co will be well up for a fight but are short on confidence. It's one that we really should win and we'll need to if we're going to push Utd all the way.

Could Rafa be interested in signing Man Utd loanee Carlos Tevez? Rafa refused to comment on him when asked in Fridays press conference. Fergie reckons he wants him to stay but we'll see. I think he'll leave Utd but I don't see us signing him, Madrid would be more likely. He'd be a nice addition to our team but we need somebody to compete for the Riera and Kuyt spots, not Gerrard and Torres positions. O'Neil seems to be preparing to let Barry leave this summer. Expect a cut price bid from Rafa given the fact his contract is up in 2010.

Lauri Della Valle scored 2 more goals as the junior reds beat Birmingham 3-1 second leg to seal a place in the FA youth cup final. Alex Kacaniklic scored the other to give an aggregate score of 6-1. They'll face Arsenal to win it.

Jack Hobbs who was part of the 2006 FA youth cup winning team, has sealed a permanent deal with Leicester. The young defender has helped them gain promotion from League one to the championship. I hope he does well in the future.

Done four?

3 defensive lapses cost us against Arsenal on Tuesday. May have even cost us the title, admittedly it was a long shot to begin with. 4-4 may have been good to watch but the result was sickening. We had it in our hands at 2-1 up but we threw it away and had to chase the game when 3-2 and 4-3 down. In the end we paid the price for our poor defending and got one point where three were required and would have been deserved.

We dominated Arsenal for much of the match but we gifted them goals that they didn't deserve. Mascherano, Aurelio and Arbeloa all made bad mistakes which led to Arshavin goals. Fairplay to the lad who took his chances but other than that had a poor enough game if such a thing is possible.

Dirk set up our first two goals for Torres and then Yossi. El Nino scored another and Yossi got the equaliser in injury time. This was the Israeli's best ever performance for the Reds. He revelled in the number 10 role usually occupied by Gerrard. I fear his absence much less with Yossi in this form. He showed great courage to throw his head into the mix for his first goal. A brave player who gives everything.Well done to the Everton fans who showed some merseyside solidarity with the 96 at the FA cup semi final against Utd on Sunday. I was happy to see them win and will be cheering them against Chelsea in the final. Let's hope that these kind of gestures will thaw the atmosphere in the Merseyside derbies which had become poisonous in recent years.

Gerrard is unlikely to be fit for the Hull City match on Saturday according to Rafa. His abductor muscle is still problematic. Yossi will deputise. I think we should be able to win this one despite what motivational miracles Phil Brown might try to pull. Utd don't play until Sunday but Spurs are safe now so I can't see them presenting too many problems for Slur and company.

The guardian are reporting that we could See a King Kenny comeback this summer slotting into a youth development role. Great news if it happens. Sammy Lee is in favour as is Alan Hansen. The King himself is desperate to help the club he loves in anyway he can.

It's great to see that the kids have one foot in the FA youth cup final after a 3-0 first leg win against Birmingham. Della Valle grabbed two goals and David Amoo got the other from right midfield. I expect we'll see quite a few of this team make first team appearances over the next few years.

Rafa's comments should be reassuring to Xabi and ensure that there isn't any repeat of last summers shenanigans. I'd be gutted if Xabi left. We know that Tores will leave us one day. I hope that day is far far away and I had assumed it would be to return to Atletico. But El Nino says he would like to try Serie A before Spain. Not what I expected but let's hope it's the distant future.

Alvaro Negredo of Almeria is being linked to Anfield by Setanta. The 23 year old striker has had a great season and has scored 17 goals. Sky sports reckon that we could be in for Mauro Zarate as Lazio only have 2 weeks left to take up their option on him. His agent says that there's been interest from two English clubs. He's a quality player who did well at Birmingham on loan but he'd cost a lot and I'm not sure where he'd fit into the team. If we bought him it could be the Robbie Keane scenario again where he's too good for the bench but no clear place in the team. The Daily Mirror reckon we're going to bid for Roque Santa Cruz of Blackburn this summer. He wants to leave but I can't see us competing with city in an auction for him as it would be too expensive.

A bridge too four

The pride of the Liverpool was evident last night. 4-4, an epic European contest. They said that there was no way we could go to London and score three. We went one better and scored four. We led 2-0 at half time but inevitable we left gaps at the back and Chelsea punished us. At 2-0 and 4-3 up, we were one goal from being ahead on aggregate but it wasn't to be. Despite it all, even deep into injury time, we never gave up. The spirit and desire of this team and this club is unmatched.

If we had Mascherano in the first leg and Gerrard in the second would the tie have turned out differently? Possibly but we'll never know. Stevie wasn't risked and watched from the stands. In his absence, Lucas did a decent job at the apex of the midfield where the captain normally plays. He put in a good shift and scored a goal thanks to an Essien deflection but Xabi stepped up as the main man on the night. He was awesome. I'm a huge fan of the basque schemer and this was up there as one of his best displays ever. I hope that Rafa never again considers selling him. Dirk was full of heart and running as we expect in European games. He took his goal well and has a habit of scoring important goals in this competition. Aurelio was another who recovered well from the first leg and his free kick goal was superb.

Drogba caused more problems as he did in the first leg. His diving and rolling around was as distasteful as ever. Anelka caused problems down the right and helped set Drogba up when he got a lucky touch off Pepe's glove. I wouldn't fault the keeper on it, it was just a freak deflection after the Ivorian had done very well.So now we can "concentrate on the league". Scant consolation but maybe the need to rotate will be lessened and we'll see our first choice team every match from now until May. Next Tuesday will be a vital league showdown with Arsenal at Anfield. The gunners will have a big say in the eventual destination of the title as they have to play us, Chelsea and Utd before the end of the season. They're in decent form at the moment but have a few defensive problems with Gallas, Clichy and Almunia injured. I fancy us to win it especially if the captain returns from injury.

Tony Evans in the TImes has a moving piece on going back to Hillsbourgh on the 20th anniversary. As I've said before on here, Evans is one of the few hacks that I respect when it comes to writing about LFC. You can hear him most weeks on the Game podcast from the Times.

The guardian rumour mill is linking us with another move for Javi Martinez at Bilbao. Could that mean that Lucas or Xabi are on their way this summer? Maybe he's being lined up as an alternative if moves for Gaz Baz fail again. I think the Englishman is a much likelier signing, mainly due to his nationality and his price. Another player linked is Wesley Sneijder who Real Madrid are willing to sell and David Silva who Valencia have to sell. Guillem Ballague reckons that we're interested in both of them but Real want Alonso and are using Sneijder as bait. I'd like to see us sign the Dutchman but not at Xabi's expense.

Babel says that he's not happy with sitting on the bench. Fair enough, but when he's played this year he's been fairly average. He's a prime candidate to be sold this summer from what I can see. We should be able to get a decent price for him as he's a young and talented player but I don't see him realising his potential with us.

Anfield gets the blues

While it may not be palatable, we need to admit that we were beaten by a much better team last night. We may have beaten them twice in the league this season but we faced a different Chelsea in the champions league. They were really hungry and capitalised on the fact that many of our players played poorly. We got the early lead after some great build up play and a superb ball from Kuyt to Arbeloa who set up El Nino for a first time finish. We should have pushed on but Chelsea started to control the midfield and the match.

The defence had a collective nightmare. Pepe wasn't bad and Arbeloa was good in the first half. But Drogba caused all manner of problems to Carragher and Skrtel. Aurelio had as bad a game as he's ever had for us. It was uncharacteristic. The defending for the corners was pathetic.

Babel and Dossena offered nothing when they came on. Lucas has shown in recent times that he can fill in admirably in midfield but against the Chelsea midfield he looked off the pace and out of his depth. We badly missed Mascherano. His presence at the bridge will give us a sliver of hope in the return leg. But we'll need to score three away goals which is a very tall order even if Terry can't play. It would a comeback of Istanbul proportions if we managed it.And after all of that, it now looks as if Gerrard has a groin problem and may not be able to face Blackburn on Saturday morning. While Essien did a superb marking job on him, he wasn't as free moving as he normally is. Blackburn being a big Sam team won't be a pushover despite their league position. I'm hoping that Yossi will be fit enough to start if Stevie can't make it. He's been in very good form recently and deserves a start.

Rafa says that he's not interested in signing Simon Kjaer from Palermo. The 20 year old defender is target to replace Agger according to some reports. Kuba at Dortmund, is another target who we've been tracking for a while. His club are trying to tie him down to a long term deal, which will stave off our pursuit of him.

All bar one

It was one of those nights. We dominated inferior opposition and created loads of chances. We even hit the woodwork four times. But not matter what we did the ball refused to go into the net. We looked destined for yet another disappointing draw but Yossi wasn't having it. Coming on as a sub he stamped his mark on the game deep into injury time, drifting in from the right to fire past Swartzer and send reds worldwide bouncing. The commentary in that clip is quite special. Yossi to the rescue. Yossi got injured while away with Israel. I doubt Rafa was too impressed with that but maybe he'll forgive him after this.

Rafa made three changes beforehand by bringing in Insua at left back, Lucas in the middle and Dossena on the left wing. All three did well. Insua is going to be some player and between him and Aurelio we're well set in what was once a problem position. Dossena was a potent threat going forward on the left while he was freed from defensive labours in this position. This could be a better role for him as he has been shown up defensively at full back. I still don't know if he has a future at the club beyond the summer but he will contribute during the run in.

It would have been a grand miscarriage of justice if Fulham had managed to hold out for a draw. They were beaten all ends up by us. Swartzer made some good saves to keep them in it and the width of the woodwork thwarted Xabi, Torres and Dossena twice. But we got our just deserts in the end. Now we have to hope that Villa can do us a favour today.Chelsea. Yes that's right, Chelsea. Yet again. I'm sure we'd prefer to have the second leg at Anfield as we saw in the tie last season. Hidink has them well organised and it won't be easy. I find these games interesting rather than exciting but I think I'm the only one there.
Stevie G gave us a good start to the weekend by signing a 2 year contract extension. The backroom staff have all followed Rafa's lead and signed contract extensions. Not to be outdone, Dirk agreed a two year extension. Let's hope that Dagger jumps on the bandwagon.

Del Bosque is impressed with Xabi's beard. Maybe we should all grow beards.

Rafa has denied any interest in Valencia attacker David Silva. Valencia are broke and are selling their stars to balance the books this summer. Could Arda Turn of Galatasary be a target this summer? He's a fan going by this interview. He's fast, tricky, plays wide and has performed well against us in the champions league. Sounds ideal. The BBC gossip column has us linked with Eto'o for £18m. While he is a class player, I don't see where he'd fit into our current formation. I'm not really into paying that much for a squad player or playing him out of position. Maybe we'd change formation? They also say that Hertha Berlin have agreed a £4m deal for Voronin. They should have the cash as they'll almost definitely finish in one of the champions league spots. Not bad for a player that we picked up for free. Agger isn't in any hurry to sign an extension. I had hoped that Rafa's new contract would have given him some encouragement but alas it doesn't seem to be happening. I fear he's off in the summer and maybe Albiol will be his replacement.

Here's a good sky compilation of footage and player interviews after the win at the theatre of prawns. Worth a full screen viewing.