Does anybody want to win the league?

2-2 at home against Hull isn't good enough. Fortunately, neither was Utd's draw with Spurs, Arsenal's draw with Boro or Chelsea's home draw with West Ham. It seems it's tough at the top for all of the big four this year. So the question remains, who wants to win the league title?

If we had put any sort of decent form together over the last half dozen games, we'd be 7 or more points clear rather than the solitary point we lead the table by now. One is the loneliest number as Amy Mann said. The lads showed considerable hunger and drive to come back from two down in an action packed first half. The captain struck again with two quality goals. But we weren't able to apply the finishing touch despite immense pressure and loads of possession. This has become a recurring theme against inferior opposition at home. Sami did hit the post and the Hull keeper pulled off some great saves but it didn't happen for us.On Sunday we'll be hoping to take a leaf out of Hull's book and win at the Emirates. Arsenal are in indifferent form, but so are we. It didn't stop them beating Utd and Chelsea this season. It would fit in with their current trend to get a poor result v Boro and then beat us. They do have quite a few injuries and their midfield is looking quite mediocre bar Fabregas, so we should have it in us to take all 3 points. But will we? All will be revealed on Sunday.

Rafa has rubbished reports in the S*n which said that our manager wrote off our title chances. Some of the red tops were trying to slate him for saying we couldn't win the league, which he didn't say, and then he was knocked for saying we've a great chance if we're still top after Christmas. The statics back him up as for the last four years, whoever is top after the Christmas period has won the title. Ramon Calderon finishes the Rafa review by saying that Madrid weren't trying to sign him.

Dossena reveals how Rafa has been helping him adapt to the league. He was at fault for McShane's goal on Sat. But he has been playing a hell of a lot better over the last few games. I hope he can regain his confidence and build a career in England. It would be a shame for him and the club if he had to return to Italy as a failure.

Kuyt never feels tired. You can understand that a statement like that is music to Rafa's ears. Terminator and Robocop have nothing on deadly Dirk. I wonder who Rafa would sign given the choice between Berbatov and Kuyt if money were no object?

Xabi is the league's pass master. He's been our player of the season and is making us tick in almost every match. The brain of the team.

Is Agger's agent trying to engineer a move away or just get extra money out of his contract talks? I would give him the money every time. The fact that he's been benched for Sami is slightly worrying. Does this suggest that the contract talks are going badly?

It seems that we're closing the gap on Utd in terms of worldwide fan base. A survey by Barcleys shows that we're level with them on 26% each. Get on.

I'll leave with a quote from the Argentine manager after Istanbul.

"Liverpool showed that miracles exist. They proved that football is the most beautiful sport of them all. After this game, my English team is going to be Liverpool. I came across some of their fans beforehand and they told me they were going to win, but that they would be made to suffer. It's just the way it happened. Liverpool are the best team in the world for what they have done in this Champions League. They deserved the Cup."

Diego Maradona

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.

Rovers routed

I think that we are getting over the Euro hangovers, at last. This game was the equivalent of two solphadine and a glass of water. Did the job but you wouldn't be over the moon about it. 3-1 is about as good as we could ask for, given the exertions during the week and the fact that Blackburn usually make it hard on us, as they did for 45 mins here. We would have lost or drawn this game a few years back.

Gerrard was probably the best player on the day. He caused the defence no end of problems and scored a lovely goal to make it 20 for him this years. He looked for a few penos in the first half but the ref gave him nothing. I don't think that they were dives, as there was contact. But he did go down easier than he might have, especially for the first shout. I'm not mad on seeing our players do that but it's common practice in the league now from all of the top players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Drogba etc. Doesn't make it right but some call it streetwise.

Torres had a quiet match and looked a big tired but he still managed to score his 30th of the season and 20th in the league. An amazing achievement in his first season. Andre Voronin came on and managed to nick one at the death. He's been poor enough after a bright start this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave this summer. We did concede in time added on which didn't matter but I'm sure that it pissed Rafa off. He does like the clean sheets.

Lucas did well, slotting in for the suspended Mascherano, especially in the second half. His one two with Stevie led to the first goal. I'm hoping that he gets some more exposure over the last few league matches so that he has a solid base to build on next year. Xabi had a much better game than his recent form had suggested was possible. If Xabi does leave this summer, which looks likely in my opinion, Then we might see Lucas coming in as the regular partner for Mascherano in the middle. Rafa may also bring in somebody like De La Red or Martinez and rotate them with Lucas. I'll be sad to see Xabi go, if he does, but he hasn't been as good over the past 18mths. Sure he still has time and games to make a contribution between now and the summer.

There was a minutes silence for the 96 as the Hillsbourgh anniversary is on this Tuesday. The players stood and presented a united front in the centre circle. If only the board could do the same.

This is great news. Modric is only 22 and was awesome against England a few months back. I think that he could be incredible in our current system, with Gerrard dropping back or moving to the right.

This is also great news. Hopefully Highdale can make a full recovery ad go on to play for the academy team again.

Henry Winter has a great article on Parry v Hicks, the latest boardroom PR disaster. It's as disappointing as it is tedious. Even the normally silent David Moores has been chipping in with his two cents. It's a shambles. But it's a credit to Rafa and the team that they've managed to get to a euro semi final without letting it bother them, as this article by Brian Reade attests. I'm a big fan of Wenger but his whinging since Tuesday is unedifying.

I saw this on the bbc rumour page and I have to say that it would cheer me up no end if true.

After Diego Maradona has been handing out lavish praise to fellow countryman Javier Mascherano, the Liverpool midfielder is set to invite the Argentine hero to watch him play at troubled Anfield. (Mail on Sunday)

Maradona at Anfield, imagine that. He's a big fan of Monster Masch.

Next up is Fulham away on Sat. I can see Rafa rotating the fuck out of the team for this one. Fulham are fighting for their lives but are shit. Even our B team should be able to win. We only need around 2 more wins to be sure of fourth. If and when that happens, Rafa will rest all his big players and give the kids a run out, as he did last year. While I want us to get as many points as possible and finish as near to the top as possible, I suppose we should look at the bigger picture and focus on the champs league semis and a possible final where we might have an edge if our players are fresher.

I wonder if we can make it to Saturday without any more shots across the boardroom? Somehow I doubt it. Talk then.