Hammer blow

Last minute penalties are a killer. I was sickened at the end of the match at Upton Park. We hadn't played brilliantly, but had created some good chances. A draw and shared points probably would have been the fairest result. But the ref could have given us a peno a few minutes earlier when Lucas Neil touched the ball with his arm. He turned us down and then he gave them one a few minutes later on the stroke of full time. If we'd taken our chances then it wouldn't have mattered. We didn't and paid the price as has been the case many times this season.

Sunderland visit Anfield tomorrow. We are in crap form at the minute but this could be the perfect opportunity to turn it around. Sunderland have terrible away form with only 2 points from 36. Jones will cause us problems but their defense is pretty crap so we should be able to win. Surely we have enough to put he black cats away? I think we'll do it. I'm going to this match so I'd love to see us bang in a few goals and get the season back on track.

Momo completed his move to Juve this week. I hope that it works out for him and he goes on to have a great career. A letter from him was published on the official site today. As Rafa would say, "a nice boy".

The news that Opare, a young Ghanain defender we've been tracking, has opted for Real Madrid is dissappointing. The fact that he was with our feeder club, Ashanti Gold, is even more annoying.

We drew Barnsley at home in the FA Cup. It's a decent draw and we can't say fairer than that really. There are only six premiership teams left in the cup and United and Arsenal playing each other, we have a decent enough chance of going all the way.

The youth team beat Arsenal in the FA youth cup on Tuesday. The team is a young one and only has a few members from last years victorious team. When you consider that we're going for three in a row here, it's a great testament to Steve Heighway, Hugh McAuley and Rafa. Pako Ayestarán was at the match which is interesting but may not mean anything in itself. He recently left his job with Real Sociedad.

Demolition Derby

I go away for one week and it all hell breaks loose. Rafa and Pako have decided to split after 11 years and go their separate ways. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

But while there was turmoil off the pitch, on it there was the kind of ruthless attacking display which we haven't seen at Anfield in a while. It's common for us to beat teams but rare for us to put them to the sword in such a convincing manner. Often we would take our foot off the pedal once the game was won. Not so against Derby. Derby were happy to sit back and defend but it didn't do them much good. We attacked with wave after wave of devestating penetration. By halftime it was 3-0 and 6-0 at full time. Torres and Alonso scored a brace each with Voronin getting one and Babel scoring the pick of the bunch. Rout complete and job done.

Funnily, some people are still saying that Torres a) is overrated b) is overpriced (a potential £18m which is in the same bracket as Bent or Anderson) c) is a Spanish striker and therefore will never adapt. He's now scored three goals in four matches and is looking fantastic. Have a read of this for a great Torres interview.

Liverpool travel to Fratten Park to face Portsmouth on Sat at 12.45. This has been a tough fixture for us in the past but I expect us to be able to win here. It won't be 6-0 but it could well be a 2-0 or 2-1. Let's hope that we don't get any injuries on wed and that Carra and Finnan have recovered in time for kick off.

There was one signing before transfer deadline day in Damien Plessi who's a 19 year old french midfielder. He's joined from Lyon and will be playing with the reserves this season. Given the amount of young midfielders and centre halves that we've bought recently, we'll have to play to 5-5-0 formation with the reserves.

The big news off the pitch was that assistant manager and fitness guru Pako Ayestarán has left the club. I'm a bit surprised about this but Ballague was talking about him on the Game podcast. He said that the pair haven't been getting on for a while. It seems that Pako will not be directly replaced and his duties will be shared among Alex Miller, Paco De Miguel and the other coaches, at least for the moment.

I didn't get to see the Irish match on Sat as I was sat in Firenze, enjoying the sunshine. Managed to take in the Italy v France match which was decent but lacked a goal. Tuscany kicks Ireland's ass any day of the week. Oh for more fantastic meals and wine at low prices.

Buona sera.