A week is a long time in football

That was a world away from the Wigan game. Portsmouth came to Anfield last night and left on the wrong end of a
4-1 hiding. We were great. Two goals for a rampant Torres, one for Babel and a first Liverpool goal for Alberto Aquilani. Indeed, it could have been more as we should have had a peno when Johnson was taken down and we hit the woodwork twice. All in all, just what the doctor ordered.

Aquilani impressed me greatly on Monday. Highlights here. It must be admitted that it was against Portsmouth and he got a lot of time and space in the middle of the park. He dictated the play ala Xabi at his best. I hope he can build on this and establish himself in our midfield. We've sorely missed some creativity in there, no offense to Javier or Lucas but it's not their forte. I would like Rafa to give him starts for the rest of the season so he can get more experience. He looked stronger, quicker and more confident last night. Great performance and justified man of the match.Gerrard should consider himself lucky not to have received a red card for an elbow on Michael Brown. Given the player that's in it, I can nearly understand why he did it, possibly avenging this headbutt. As it happened, the ref decided that to give a free against Liverpool and talked to the player so he won't now face an F.A. ban. Silly boy as he would have been out for three games and unavailable to play against the Mancs in Old Toilet on Sunday. This is going to be massive. We've a great record against them having won the last three meetings in the league. And we have the advantage of an in form Torres ready to put the shits up his mate Vidic. Let the slaughter commence. Another red card for the Serb would be lovely. In reality, they're playing much better than we are at the moment and I'd be surprised it we took more than a point. I would like to see the same team start as played against Pompy but we'll probably see Lucas and Dirk come in for Aquilani and Babel.

Before all that, we face Lille in a vital European game at Anfield on Thursday. They've got the goal advantage from the first leg so we need to score. We might see a similar team, with Yossi in for the cup tied Maxi. Finishing in the top four is a bigger prize than the Europa cup but it's going to be harder to win given how often we've slipped up in the league. I suspect fourth is beyond us now as City and Spurs have too many games in hand.

The Mirror recken we'll bid £8m for Steven Ireland. He's out of form and favour at city so they'd consider letting him go. I think he's top quality and would love to see us bid for him even if he is a bit of a mentalist.

Aldo was impressed with another Irish midfielder at the Wigan debacle. James McCarthy was probably the best player on the pitch and looks to have a real future ahead of him. We tried to buy him before and should go in for him again now that he's showing he can adapt to English football.

The end of the road?

Just when I thought this season couldn't get any worse, Wigan 1-0 Liverpool, proved me wrong. We were desperate. The team had a collective shocker. Kuyt, Insua, Torres had terrible games but Gerrard pissed me off more than the rest of them. It was a gutless display with Wigan the first to every ball and they looked the more committed team too. I would have withdrawn three of them at half time if I were in charge. Rafa didn't try to defend them post match. They let themselves, the fans, the shirt and club down with that display.

I was in work late on Thursday night so I didn't get to see the 1-0 defeat to Lille. The goal was a poor one to concede and I don't think Pepe will be happy with himself for not going for it. Again, we should have had a defender heading it clear. On current form, Kyrgiakos more than deserves his place in the team for his aerial dominance. We can turn this around in the second leg but if we continue to play like we are now, then it's unlikely.

Another Monday night game and another banana skin on the cards this week. I really can't see us winning this given the attitude that the players have been showing. Portsmouth should be dead and buried but yet their players are fighting for everything and getting some results. If our pack of wasters showed their attitude then we're be far better off in the league.

Which brings me onto the subject of the manager. I'm a big fan of Rafa and have been since before he came to the club. But it has to be said that he's made some bad mistakes this year. His gamble on Aquilani's fitness has backfired and left us creatively bereft in midfield. He's also been too cautious in playing the Italian since he's returned to fitness. But besides all of that, I still think he's the right man for the job and would give him another season. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the players or the fans agree with me. They played like they couldn't care less on Monday. I think they've given up on this season and on the boss. If that's true and they won't respond to him anymore then he'll have to go, probably this summer. I fear we'll regret it in the long run and I shudder to think who the Americans will appoint in his stead, considering they've approached Klinsman before. It's a shit job given the owners, the debt, no transfer funds, no new stadium and a squad that needs serious investment. We've made a profit the last three transfer windows and while that's the case we won't remain competitive in the league. Anyone who thinks we'll attract a big European name like Mourinho, Hiddink or Capello is dreaming. Why would they sign up for this mess? With our current owners and investment scenario, we'll remain a poisoned chalice and any top manager will steer well clear of us. I'm surprised Rafa's put up with them for as long as he has. One of the few silver linings in this nightmare of a season is the prospect the bank forcing the Americans to sell up at a reasonable price this summer. Missing out on the top four places and the champions league money might force their hands. They are a cancer that slowly killing the club we love.

Pepe Reina has signed a new deal with the club which is a massive boost. He's the best keeper in England and one of the best in Europe.

This season has made it clear that we need some new blood in defence. If I were in Rafa's shoes I would break the bank for Kjaer of Palermo. He's Agger's international colleague and a Red by all accounts. He's done well in Italy and it sounds like he'd be interested in a move to L4. I fear he will go elsewhere as he'll be out of price range. That's no big surprise considering our transfer budget will be £0. If we had some cash we could spend it on Arda Turan who is a red and would love to join us. I would happily sell Babel and Riera if we could get him in to replace them.

Swindon youth Goalie Jamie Stephens is to spend a week on trial at the Academy. We've a number of young prospects between the sticks so I wonder how he'll fit into that set up if we sign him.

Aurelio injured himself again in last weeks match with Blackburn and will be out for 2-3 weeks. I like Fabio as a player and he seems a decent chap but I do question whether he will be offered a new contract this summer given how injury prone he is. Maybe he will stay on if he accepts a pay cut.

Unirea away and Rovers at home

A 3-1 win over Unirea saw Liverpool progress to the next round of the Europa league where we'll face Lille. The game was played on a terrible pitch and we were put up against it when Unirea scored early on. But we struck back with goals from Mascherano, Babel and Gerrard to give a fairly comfortable win in the end. It was good to see young Martin Kelly get another few minutes in Europe after him being out injured since the Lyon game.

Big Sam's Blackburn Rovers visited Anfield on Sunday and left with nothing. Which was nice. We took the three points thanks to a 2-1 win with goals from Gerrard and Torres. The win came no thanks to the ref who let them away with some nasty shit. I don't know how Nzonzi stayed on after getting Lucas in a headlock and throwing him to the ground. How great it a thing it is to see our Spanish Supremo strike terror into the hearts of men. He converted the winning goal after some great work from Maxi on the byline. The Argentine had a useful game with good movement and an amazing first touch. If he had a bit more pace, he'd be lethal. As it is, I think he can offer a lot from the flank with his delivery and I'm sure he had goals in him too.We don't play again until Monday when we visit the DW to play Wigan. This one should really be winnable. We're building up a bit of momentum again now and I'm hoping that El Nino will push us onwards in the final 10 games. Unfortunately, Skrtel broke his foot in Romania and is out for 8 weeks. We'll miss him as he's been in decent enough form recently but we should have Johnson back now and Kyrgiakos is finished his suspension.

The Liverpool Echo are suggesting that Pepe Reina has agreed a new deal which will be finalised soon. If true, this is great news. He's the best keeper in England by a long shot for me and I wouldn't sway him with anyone, with the possible exception of Iker Casillas. No doubt this deal will be used as an excuse why Rafa won't be given any cash this summer.

A player we've been linked to in the past, Afellay of PSV, has cropped up again this week. This link reckons we could be chasing him this summer. The source may not be the most trustworthy but he might be a cheap signing as he'll have a year left on his contract, which would fit in with our restricted budget.

QPR youngster Raheem Sterling has signed up at the Academy. He's 15 but has already been identified as one with great potential. If he lives up to it, this could prove to be quite a coup considering we captured him ahead of City, Utd and Arsenal. Here are 10 facts on him from the Mirror.

That was the week that was

Our Europa league campaign began with a 1-0 win over Unirea Urziceni visiting L4 on Thursday night. We made a bright start but it settled into a poor enough game with Unirea packing defence, trying to get a draw. We created quite a few chances but our finishing was off and we struggled to convert our superiority into goals. Second half sub Babel impressed after replacing the disappointing Riera. The impact sub role is one that Babel does well, much better than his performances when he starts. Young Danny "Patches" Pacheco came on and managed to set up Ngog for the winner with a far post header back into the path of the frenchman. Pacheco has had a few impressive cameos this season and this was another one. Let's hope he gets some more before the end of the season. Anfield likes to see a teenage prodigy strut his stuff on our hallowed turf.The week finished with with a bit of a damp squib today. We played out a 0-0 draw with City at Eastlands but in truth, it was a game low on quality. Neither team played very well and a point a piece was a fair result. Our defence coped well enough with what City threw at us with Skrtel doing a good job on Adebayor. He was guilty of spurning out best chance of the game when he headed wide from a Gerrard corner when he really should have done better. Our passing was sloppy in midfield and our movement was slow and laboured up front. We did improve when Yossi came on for the ineffectual Babel. It was great to see the Iraeli back in side, he's been sorely missed. We even got to see El Nino make a surprise cameo off the bench. I hope that the two of them get match fit ASAP.

It's more Europa league "action" this week. Let's hope that we keep another sclean sheet and score a few goals, something we haven't done much of on our recent travels. Maybe we'll see Pacheco get some more minutes. But it's another game that it's hard to get excited about. I would like to see us go all the way in the Europa league but it's hard to get into it at this stage, when playing the lesser names of Europe in far flung outposts. Given the season we're having, I suppose we have to take the victories anywhere we can find them.

Arsenal review

I thought we played ok as did Arsenal but ultimately it's a results business and the result was a 1-0 defeat at the Emirates. Neither team was great. Arsenal worked their goal well and we defended poorly for it. If Kyrgiakos weren't suspended or if Carra were still on the pitch, I'd have fancied us to successfully defend it. We coped with them very well in the first half but our level dropped a bit when Degen came on for the injured Carra. But it has to be said we didn't create a huge amount of clear opportunities. Ngog could have done better when through on the keeper. Babel had a good shot saved by Almunia, who picked a bad time to remember how to make a save. Gerrard had a couple of frees and corners. I do think the Fabregas handball was a deliberate foul but outside the box so a free and red card but not a peno. I thought we did enough for a point but not a win. But the fact that we didn't create much means we can't be too disappointed.

Rafa says that El Nino will not be fit enough to face Man City. Maybe Yossi will be back in time for that game but it doesn't sound like any of our other injuries will have recovered in time. Before the City game on Sunday we face Unirea in the Europa league on Thursday night. It's hard to get very excited about this competition but I'm sure I'll be thrilled if we get to the final and win it like in 2001.

The Mirror reckons we've lost out to Arsenal in the race to sign Chamakh from Bordeaux this summer but we've succeeded in getting Jovanovic of Liege on a free. The Times are saying that Ireland may leave City this summer. I know he's a bit of a loon but he's a quality player who I'd love to see us sign. Probably won't happen.

Sky Sports give young LDV the once over in their Sky Sports Scout section. This kid is a star in the making from what I've seen.

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.

Reading and Stoke

The sporting week has been pretty crap for me as I was supposed to attend the Spurs match at Anfield only for it to be cancelled. This left me disappointed and out of pocket.

It continued with a dismal F.A. cup exit at the hands of Reading on Wednesday night. Watch this if you dare. We were shocking and Reading deserved to go through. To make matters worse, we lost our three most attacking player to injury. Torres is out for six weeks, Gerrard for a fortnight and Yossi three or four weeks.

So we travelled to the Britannia without Gerrard, Torres, Yossi, GloJo and Agger who got injured before Saturday. This meant a reshuffled team built for Stoke's aerial bombardment, and it very nearly worked. Kyrgiakos was drafted in at the back, to head away the artillery fire. He had a great game and did a passable impression of Sami H. He even managed to score the opening goal after some confusion in the box. Maxi got a run out in the second half. Unfortunately Huth scored at the death to level it. 1-1 was rough justice for us but you don't always get what you deserve in this game, especially with shit referees like Lee Mason around. We could have had a peno when Lucas was taken down but he booked the Brazilian instead and then gave a goal kick. If he believes the defender got a touch on the ball, how is it a goal kick? Kuyt and Ngog laboured up front and Dirk hit the post in the closing minutes. A few inches from salvation.Next up Spurs visit Anfield on Wednesday for the rearranged match. This is going to be really tough. I would expect that we'll see some of the guys who were rested yesterday get a start, like Riera, Maxi and Aquilani. I don't know whether we'll go with Kuyt or Ngog up front but it will probably be Kuyt. I'm hoping that Agger is back for this but there doesn't seem to be any easing up of the injuries at the minute. It's going to be messy and I don't see us getting much more than a point.

Watch this bit of madness to try and cheer yourself up. It probably won't work but it's worth a try.

Dossena has completed a €5m switch to Napoli. If for nothing else, Dossena will always be remembered for this and this. The less fondly remembered Voronin also completed a move this week. He's off to Dinamo Moscow for £2m. The Liverpool Echo suggest that we might be in for Jeremy Menez at AS Roma after he fell out with Ranieri.

Pacheco is thankful for the help he's received from Torres. It must be great for the young Catalan to have Nando there to help him settle in L4. Our younger youngsters had a great victory in the FA youth cup this week. They beat a much fancied Leicester team 5-1 to go through to the next round. Lauri Della Valle, our fab Finn, was the hero on the night with a hat trick. You can watch highlights here including an interview with Rodolfo Borrel the Academy manager.

Tom Hicks Jr got himself in a bit of hot water this week with an abusive e-mail to a Liverpool fan. Silly boy. You can read what the Guardian had to say about it here. It resulted in Hicks Jr resigning his position on the board. Rafa gave further news of how shit things are under the Yanks. If a substantial bid comes in for our top players this summer then we'll have to consider it. Let's hope the club is sold or there is some investment in the meantime.

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.