All over bar the shouting

The fat lady is warming up and going through her vocal exercise. I would suggest "No distance left to run" by Blur. It's over. We gave it a decent shot but we're out of it now. It would require a Utd collapse and us to win every game for us to win the league. I really can't see that happening. Before the start of the season I predicted a second place finish and a title challenge. I'll take little joy in being proved right if we finish second, but the thought remains that Utd deserve and it and we don't have sufficient quality and depth.

Rafa hasn't conceded defeat, and I wouldn't expect him to while it's mathematically possible. But we needed to win this one and we didn't. Again we played well but couldn't turn possession and chances into goals. There was a goalmouth scramble in the first half where we should have scored. In fairness city were decent in the second half and caused us problems. Dirk did well with his goal to pounce on a chance which fell to him in the box after a Nando mishit. While we got a bit of luck there, it was made up for the fact that Bellamy's shot was going wide only for an Arbeloa deflection. We had Lucas and Javier in the middle and they didn't give the kind of service to Torres that he needs. With Alonso and Gerrard unavailable, we lack the experienced players to come in. Our bench isn't loaded with superb impact subs and the likes of Lucas are only ok. We're not replacing like with like when the squad is tested. Real isn't going to be easy as they've put some great form together recently. They won 6-1 at the weekend. Stevie should be fit for the bench at least which is a huge boost. We'll need him. I'd expect us to get at least a score draw.

Javier doesn't do goal celebrations by half. Here he is at the end of the Chelsea match.
Andrea Dossena has said that he's more settled in Liverpool now. There were rumours earlier in the season that he was having problems off the pitch. But his performances have improved greatly in recent months. If Rafa can coach him how to defend in a 4231 formation then he may have a future with us but I suspect that he may return to Italy in the summer with Insua and Aurelio as the two left backs next year.

Agger isn't happy. He has a back injury which forced him to miss the City game and he hasn't traveled to Madrid. Pepe is happy and doesn't want to go to Atletico despite what his Dad claims.

101 great goals has an article on FCB kid Deulofeu, who's been linked with us recently. No doubt he'll blow us off and go to Arsenal. Kerrison's agent is saying that we've been in touch but he doesn't want to move for the next year. He's a player that we tried to sign before so there could be something in this. The Palmeras president says it's all press talk without foundation. The guardian is linking LFC with a move for Espanyol's teenage midfielder Oscar Sielva. Apparently we can pick him up for around £2m as part of the Riera deal. Another player that Rafa has tried to sign in the past, David Villa, has indicated that he wants to stay in Spain if he leaves Valencia. I doubt we will have the cash to bid for him anyway.

Paul Tomkins on the official site attacks the myth that we are over reliant on Gerrard and Torres. He analysis the stats and shows that Utd are more reliant on their top two, Rooney and Ronaldo, than we are.

Tony Evens in the Times has put together a list of the 50 greatest reds of all time. I'm sure we can all dispute the numbers and order but sure it's an interesting read all the same.

My mate Clive Owen was in town this week and I attended an interview he did at the Dublin Academy. He regaled us with tales of watching the Istanbul Champions League final with Mickey Rourke. He has some quality quotes about the Reds in this Esquire interview. "That's a pure thing, that club. Not really explainable, really. My family endures. They don't understand it." We were a pure club but I feel that the taint of Hicks and Gillett is corrupting us. Save us Clive! Here he is hitting the bottle after the City game.

So long, farewell

Cisse and Bellamy have left the building for a combined fee of over £16m according to Chris Bascombe in the Liverpool echo. Not bad business as far as I'm concerned. When you add in the money from Gonzalez, Garcia, Pongolle, Rafa has some change left over after the Torres deal.



Where will he spend it? Well he said that that a winger was the next priority and he wants two players in total. News of Ryan Babel came to light online on Sat and has hit the main media today. Sky have confirmed that we've lodged a bid with Ajax. I must admit that I've only seen highlights of this lad bar the u-21 final last month which I watched in full. Ryan really impressed me that night with his pace, strength and intelligence. He scored one but could have had a hat trick and well deserved his man of the match award. I think that he could do a good job for us on the left wing where we're lacking options since the departures of Zenden, Gonzalez and Garcia. Arsenal have been after him for a long time so I wouldn't expect them to give up on him without a fight.

The pre season kicked off for Liverpool on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Wrexham. It was mainly two teams of youngsters over each half, with a few exceptions like Momo, Finnan and Pennant. Jermaine had a superb first half and set up three goals for Bes Idrizaj. Pennant looks like he's going to continue the good form that he showed after Christmas last year. I hope to see him float a few crosses onto Fernando's head over the next few months. Idrizaj is a player who's been at the club for a few years but hasn't had much first team exposure. He took his goals well on Sat and looks a game sort. He's only 19 and has time on his side but I would imagine that he'll go on loan again this season, maybe back to Luton where he spent 3 months last year. Adam Hammill also got a run out and looks a lively winger. He's been talked up for the past few years and did well on loan in Scotland last year. But he's still young and learning and I expect that he, like Idrizaj, will go on loan rather than spend the year in the reserves.

Crewe are up next on Saturday and we may see some of the senior stars getting a run out, including the soon to be ex-England player, Jamie Carragher. Good lad Carra.

Auf wiedersehen, adieu.

It's all kicking off

The boardroom situation is reaching boiling point. By all accounts, Rafa has had enough of Rick Parry and his incompitence and indecisiveness. It now looks like he wants someone else to come in and do Parrys job with more authority to make quick decisions and sign off on players. Foster Gillett seems to be the man that will take the job but he is having work permit issues at the moment. Where this leaves Parry, I don't know. Rafa is on holidays this week and seems to think that it should be sorted out to some degree by the time he gets back. I hope he's right. He has said that we need to spend money now or else we'll only ever be contenders for third/fourth spot in the league. It seems that he has two deals lined up now that need signing off on to go through. These are rumoured to be Simao and Gabriel Milito. We've seen when Rafa was at Valencia that he walked when he didn't recieve the backing he needed. I fear that it might be the same situation here if he doesn't get what he wants. That would be an absolute disaster for the club.

In trasnfer news there's been a few bits and pieces. Bellamy wants his future sorted. I don't blame him but I do think he'll leave to go to one of Villa, Blackburn or West Ham. Marseille want to do a permenent deal on Cisse. I hope that we get a decent price for him. Momo isn't happy with his current status. As I've said before, I can see him being sold for the cash. Samuel Eto'o made some very positive comments about us over the weekend. If he does move, I can see us getting involved but I would imagine that he's more likely to stay at Barca and he'd be very expensive anyway. Florent Malouda seems to be an option for the left wing. Finally, we've signed two Hungarian kids, called Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon from MTK Hungaria. Nemeth is highly rated and played well in teh uefa u-17 competition last year.

Cottage capitulation

Fairplay Fulham. We had a lot of chances but as has happened so often this season away from home, we failed to convert them. Fulham kept at it and managed to take their chance when Clint Dempsey scored in the second half. As with the Portsmouth match last week, we played the B team and there weren't able to make their dominence count. Belllamy had a good few chances where he was through on Niemi but couldn't finish them. The feeling now seems to be that Craig will be on his way in the summer. I don't know for definite but it does look like he'll go if we can buy a top class replacement. He's done well for us at times and we should get a good price for him but I do wonder if he's consistent enough for us at this level and he does have his off the field issues.

Chalton visit Anfield on Sunday in what is now a meaningless game as they've been relegated. We won't be killing ourselves but we've a good home record this season so it'll be good not to lose that. Dudek is looking to start this match as it'll be his last at Anfield. He's out of contract this summer and wants a chance to say goodbye to the fans. Dudek will always be a Liverpool legend for his heroics in Istanbul but he's looked increasingly erratic whenever he's come into the team since then and he's on a significant wage so I'm not unhappy to see him leave. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Carson next season.

Camp Wuhoo

Satan was just on the phone. Apparently hell has frozen over. Funny that it coincided with Riise scoring with his right foot.

What a night? What a match? What a comeback? What a payback for Rafa for his faith in Bellamy and Riise? What a perfect way to put the headlines from Portugal behind us? I was impressed with the show of teamwork and unity. This team is never beaten as we've shown in Cardiff and again in Istanbul. Barca had the best of the first half and we were looking in danger at one stage. But we never let the heads dropped and kept hope in our hearts. Barca on the other hand seemed to lack spirit and lost heart when they conceeded the second goal.

It was superb to see Craig Bellamy score after the week he's had. I'm not a fan of his off the field antics but it now seems that the reports from Portugal were greatly exaggerated. After the match he said "You know what our gaffer is like and how strict he is, if it was a bigger problem I wouldn't be playing here, don't worry about that." Rafa is a disciplinarian and if the tabloid reports were accurate I don't think Bellamy would be at the club now. I shouldn't be surprised by English tabloids blowing stuff out of all proportion and neither should you. Bellamy ran and harried the Barca defence all game and unsettled them. His pace was a constant threat and a useful outlet when we were under pressure. His goal and assist were the perfect riposte to all his critics.

Momo was absolutely massive tonight, man of the match for me. He is a monster of a player and gave Barca no time to get their passing patterns going in midfield. It just goes to show how much we've missed him while he's been out. Remember that he's only 22 and if he improves his passing will be a world beater. Apology accepted Thomas, Momo was injured and not faking it. Hope that he's ok now and not out for any time now.

Riise was poor tonight. But i forgive him as he did it when it counted. And with his right foot, I can't say that I expected that. It's usually only for standing on. Maybe Bellamy was knocking it into shape with his golf club. I still think that we need to buy a left back this summer, unless Insua looks like he'll be able to make the step up next season.

I think that Rafa's tactics worked down to a tee. Gragham Hunter was on newstalk 106fm saying as much after the match. Arbeloa and Finnan by and large did good jobs on Ronaldinho and Messi. Was impressed with Arbeloa. Pretty good debut. Xabi was often the deepest of the midfielder and mopped up in front of the back four, before releasing the ball forward. Momo, Gerrard and Riise in front of him all hassled and harried the Barca team.

Our high tempo pressing style will have to be repeated in the second leg. We may be in the driving seat but there is no way that this tie is over now. Barca need to win by two clear goals but we can't get complacent as they are well capable of scoring two. But their defence didn't look rock solid so I think that we can score at Anfield. Wasn't that impressed with the ref who was very fussy and gave far too many frees.

Sheffield Utd in the league on Saturday seems boring in comparison to this. But it's another three points and we need to keep picking them up if we want to stay in third place. We often took our eye off the ball in the league in '05 after European games. Hope that isn't the case on Sat.

Good to hear that Mascherano has finally been given the green light by the premier league. I wonder if we'll see him against Sheffield Utd?

I watched the match in Keatings with Thomas, Al and a crowd of Catalans from the Catalans a Dublin website. Sergi and his mates provided a great atmosphere and it made a good match even more enjoyable.

Barca watch

I went on a LFC scouting mission last night. This involved sitting in the Lotts with my friend Shay and watching the Valencia v Barcelona match at the Mestalla. I wasn't that impressed with Barca on this display and I definitely think that we can get at them at the back. Valencia managed to hit them with two quick counter attacks. Could be a game for Gonzalez and his pace plus the fact that he's played against them before. Olegeur and Edmilson look vulnerable at the back to me. But Leo Messi was amazing when he came on for 30 mins. Barca looked far better with him on the right rather than Iniesta. I hope that he doesn't start on Wed but I fear that he will. I don't fancy our chances if Riise is left one v one with Messi. Aurelio/Gonzalez will have to get back and help him whenever possible. Click Forca Barca or The beautiful game links on the right to read Barca fans opinions on the match.

Voronin looks set to arrive on a Bosman Free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen this summer. He's 28 and a Ukrainian international with a lot of experience. I assume that this means he'll take Robbie's place when his contract finishes in the summer.

In respect of the tabloid rumours of the fracas in the Algarve, here is some info from the Liverpool Echo. It's hard to know exactly what happened and I doubt it's as bad as was reported. Nonetheless it sounds like there were a few of them involved including Dudek, Pennant, Riise and Bellamy. I know that they've all been fined but it may have placed their Liverpool futures in doubt. I don't think Rafa likes these type of headlines but he was very annoyed that it was leaked to the press and not kept in house.

Good to see another win for the kids who are now into the Youth cup semi final, which'll be a two legged affair against Newcastle. It would be an incredible achievement if we were to retain the trophy. Last season was only our second victory in the competition.