Goal of the season?

When the kid's on form, we're on form. Torres led from the front in a stunning 3-0 win over Sunderland. He struck after 3 mins with an incredible goal, likely to win goal of the season. Johnson added a second before half time. El Nino struck again to make it 3 with a nonchalant finish inside the area when set up by Johnson. It was a dominant display from the team and not a beach ball in sight. The only surprise is that the victory wasn't greater.

There were many standout performers in a great showing from the home team. It's hard to say anybody played badly. My top picks would be Torres, for obvious reasons. He's in brilliant form right now and it looks like nobody can stop him. He could have had many more after hitting the post and missing a few presentable chances. Johnson seems to be back in the swing of things. He's showing the form of the early season when we were playing well. He's such a threat with his dribbling ability on the right. His goal was with his left foot from outside the area. He linked up well with Maxi who's coming into his own now. His technique and movement are fantastic. His not a pacey winger who'll beat the full back on the outside, more like an inside right. He was at the centre of many great moves we put together. More of this kind of thing. We really need Spurs and City to slip up but if we can build on our good home form, we're still in with a shout of fourth.Liverpool face Benfica away on Thursday night. This is going to be really tough. I expect Lucas to return to the lineup for this one. We'll probably try to keep it tight and hit them on the break with Torres and Babel. They're a good team, the best Everton have faced this season according to a Toffee supporting mate of mine.

The guardian say that we've accepted an initial £6m bid from CSKA for Albert Riera. However the Echo contradict this by saying it's Spartak Moscow who will capture him, on loan until the end of the season. Either way I expect he's likely to leave at the start of April.

Here's a highlights package of Dani Pacheco. Another one of the reserves, Jordy Brouwer, scored a long range screamer against Hull reserves this week. That 1-0 win means the reserves remain unbeaten this season, a great effort by John McMahon.

Same score, different game

The BBC had a look back at another FA cup tie between the Blues and Reds. In 1986 it was the toffees who lost out as King Kenny and co went on to clinch the double. This time the score was 1-1 in what was an absorbing cup tie, from a red perspective.

It was like a training ground exercise of attack v defence. Everton offered practically nothing going forward but still managed to score a set piece goal against us, again. We really need to tighten up on that aspect. Once more it was lil' TIMMY! Cahill who did the damage. He managed to flick the ball on and Lescott applied the final touch which confounded Pepe. On the plus side it was a much improved performance from Monday. I could watch this stunning peice of skill by El Nino for the Gerrard goal over and over again. He is a god among men. Dossena had a good game, rampaging down the left flank. In fairness to him, it was his best performance for us, but that's not saying much, and he didn't have to deal with much when defending. Everton were engaged in blatent time wasting, well before half time. It was heartening to see us break down such a packed defence with 11 behind the ball, but unfortunately, we only did so once. On the down side, we didn't kill them off and will have to do it all again in a few weeks time. Neither Dirk nor Babel offered much, despite seeing much of the ball.

Could Robbie be on his way out of Anfield less than 6 months after he joined? The Irish Indo links him with a move to Man City for £20m. 'Arry was also declaring that he would like to have Robbie back at Spurs. There appears to have been a bit of a bust up when Rafa left him out of the squad at the weekend. It's hard to know what the story is here. I'm sure there's more to it than meets the eye but it doesn't look good for his long term future in L4.The italian media suggest that Ranieri at Juve is interested in Deadly Dirk. I can't see Rafa selling him as he's always one of the first names on the team sheets. I like Dirk but we can do better. Somebody like Yohan Gourcuff or Jeremy Menez would give us much greater penetration on the right flank. I would be inclined to keep Dirk for what he brings to the squad and he's great for tough away matches but adds less against the obstinate small teams at Anfield. Last weekend I was in Milan and visited the San Siro to see AC Milan beat Fiorentina 1-0. Given the controversy over the proposed sale of Kaka to Man City, there was an incredible atmosphere. We saw numerous banners and heard explosions and almost 70k chanting in unison. It was louder than any other sporting experience I've had by quite a bit. It was also quite a bit louder than any visit I've made to Anfield. Now, I've only been to one champions league match at Anfield, this year against Marseille, but it was a fairly sedate atmosphere. The Milanese people I met asked me about Anfield and the atmosphere and how it compared but I had to admit that the San Siro had beaten it hands down.

There is another youth feature on "A Liverpool thing". This time Vincent Weijl, the dutch winger comes under focus. Jordy Brouwer has gone on loan to Waalwijk for the rest of the season. From what I've read about the former Ajax striker playing for the reserves, I hope he doesn't return. Two more young strikers, Nemeth and Lindfield have left on loan. It will be interesting to see if Nemeth can make an impact at Blackpool in the championship given how highly he's rated.

Takeover talk has started again. This time it's the Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser Al-Kharafi who's talking to Hicks and Gillett. They want £550 million for the club. But towards the end of the week, this deal was said to have died a death.I wonder if this is just talk to try and get Dubai into a bidding war? The Guardian suggest that Sheikh Maktoum is still interested, at the right price. I hope that he drives a hard bargain in the summer and takes over from Hicks and Gillett.

It seems that the thieving scousers stereotype is a little outdated. Bad news for manchester.

B team bonus

Abert Riera declared that he wanted us to finish the group stage in style. While he may have been disappointed with the first half, we certainly delivered in the second half, not least Riera himself who hit a stunning strike from distance. A 3-1 win away from home in the Champions League is always an achievement. When it's done without most of your first team regulars, that makes it even more impressive. The win made sure of top spot in the group on 14 points, which in theory should give us an easier draw on Friday 19th, but in reality the only bonus is the certainty that we play our second leg match at Anfield in the next round.

Robbie says he's going nowhere in Jan. I don't think that he was ever going to move, it was just paper talk. He was one of the notable performers last night in the second half and his through ball for N'Gog was sublime as was another where he set Lucas. He could have had a few goals if Babel and N'Gog had supplied him with the ball when he was in good positions. He came under some fire for his moaning over not receiving the ball but many premiership players do the same thing such as Gerrard now and Cantona in his day.

Lucas said that he wanted to repay the faith that Rafa has shown in him. The boss said that the Brazilian's performance was outstanding, as was that of N'Gog. Dossena built on his good showing against West Ham with another convincing performance at left full. Now we are starting to see some of the form that made him the Italian left back and Rafa pay £7m for him. Some of his crossing and attacking runs were fantastic.

It was great to see the Scouse kids getting a run out towards the end. I'm sure all of the academy players were looking on with pride when they saw their erstwhile team mates Darby, Kelly and Spearing, play in the worlds biggest club competition. I'm sure that Rafa will give them a chance in the FA cup if he feels it's worth the risk.Hull city represent tough test at Anfield this Saturday afternoon. We've seen too many teams park the bus and succeed in frustrating a scoreless draw out of us. We can't let this happen again. Fortunately, I don't think that Hull will pack their defence to the same degree which should leave gaps for us to exploit. Their ambition to do to us what they did to Arsenal could be their undoing. I expect the big guns who were rested v PSV, like Gerrard, Alonso and Kuyt, will come back for this league match, fitness permitting.

It sounds like Babel was so desperate for some more game minutes that he asked his agent to organise a loan back to his first club of Ajax. It was unsuccessful. One player who could be on his way to Holland could be Jordy Brower of the reserve team. Utrecht officials have mentioned him as a possible transfer target in Jan. I don't think that there would be too many tears shed if he were to return to his homeland as it would give the likes of Ince, Della Valle and others a chance to get a look in with the reserves.

Press reports suggest that contract talks between Rafa and the board have gone well and he'll sign a new 5 year deal in the next few days. This will be the most important signing of the season by far when it happens. Fingers crossed.

On the subject of new contracts, Galliani of AC Milan is denying comments attributed to him recently saying that he wanted to buy Danny Boy Agger. I really hope that Parry gets the finger out and signs him up to a new contract asap. This kid is a star and will be one of the best defenders in Europe in years to come. It will be a disgrace if we let him go on the cheap.

Ian Rush looks back on the career of Sami and declares him a red legend. It takes one to know one but I don't think that there would be any argument about Hyypia. Not bad for £2.5m almost 10 years ago.

Matt Hughes in the Times has a ridiculous piece on Rafa's transfers. There's so much wrong with this article that I don't know where to start. Journos have it easy, getting paid money to write shite like that. Hilarious.

There may be trouble ahead, part 3?

This is very worrying. The fact that Xabi is staying and Barry isn't signing for £18m doesn't bother me much. I love Xabi and am thrilled he's staying. Would have been terrible to see him in an Arsenal shirt. IF he plays this Wed then he's definitely staying. I do rate Barry and think he would have done well for us but £18m is a lot of cash. But the worrying part of this deal is the fact that it appears the owners aren't willing to back Rafa over this. Back him or sack him is my view. If they are vetoing certain signings then we're going down a perilous path. Do they think they know more than Rafa about football now? I hope Rafa doesn't walk over this. There is some DIC talk again but I'll believe that when I see it.


Analysis of the win over Vallerenga here. The scoresheet was the same as the Rangers match with Torres, Yossi, Xabi and Ngog on target. Xabi's was the pick of the bunch for me.

The Lazio match wasn't quote as goal filled. Voronin came off the bench to score the winner in the 89th minute at Anfield. That should help with putting him in the shop window. I don't think that he's good enough, and should be sold but the booing of him as he came on the pitch was a disgrace. I'm never in favour of booing our own players. But fairplay to the lad, he came on and struck a fantastic goal. He shushed the kop for his celebration and I think he was spot on to do so.


Rafa is happy with the progress that Ngog has made in fitting in with the squad. His goals against Rangers and Valarenga will have helped him settle. In the same report, Tony Barrett says that Rafa doesn't want to sell Yossi to Roma, despite what Spaletti has been saying.

Looks like the boy Brouwer might be off to Utrecht on loan. I suppose it makes sense as he won't be anywhere near the first team this season. I have a feeling that he'll end up permanently back in Holland sooner or later.

The Hungarian contingent at Anfield looks to be on the rise. Otikba Kenneth is a 17 year old centre half and will be singing from Bekescsaba this week according to the mirror.

A pennant for the spectacular

"Bye bye Mourinho" sang the kop on Sat. They mightn't have to wait too long to see their prediction come true. Saturdays 2-0 win was an extremely sweet way to celebrate Rafa's 100th game in charge. Add in Utd's defeat by Arsenal and it became a very satisfying weekend. We've been criticised, rightly so in my view, for having a fairly poor league record against the rest of the top four clubs. This was the first league win over the so called special one in the league under Rafa. But we now have the best home record and the best defence in the league. I think that this gives a strong platform to build upon in our upcoming games against Arsenal and Utd at Anfield. We lost away but if we can win our home league games against the other top clubs it'll be a good mark of progress for the season. This also put out cup exits into perspective. I expect those fools calling for Rafa's head will be quieter now.

In the first half we were fantastic. "We worked for each other as a team," said Kuyt. "That was the big difference between us and them." Dirk Kuyt and Peter "he is a nice boy" Crouch gave Chelsea's defence a torrid time. Dirk showed great touch and composure for his goal. He has a great touch most times and made the room for himself with his cushioned header. Pennant added the second with a superb strike. His first goal for the reds was worth waiting for. The team as a whole performed well but Carra, Finnan and Stevie deserve special mentions. Gerrard worked hard all over the pitch, supporting attacks and back helping the defence. So much for the theory that he can't play alongside Xabi in the centre.

I still think that Utd are going to win the title. Some more optimistic reds feel that we have a chance but I think that there is no cnace of them slipping up by 11 points. They have to come to Anfield, Stamford bridge, City and Goodison but they're playing too well to lose many of those. Their defeat by Arsenal makes it more interesting but only really delays the inevitable. What I do think is possible is that we might be able to pip Chelsea for second. They are playing poorly and really missing Terry as we saw on Sat. If he's out for much longer then they could continue to drop points. Hopefully we can continue as the form team in the league and overtake them.

It looks like the transfer of Neil to Wet Ham will go through today and Warnock will leave for Blackburn in a £1.5m deal. I like Warnock but I think that he'll only ever be a squad player with us. I am suprised at Neil but his wallet seems to be more important than his carear. Fair enough. Rumour in Holland is that we've agreed a deal to sign a young dutch striker from Ajax called Jordy Brouwer. He's 18 and will only cost us a few £k in in compo. Can't say that I've heard of him but could be another one of Rafa's investments for the future.