Europa knockout and Chelsea collapse

What a week it's been. FIrst we crashed out of Europe on away goals with a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid. We played pretty well for 60-70 mins but ran out of steam and ideas. We did get to see some nice goals for Aquilani and Yossi but when Forlan scored in extra time we had nothing left in the tank. Pretty disappointing.

But nothing compared to the way we surrendered 2-0 to Chelsea at Anfield last Sunday. We did a decent enough job of suffocating the Londoners for the first 30 minutes. Then Gerrard decided to try another one of his suicidal back passes, ala France in the world cup, and Drogba pounced to given them the lead. We had no response and Lampard added a second to given them no more than they deserved. Some fans were happy to see us lose but I wasn't one of them. I want us to win every game regardless of the consequences.

We travel to Hull City tomorrow for our last game of the season and it's hard to give a shit about a nothing game like this. The only hope of it being mildly interesting is if we get to see a bit more of the youngsters like Pacheco and Ayala who's been doing well in recent games. They both have talent and could really kick on and become regulars next year.

LFC.tv put together a montage of Maxi's play this month. He's been one of the few brights sparks in a dull second half of the season. I expect him to build on this and give us even more next season. His quality is plain to see and the likes of Gerrard, Aquilani and Torres love playing with him.

Yossi doesn't know if he'll stay around this summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sold. He's a salable asset and isn't young. I rate him and want him to stay but we've got debts.

Rangers teen Danny Wilson is expected to complete his move to L4 in the next week according to the BBC. They reckon the fee is £2m plus future conditional payments. This seems very cheap for a highly rated young British defender but his contract is running down, hence the value for money. You can see him score a header for Rangers here.

Things continue to get worse off the pitch. The annual accounts were released this week and they it turns out that we're in a worse state than expected. The always reliable Tony Barrett in the Times breaks down the implications of the debt and the extent to which the stateside leeches are bleeding our club dry. If we don't get sold soon we are heading the same direction as Leeds United.

To the Maxi

Atletico beat us 1-0 in Madrid on Thursday night to put them firmly in the driving seat of this two legged tie. In truth, it wasn't a great game or performance from either team. Forlan did well to beat Pepe but it was a scrappy goal that we should have cleared. This was compounded when Yossi scored a legitimate goal minutes later which was disallowed for offside. Ngog struggled up front and couldn't hold the ball up on his own. Atleti will be happy that they managed to prevent us from scoring and will fancy their chances at Atfield on Thursday given they'll have Aguero back, we're missing Torres and they have a lead to protect. Not good. We can do it but Atleti are deserved favourites.

We finished the week with a 4-0 away win over Burnley. The first half was crap and we only got going with a deflected goal in the second half. Gerrard's strike wrong footed the Jansen when it took a deflection off a defender. His second was a sweet strike from distance, the kind of goal which he made his name with. Maxi scored his first goal for Liverpool, not before time. He's been a superb signing since he arrived and you can see how his technique, passing and movement help those around him. I expect him to bag a lot more goals next season.

Aquilani had a good game and reveled in the space available to him. He managed to set up three goals which is a pretty good return regardless of the opposition. I would like to see Alberto get an extended run and build on it with a full pre season behind him next season. Rafa has said he could play in the hole more regularly rather than in central midfield.
Some of the UK Press have been linking Torres with a move to City. I think this is unlikely and if he does leave us in the future, it will not be to another English club from theses quotes. I'd hate to see him leave but if he does, I could accept him playing for FC Barcelona a lot easier than City or Chelsea. He is also very complimentary about Rafa and his man management style, not something you hear very often in the press.

We've opened out summer spending with a move for Charlton midfielder Jonjo Shelvey. It a done deal now for around £1.7m rising to £3m and it's connected with an arrangement with Charlton. He's only 18 but has been talked about as a talent for a few years. The Mail suggest we're signing 15 year old Swede Kristoffer Peterson who's been on trial at the Academy.

Lille home and Utd away

A 3-0 win over Lille on Thursday was enough to overturn the 1-0 away defeat and put us through to the quarter final of the Ueropa league. Gerrard opened the scoring after Lucas won a penalty. Torres beat the last man and the keeper with a deft finish to show he's approaching full fitness and form again. He added a third in the second half to put the tie beyond doubt. It was a pity that Aquilani caught a virus in the run up to this match and wasn't able to build on his good form against Portsmouth. We'll face Benfica in the next round. They'll be a tough side to beat and have already embarrassed Everton in the same competition this season.

Given we'd put a bit of form together over the last few games, we weren't so nervous going into the game against Utd at Old Toilet. It showed as we went at them from the off and El Nino opened the scoring with a great header after four minutes. Dirk sent in a great cross from the right and Nando looped it beyond Van Der Saar into the far corner. It was a great start and set us on our way towards anther historic victory at the Toilet. Unfortunately Howard Webb decided to gift Utd a peno when Mascherano fouled Valenica outside the box. I was a bit worried when I heard Webb was reffing this one. Reina saved Rooney's peno but He managed to slot home the rebound. Great effort from Pepe all the same. The Park added a second for the home team with a great header in the second half to consign us to defeat. It was a very even first half but in fairness Utd were the better team in the second period and controlled the game once the took the lead. It finished 2-1 but quality was lacking from both sides and it was a poor enough game overall. We did manage to fashion one great chance at the end but Torres fluffed his effort after Gerrard set him up and Yossi sent his headed effort straight at VDS. Unfortunate. I fear this defeat has killed off any lingering hopes for fourth place. Our only hope for the season is a Europa cup. Our next match is Sunderland at Anfield next weekend. They aren't in great form but beat us in the beachball game earlier this year and have dangerous forwards in Bent and Jones. We've decent home form and should be able to win this.

Albert Riera hasn't done his chances of a first team recall much good by blasting Rafa in the Spanish press. I've no doubt that he's leaving this summer. I was impressed with him last season but he's been poor enough this year on the odd occasion he played.

Liverpool's latest signing, 15 year old Raheem Sterling made his debut against Everton for the Academy team this week. He capped it with a goal, highlights here. No doubt some fans will be demanding Rafa give him his first team debut for the next game.

David Conn in the Guardian has a good article summarising the dire financial position Hicks and Gillett have dumped us in since they bought the club. He also details the Rhone groups bid for a 40% share in the club.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Portsmouth and Wolves

The Christmas period started really badly for the reds with a 2-0 loss at Fratton Park. I only saw highlights of this one but we looked rubbish. All of the reports I read said we were dire. Masch getting himself sent off didn't help but we were already 1-0 down at that stage. But after that we didn't really look like we could turn it around. Depressing stuff.

Thankfully we were much improved in our next match on Stephens day. We had to get things back on track at home to Wolves and we did with a 2-0 win over the east midlands team. In the end it looked safe enough but in the first half we hadn't played well and still looked nervous at the back. Once Ward got sent off, it got somewhat easier. The goals both came in the second half. First Gerrard opened the scoring with a bullet header from an Insua cross. It was his fifth of the season, a fairly poor return by his standards. Then Yossi settled our nerves a few minutes later with a close range shot that took a deflection. Pacheco came on for another late cameo. That kid has talent.

Alberto got his first league start and played quite well. He still looked rusty and will continue like that for a while I would imagine. He hit some great passes but gave it away a few times too. He's always positive and tries to play it forward, including those ahead of him in the play. At the moment he looks like a 60 minute player rather than a 90 min one. He should get more stars in the next few weeks with Javier out injured. Now our thoughts turn to Aston Villa in Birmingham tomorrow night. This is going to be really tough. They beat us at Anfield in September without ever looking as convincing as the scoreline suggested. I don't think they've a great midfield but the have a stout defence and a blistering attack which could expose our nervous defenders. If we can assert ourselves in midfield, we can go a long way towards winning the game.

Have a listen to this MP RED interview with big Jan. Molby is an absolute legend.

Pepe comes up trumps

Sometimes you get the rub of the green, and we definitely did here. A 2-0 win may have been more than we deserved on the balance of play as I thought Everton deserved a draw. But they didn't take any of their chances. We took two of ours and that was enough. They were on the receiving end of the kind of game we've endured this season, playing well but getting less than you deserve. "Ahhhhhhyyyyyyyy", as the Fonz might say.

Javier got lucky with a long range shot which deflected off and Everton defender. I was shouting at him not to shoot, which goes to show how much I know. Maybe he'll follow in Fat Franks shoes and make a career out of deflected shots. Pepe made a superb double save to keep us in it. I have no doubt that he's the best keeper in the league and has been our player of the season so far. Stevie had a poor enough game but harried Hibbert enough to lay the ball onto Riera. The Spaniard's shot didn't beat Howard but he could only parry it onto Dirk who finished from close range. Kuyt has been in shit form for a while so I'm hoping this will help him recover.A scrappy derby win can be worth a lot to a struggling squad. We now have a week off until the Blackburn game on Saturday. They aren't in good form either but we should really have enough to put them away. There is a chance that Torres will be back and Gerrard and Aquilani will have another week's worth of training.

Sky Sports have an article in praise of Liverpool's number 24 David Ngog. He's come on a hell of a lot this year. It's clear he's no Torres but he's scoring goals and improving his overall play. He's worth well more than the £1.5m Rafa paid PSG for him.

Aurelio has rejected a pay as you play contract. I'm a fan of the Brazilian but he is brittle. Hopefully he signs up and continues to contribute over the next few years. He could be a good mentor to Insua and Butchtmann.

Yet more misery

Just when I thought our luck might turn, we hammered Birmingham but only came away with a point from our 2-2 draw at home. The team was still patched up, Torres didn't make the bench but Aquilani and Gerrard did.

Just because it finished 2-2 with us getting a dodgy peno doesn't mean we got lucky. We destroyed them. Gerrard hitting the post and Riera and Yossi coming off injured wasn't lucky. Stats here. Johnson tore them to pieces down the right again and again. Hart made some good saves and our finishing could have been better. If Torres or a fit Gerrard had played it would have been a landslide.

N'Gog took his goal well but spurned a few other chances. I think he's rapidly developing into a good player. His touch is still inconsistant but his holding up of the ball, movement, awareness and strength have come on greatly. A steal at £1.5m. Somebody said he has the best goals per minutes in the league but I don't know if that's right. I do feel that N'Gog was theatrical in going down and don't approve of it but this kind of thing happens all the time, it's nothing new. Why was there an outcry this week but not so much when Rooney or Ronaldo did it over the last few years? I don't remember Keith Hackett coming out and commenting on those dives.

Man CIty visit Anfield in the first game after the International break. The phrase "must win" is overused but every game we play now is going to be one. The fact that City will be vying with us for a champions league spot makes it even more important. They, like us, are not in great form and neither team is defending well. I think it could come down to which team has a better day in defence. Carra coming in for Skrtel might help us to tighten up at the back.

Tony Barrett in the Times lists 5 areas in which Rafa can help the team to get out of our current slump.The latest injury news isn't good either. Both Yossi and Riera have done their hamstrings and are looking at the best part of a month on the sidelines.

The daily mail reckon we're in for Krasic, the CSKA right winger who impressed against Utd at Old Toilet last week. Another winger, Adam Johnson of Boro, is being linked with a £7m move in January. Given his nationality and age, I think he'd be decent at that price. But I severly doubt we'll be spending £7m on him or anybody else when the window opens. Dossena wants out according to this.

If you're interested in the transfer fees and record of the Boss, have a read of this. It details all of the ins and outs and comes to a net fee of £83m since his arrival. If you divide that by 6, with this being his sixth season, it comes to £13.8 per season. The worrying side of it is that his net spend in 08/09 was £2.5m and this season it's just £10k.

Paul Tomkins employs logic in his defence of Benitez, a much underused tool when it comes to Football writing these days. Here's a great quote:

Apparently Benítez doesn't buy well under £10m, but Reina, Agger, Benayoun, Kuyt, Skrtel, Riera, Insua, Crouch, Garcia, Sissoko, Lucas, Aurelio and Arbeloa all cost less than that amount.

Cottage calapse

Balls. When I saw the team sheet on Saturday I got very worried. 3-1 was the final result after a 1-1 draw at the break. We actually played well enough in the first half and things might have been different if Yossi had of scored rather than hit the bar in the first half. The defence we started was Insua, Carragher, Kyrgiakos and Degen which has a combined cost of £2.5m. Insua is having a poor time of it now and didn't cover himself in glory here. None of them did at the back. Degen was unfortunate to see a red and it may be rescinded on appeal. Then Carra went for a second yellow and we were down to 9. Laughable stuff. The only bright point was a stunning strike by El Nino.Lyon say that they're wary of the Liverpool threat. That threat has been lessened by the massive injury list we're suffering. The latest news is that GloJo and Aurelio aren't fit enough to travel. They will join Gerrard, Skrtel, Kelly, Riera and Dossena in the physio room. The more positive news is that Agger, Aquilani and David N'Gog have travelled. The big questions for me are who starts at right back as Degen isn't registered and dare we risk and Aquilani start? Darby may have to fill in for Johnson. It's either that or play Carragher there which hasn't worked at all recently. Starting Aquilani would be a big risk and I suspect it will be a case of him coming on for 20-30 mins at the end if he's needed. I'd love to see him start but I doubt he's ready for it. I'm really worried about this one. I think we'd win with our first team but we're far from that. A draw might be doable but I can't see us winning.

Dossena is being linked with a Jan move to Napoli. He's not playing much and will want to get some game time in to secure his world cup place. I wouldn't be too surprised to see him go if Rafa is assured he'll get to reinvest the funds. Spanish defender Mikel San Jose looks like he'll return to the Kop after a pointless spell on loan at Atletic Bilbao. We could be looking at a boost to our Hungarian community with Vladimir Koman who's currently playing for Bari. He's 20 and plays on the left wing and could cost us up to £4m.

Perfection

Sweet, sweet victory. Any win would have done considering the run we were on but a 2-0 win over the Man Ure where we dominated and destroyed them was very satisfying. Top marks to the team, it's hard to pick a poor performer among them. Rafa out anyone? The managerial obituaries will have to wait for a while yet.

Lucas and Masch were superb and totally bossed Scholes and Carrick. This was the Brazilian's best ever performance for us and humble pie will be selling out in many quarters. N'Gog did well and took his chance very maturely. El Nino was only 80% fit but still managed to give Vidic and Ferdinand a torrid time. He made dirt of Rio for the opener. Don't think I'll ever get tired of watching that. Rumour has it that kids on Merseyside are going to dress up as Torres for Hallowe'en and call over to Vidic's house. No doubt he'll be in a quivering mess when he answers the door. That's a hat trick of red cards when he's faced Torres in the league. Lovely.

Check out this happy bunch. You almost feel sorry for them. Almost.Fergie was up to his old trick of trying to blame the ref for his own team's inadequacies. Retired referee Graham Poll is having none of it and says the ref got his decisions correct. Eat that Slur Alex.

Rafa says that Aquilani will get some minutes against Arsenal in the Carling Cup but isn't ready to start. Kyrgiakos and Dossena will return to the squad and I wouldn't be surprised to see either start. I expect that we'll see a similar team to the Leeds match with a mixture of squad and reserve players. I have to say that I'm not too bothered if we miss out at the Emirates. Fulham is a much more important fixture and Gerrard won't be considered until that one.

Pennant sets us straight about Rafa in the Guardian. This man is a genius and clearly set for a long and successful career in management. Let's appoint him player manager now.

Lyon's full back Cissokho says he'd like to play for us someday.

Not a bad player at all.

This magazine is a must for all Vidic fans. He gives the lowdown on his status as Fernando's bitch.

The aftermath

Just when I thought we were out, they pull us back in. Crap. That was not what we needed. To break it down:

• Kelly was brilliant at right back. Fantastic performance from the teenager and we disimproved when he came off injured. A star of the future.
• Agger looked better in the middle but still a bit rusty. How we've missed him bringing the ball out of defence. He's the one we can trust not to hoof it, losing possession. Far too much of that from Skrtel and Carra at the moment.
• Pepe was in superb form again, as he has been all season despite a ropey defence in front of him. His saves in the lead up to the equaliser were fantastic but there was only so much he could do before one of them went in. He needed a dig out by one of the defenders.
• N'Gog started well enough but faded badly in the second half. He's improving but he's not really ready to step into the Torres breach just yet.

It now looks like we'll need to win our remaining games to qualify from the group and may need to beat Fiorintina by more than 2-0. Big ask to be honest but we've completed similar escape acts before.

So now it's the Mancs on Sunday. Bad timing. It looks like GloJo will be back but it's still touch and go on Torres and Gerrard. I don't fancy our chances without them. The team is short of confidence at the minute and we need our totems back. We've had such shit luck with injuries this year. International football has a lot to answer for here.

This article by Paul Tomkins should be required reading for all Reds. It details his four hour chat with Rafa at Melwood. Amazing stuff but I'd love to read the off the record version.

Those at Prenton Park for Liverpool's reserve match v Sunderland on Tuesday were treated to some crazy skills from Alberto Aquilani, no less. It was great for him to get a run out and I suspect he may get some game time in the carling cup match v Arsenal next week. But the problem for Alberto is that the expectations for him are increasing as our results get worse. If he's not Pirlo, Del Piero and Totti all rolled into one, he'll be declared a flop.

I hate to say I told you so

Yesterday I predicted Jovetic would be a dangerman and one to watch. This prediction proved accurate and the Montanegran took us to pieces. He was brilliant. Yet again we were poor at the back with Skrtel, GloJo and Insua all had nights to forget. In midfield, Lucas and Aurelio didn't provide the shield that Masch gives us away from home. They hit us twice in the first half leaving us with a mountain to climb.

A banner held up by the home fans in the stadium said "Your story to us is a legend", but we couldn't add to that story here. The second half performance was much improved with Yossi and Lucas going close but we couldn't capitalise. That leaves us on 6 points. We should still qualify and can win the group but we've made it a lot harder. This Sunday the reds march onto Stamford Bridge. This is going to be massive. We won there last season but we were much more solid at the back then. We'll need Javier to recover from his knock by then. He's vital for these kind of away games. I worry about Drogba. He's caused us huge problems in the past and could make mincemeat of Carra and Skrtel. Cech's suspension is good news but may not be enough. I think a draw would be the best we can hope for despite El Nino and his magic feet. If Rafa doesn't pick him for the game he might get a smack in the head.Here's the new Adidas featuring Gerrard being picked for an ultimate team by Zidane. The copy is a bit rubbish but the look and animation is cool. Real graphic novel style.

Take a deep breath

Right. Here's a brief summary of the last 10 days while I was in Seville. During that time I went to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium to watch Seville beat Mallorca 2-0. I was privileged to see the visitors feature Josemi and yes, he's still shit.

First was a West Ham game. I managed to watch this one on Spanish TV. The hammers gave us a tough game for an hour and more poor defending at the back cost us. But a goal from Dirk and two from El Nino got us back on track. His first one was really special.

Next came the Carling cup tie with Leeds, Leeds, Leeds. N'Gog scored to make it 1-0 but it didn't sound like a great match from the reports I read. Needless to say, it wasn't available on tv in Andalusia. Great to see the likes of Spearing getting some time and N'Gog keeps scoring and improving. Great help to have Fabio back in action. We've missed his cultured left foot. Hull City were shot up like fish in a barrel at Anfield on Saturday. Once again, el Crack Torres, put the opposition to the sword. He's in lethal from now after a slow start and he grabbed a hat trick and made Phil "Phil Brown" Brown and his team look awful. Babel grabbed two for himself, one of which he knew eff all about after a Riera shot looped off his foot. He's starting to put a bit of form together and I might have to retract my pronouncement that he's a write off. Gerrard scored a bit of a fluke, but they all count. Lucas has another solid game as Mascherano wasn't fit. There is the point that we don't need him and Lucas in the same team at home, and once Aquilani is fit, we'll line up with one of them alongside the Italian in the middle of the park.

Tonight it's back to the Champions league and we're off to Florence to face the Viola. They're missing Gilardino, which is good, but they'll still have Mutu, Vargas and Jovetic, who I rate highly. He was brilliant when I saw Fiorentina lose to AC Milan in the San Siro in January. It's not a handy group we have but it's still one that we should top. A win tonight would be great as it's probably our second hardest game of the six and would put us well on the way to the second round.

Off the pitch, rumors about of Saudi investors and Hicks and Gillett have released a statement to say that they are looking for investors. I really hope they do succeed and get kicked out of the club but I'm not holding my breath.

Hasta luego.

Humble beginnings

A 1-0 win against limited oposition saw our champions league campaign get off to a dull thud, rather than a bang. Debreceni posed very little threat but were happy to sit deep and frustrate in numbers, which is perfectly acceptable for smaller teams away from home. It was up to us to break them down and we didn't succeed to any great degree. We had some decent enough openings but only converted the one with deadly Dirk poked in a shot after the goalie failed to hold a Nando rasper. Rafa will say that the objective is get qualified as qucikly as possible and top the group. We're on our way to achieving that mission. Agger is back in training but unlikely to feature against West Ham in Upton Park this Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the same team or Mascherano in for Riera with Gerrard moving forward and Yossi shifting left. Aurelio needs some more minutes before he's ready to start. We should be able to beat this lot but it's not an easy ground to visit. I predict a narrow win.

It sounds like Purslow and Rafa are getting on well. I suppose the boss is glad that the incompetent Parry is gone. Purslow does seem to be efficent in securing the new sponsorship deal. The problem is that the money he's earning will go towards the Yanks debts, which they've loaded onto the club. Hicks reckons that the stadium will be built - once there is credit available in international markets. We'll see about that. In the meantime, they'll continue fucking the club, it's fans and the residents of Anfield around. Cheers Tom.

Back on track?

Does a 3-2 away win get everything back on track? In a way yes. It was important that we went into the international break of the back of a win. As is often the case, we didn't do this the easy way, falling behind twice to scrappy goals. But Glo Jo got the first to leave us level at half time. After conceding early in the second half, we went on the rampage, which became easier once Davis was sent off for a second yellow. El Nino scored after a superb lay off from Dirk and Gerrard added the winner with a few minutes to go. We battered them second half and could have added a few more as Gerrard hit the bar and Torres had an effort cleared off the line. Some fairly measured analysis here from Le Tisier on Sky Sports.

I wouldn't say it's all full steam ahead but it's a definite improvement on the Spurs and Villa matches. But the defence is a real cause for concern at the minute. If we don't get our act together we'll win eff all this year. Kyrgiakos made his debut and did ok. He's clearly good in the air but was sloppy in possession a few times. Carra hasn't been helped with trying to organise a defence with 2 new players and an inexperienced one in Insua. I'm hoping that Aurelio and Skrtel will be back for the next match against Burnely on Sat 12th.

Now that they seem to be over their giant killing spree, it should represent a good opportunity for us at home. They play a fairly open game which should leave space for our stars to exploit. Johnson can continue his fine form and make the right flank of the pitch his own. He's been nothing short of a revelation so far. Long may it continue.The draw for the Champions League group stages was made on Thursday. We're in a group with Lyon, Fiorentina and Debreceni of Hungary. Is Hungary a country? Lyon will be tough enough but we should be good enough to top the group.

Paul Tomkins has a good article on the need for patience. He compares the treatment that different premier league managers receive for the same behaviour. Well worth reading.

Looks like Andrea is going nowhere. Earlier in the summer it looked like he might have gone to Napoli or Juve but at this stage he seems set to stay. Similarly I don't see us selling anybody else as there would be no benifit to doing so. Itandje is off to Kavala fc on loan. Even if Rafa were to get a good offer for him or Babel, he's unlikely to get the money to reinvest. Thanks very much Chris Purslow, Tom and George. A fine bunch of pricks.

WTF?

It's my fault. I have to hold my hold my hand up and accept responsibility for the 3-1 defeat to Villa. I had Johnson, Gerrard and Torres in my fantasy football team. You'd think I'd learn after all these years. When I have Liverpool players in my team, we play shit. You'll pleased to know that I"m going to revert to my usual tactic of not picking any LFC players and loading up with Rooney, Rio and the lads.

Here's a surprisingly balanced report from Football 365 on the result. We created a load of chances in the first 20 minutes but didn't take them. We went behind to a freaky deflected goal and were chasing it after that. That suited Villa who sat back and hit us with pace on the counter. In fairness to them, they did quite well in that kind of game where the onus was on us. Quite a few of our players had off games. Gerrard and Torres both had poor games, El Nino not helped by receiving some elbows to the head. But it was a shitty performance once we went behind. I'm always wary when we play teams who haven't won in ages. They often turn it around against us, ala spurs last season.

Bolton on Saturday gives a chance for revenge. I know it's very early early but we can't afford to slip to far behind and trying to catch up every week. We should batter Bolton but they are the kind of physical team that often causes us problems. If we score first we could batter them like the Stoke game. If we go a long time without scoring then we might start to fret like we did last night.

Babel had want to watch it according to Rafa. He's running out of last chances. His display against Spurs was so pitiful that I'd happily see him leave this summer. Aurelio is back in training. He'll have a job getting his place back from Insua.

Hungarian kid Nemeth is on his way to AEK Athens on loan for a season. It'll do him well to get some first team football on a regular basis. He looks a good finisher but could bulk up a bit as he's not blessed with pace.

Man Utd have shown a bit of class in relation to a fan getting a Hillsbourgh t-shirt printed and are to be commended for it. I would hope that Liverpool would respond similarly if one of our fans got a Munich t-shirt printed. I have no time for those appalling chants and two wrongs never make a right in that regard.