Just deserts?

A late goal which turns a loss into a draw can feel like a win. That was the case here. We couldn't make our early dominance pay, they scored and we god lucky with the equaliser. It keeps us joint top of the group which is the bottom line. If we can out score them in the remaining matches against PSV and Marseille, we'll go through as group winner. Either way, it's going to be LFC and Atleti.

The ref had a bit of a stinker. Besides the controversial penalty at the end, he missed two earlier hand balls which could have made it a lot easier for us. But these things happen I suppose. Atletico had a few claims of their own. They were very lucky that we didn't hammer them in the first match so maybe the luck evened out a bit here with us getting a soft peno.

We could and should have won it given the amount of chances we created. Agger alone could have had a hat trick. Robbie Keane had a good chance following an amazing Alonso pass but his shot was wide. Robbie also had a good opportunity when 1 v 1 with Franco. Riera had a lovely volley which went narrowly wide. But our finishing was poor and they made us pay with a fantastic goal from Maxi, a good player, who we've been linked to in the past. After they took the lead, it was easier for Ateltico to sit back and hit us on the break with pace, like they did for the opener.

Rafa's happy enough that it was a peno. I'm not convinced. I think that there was contact but Gerrard definitely made the most of it. If it was given against us I would be pissed off. I can understand why Stevie did what he did but I don't condone it.

King Luis was looking forward to the match beforehand. He got a few minutes at the end and got to say a proper goodbye to the Kop, which he didn't get when he went to Atletico. The old song got a run out - Luis Garcia, he drinks sangria.
West Brom give us a good opportunity to get over the Spurs loss when they visit Anfield on Saturday. We really need a win here to get back on track. We may even have El Nino back. He was in the squad here but didn't make the bench. I think Rafa is right in not taking a chance on his fitness. Let him take his time and get properly fit.

Do these comments from Gillett sound like he's ready to sell or is it just more guff? The latter I fear.

Jorge "shit on a stick" Valdano says that Mascherano is possibly the best midfielder in the world. I love Javier.

New deals for Dirk and Agger. Andy Hunter in the Guardian has written an article on Kuyt's upturn in form this season. He didn't have his best game last night but by and large, he's been very good this year and deserves his place in the team.

7001 and counting

Last season it took Liverpool until October to get a win away from home. This year we have six points from two away matches already. I think that we played reasonably well here, but more importantly we got the result. This is a game that we would probably have drawn last season, like at Shefield Utd on the opening day. The new additions added to a more attacking attitude will give us a better chance on the road this year.

Momo's first ever goal for the club broke the deadlock and happened to be our 7000th league goal. It's another one of those meaningless stats which them media love to go on about in the buildup to each match. In Gerrard's absence, Momo played his harrassing role to perfection. The mediocre Sunderland midfield tried as they might, but Sissoko snapped at their heals. He may not be as measured in posession as Javier but nobody can hassle the oposition quite like Momo. I really rate the lad and if he can improve his distribution somewhat then he'll b e an amaing player. His goal was awesome after some clever approach work from Voronin and Pennant.

We could have had a few more goals if it hadn't of been for Gordon who was superb in the Sunderland goal. Torres could have had a hat trick against a less inspired keeper. The failure to build on our 1-0 lead despite the chances we had, led to an unessesary dose of nerves in the second half.

Voronin added the winner with three minutes to go. Nobody had said too much about him when he was signed as it was on a free transfer. Now some people think that he should be the first choice partner for Torres. Kuyt and Torres would still be my preference but I think that all of the strikers will get a lot of games give Rafa's preference for roatation.

Overall it was a good result away from Anfield. But it did come at a heavy cost as Carra broke a rib and Sami a broken snot. Hyypia should be ok to play against Toulouse tomorrow night but Carra might be out for a few weeks with his ribs. Lucklily, there is an international break after the Derby County match on Sat which should give him time to recover. The Toulouse match itself should be handy enough. We have the away goal and they didn't look very good in the first leg. I predict a 2-1 win for us.

The official site featured a letter from Luis Garcia last week. He was a great little player for us and I hope that we don't end up missing him too much this season. He was an amazing option to come off the bench or to conjure something out of nothing in european matches. His goal against Juventus in 2005 remains one of my favourite Liverpool goals of all time. He always came across well in interviews too and seems to be a genuine, brave and warm hearted soul. I hope that things go well for him at Atletico. It'd be great if he got the opportunity to return to Anfield with them at some stage.

"El Nino" stays in the picture

It's official. There's a new kid in town and his name is Fernando. Rafa has sent out the call and "Towers" has answered. I haven't posted a blog entry in a while as I was awaiting some concrete news. It's arrived with a bang, not disimilar to the sound of castanets being snapped.

I'm very excited about our new number 9. Fergie has been chasing him for years so I'd imagine he's pissed off that he spunked £53m of his summer budget already. Jose and Chelsea held talks with his agent last summer. Both Ballague and Hunter have reported the fee as being £20m rather than the £26.5m being quoted in the press. The Echo also quotes the fee at £20m and says he took a pay cut which is a good sign.

Luis Garcia is heading in the other direction for a fee of around £4.5m. I'm sorry to see little Luis go but he wanted to return home and he's only got a year left on his contract. He's off to Spain to drink Sangria, as the song says. Here's my favourite of his many goals which came against Juve. Watch out for the mad music on that clip.

Cisse appears to have gone to Marseille on a permanent deal. This isn't much of a surprise but we still haven't got any confirmation of the price. I'm sure it won't be what we would have hoped had he not broken his leg twice.

Momo has signed a new deal at Anfield. I thought that there was a chance that he'd leave given the signing of Lucas from Gremio. Does this mean that Stevie is going to be playing mainly on the right this year?

The youth recruitment drive shows no sign of letting up and time soon. The latest Spanish (could be Basque) starlet on his way to L4 is Mikel San Jose. He's 18, a centre back and has signed from Atletico Bilbao.

Dani Pacheco is also on his way out of Iberia. Barcelona have lost quite a few young players to the premiership over the years. Now we've poached one for ourselves. Pacheco is a 16 year old striker who is nicknamed the killer. He is half Czech and half Catalan, a Czechalan if you will.

Bulgarian midfielder Mihail Alexandrov will be winging his way here from CSKA Sofia in the near future. I can't say that I know too much about him but he's 18 and another "one for the future".

There is considerable talk that Gabriel Heinze is going to leave Utd for Liverpool. I thought he was a superb player until his injury but hasn't been the same since. He would be more reliable than Riise at left back but I don't think he'd offer us the same going forward. Either way, I can't see Slur Alex letting this happen unless Heinze buys himself out of his contract.

Mañana.

3 point lane

What a huge result? We really needed to get something away after our poor result in Ewood park against Blackburn. I must admit that I feared a draw beforehand. On the day we didn't play great but we got the result. Compared to the Blackburn match, we didn't create half as many chances and weren't as cominent. But where we didn't finish and had no luck at Ewood, we rode our luck somewhat in trecherous conditions against Spurs.

Luis Garcia popped up to get the vital touch for the goal. He is great at getting into the box to pounch on rebounds and loose balls. He was unlucky with a header and a spectacular overhead attempt in the second half which Robinson saved. Garcia has his critics and does have terrible games some days. But on days like today he can prove invaluable when he pops up with a match winning goal.

We have Bolton paying a visit to Anfield tomorrow on New years day. It's a great oppertunity for us to get revenge for the 2-0 beating that they gave us at the Reebok. We were fairly poor that day but we're playing much better now and are at home this time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sami start this one. He is our best player in the air and we will probably need him to try and counter their threat at set pieces.

On the side note that is the title race, I think that Jose looked rattled after Fulham. I now fear that Utd might actually win the league. There is a lot of games and points to go but Chelsea are really missing Terry and Cech at the moment and they're leaking loads of goals. I'm hoping that this is still the case on 20th January when they visit Anfield. I have no love for Chelsea but I would prefer them to win the league to Utd. My axis of evil is Utd, Everton, Chelsea in that order.