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.

Fulham frustrate

The 0-0 draw with Fulham on Sunday was sadly predictable. As is often the case when Torres is out, we lacked the cutting edge to break down a massed defence, despite all of our possession. Watching the game, it didn't look like a goal would come. Fairplay to Fulham, they parked the bus and got a point. They'll be happy with that. Ngog didn't have a great game up top. It was good to see Pacheco get another few minutes towards the end. Hopefully Rafa will continue to play him now that fourth spot looks gone.

We play West Ham on Monday night. They are in a desperate state and are fighting for survival so I can see their desire being greater than ours. There have been too many occasions this year where the players look like they don't care and aren't giving it everything. I can accept a player not being good enough, if he is trying. When they don't try, that annoys me.
The big news this week was the statement from Hicks and Gillett that they're going to step down and appoint Martin Broughton as Chairman. This coupled with their stated desire to sell the club looks like good news. But we've had so many false dawns with them over the years that I'm remaining skeptical for now. Rafa gave a it a cautious welcome.

David Conn in the Guardian has a good piece on Hillsbourgh this week, the 21st anniversary of the disaster.

Young Hungarian Keeper Peter Gulacsi has joined Tranmere Rovers on emergency loan for a week. He should get a bit of game time while he's there. I'd happily let Cavalieri leave this summer and let the likes of Gulacsi step up as our backup keeper.

Europa joy

What would you prefer, a Europa cup or fourth spot in the league and a Champions League place? I would have said fourth spot at the start of the season but as time goes by, I'm warming to the idea of a Europa cup. The
4-1win over Benfica on Thursday night got the heart racing. It was a great performance from the lads. We went at them, like we often do at Anfield on a European night. If only we had taken this form into our away league games this year.

Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring and Lucas followed soon after. It was the Brazilians first of the season and he showed great composure to latch onto a superb ball from Gerrard and round the keeper. I think the kop would like to see more of that side of his game. Our third goal was a superb counter attacking move at pace with Dirk hitting a class cross from the right and El Nino slotting home. Torres lobbed the keeper for the last goal after a superb Lucas tackle in the middle set us on the attack. The only downer on the night was the consolation goal for Benfica when a free kick took a deflection off the wall and went in. It gave us a few nervous minutes before we got our fourth. Special mention to Javier and Fernando who avoided bookings which would have kept them out of the next round. Not so Sergio Aguero who was booked in Ateltico's match with Valencia and he'll miss the first leg, two weeks from now. Atleti will be a tough game but we should be able to beat them over two legs, despite their talented squad.It's back to the league matters tomorrow with Fulham visiting Anfield. The cottagers could be Europa cup final opponents if we manage to get that far. Their away form isn't great unlike our home form which means we really should be able to do them. I know the chances of sneaking fourth are slim but we have to keep pushing in case City do slip up.

Pepe Reina has given us a massive boost by signing a six year deal which will keep him at the club until 2016. This is brilliant news. I wouldn't swap him with any other keeper in Europe, with the exception of Casillas.

Rafa has said that we need investment in the team and we won't get back to competitiveness by wheeling and dealing as we have been doing over the last two seasons. If it's not forthcoming, I can see him leaving the club in the summer. That would suit Hicks and Gillett as they wouldn't have to pay him off and could get somebody cheaper in to do a job.

The Mirror have a transfer rumour with quotes from Dutch Wunderkind Georginio Wijnaldum, saying it would be a dream move for him to come to Liverpool. Let's hope that he lives up to his billing, unlike our last dutch Wunderkind, Babel. Feyenoord would want around £5m for him.

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.

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.

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.

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.

El Nino raids Villa

The 1-0 win over Villa was so badly needed. We played well and were the better team but an injury time winner always makes the victory even sweeter. It didn't go down well in the sky studio. Keys and Gray were sick that we hadn't read the script and had the temerity to win a match. The cheek of us.

Villa had some chances but our margin of victory should have been greater. Dirk had a nailed on peno refused in the first half. I'd love to know why the ref refused to give it. Dirk had another mediocre game. He's been off form for a long time now. Aquilani started again and was good in the first half but faded in the second. It'll be a while before he delivers two good halves. He's neat first time passes really seem to work well with Yossi and Stevie. Lucas had another good game. He shines more when Masch is out.

Check out the FT9 site for an understated reaction to our late winner. Take it handy lads. El Nino is the quickest Liverpool player to score 50 league goals. He's also the fourth fastest player to 50 premiership goals. BUt the difference with Torres is that he doesn't take Penalties. Here are his 50 goals.GloJo suffered a tear to his medial ligament which means he's looking at an extended period on the sidelines. This is pretty shit for him as he's been great for us until recent weeks when his form dropped. I hope that young Kelly is fit enough to get a few games in his absence. Niether of the right back alternatives, Carra or Degen, fill me with huge amounts to confidence.

It's the "magic of the cup" on Saturday with a trip to Reading. I expect a fairly strong team but the likes of Pepe, Dirk, Insua, Torres and Gerrard can expect a rest. Maybe we'll see our wunderkind Daniel "Paches" Pacheco get a start? If not he's likely to come on at some stage. It'll be interesting to see who starts at right back. As it's a cup game, it could be Darby or Degen. The cup has more importance than usual this year since we're out fo the champions league. As usual, it'd be great to win it, but I'm not going to cry if we get knocked out. Finishing in the top four is much more important for our future.

Dossena could be on his way to Atletico Madrid according to Sky Sports. Palace forward Victor Moses is also being linked with a move. We've held talks with him according to the Star. The Liverpool Echo says that we're quite close on a loan deal for Maxi Rodriguez. He's a really good player and would give us a quality option on the right hand side. He links well with Nando from their time together at Atletico.

Purslow reckons work on the new stadium will begin in April 2010. A likely story. Here's HKS talking about the new stadium design.

Ngog we trust?

I've been pretty busy in work recently so updates have been lacking. Here's a brief overview of the last two games.

Sunday's match with Arsenal was really disappointing. Although, I was really happy at half time. We had started really well and Masch was closing them down to great effect. El Nino was back in the saddle even though he didn't look anywhere near 100%. He was presented with a great chance early on which he fluffed but I felt a fit and firing Torres would have finished with ease. But Deadly Dirk struck to put us ahead with a cool finish from close range. We might have been 2-0 up if the ref had have given us a peno when Gerrard was taken down in the box. But after the break GloJo was unlucky to score an o.g. After that our heads dropped and Arshavin struck again. He must with he could play us every week. After that we fell apart. There was very little effort and only a few half chances for us to go level. The contrasts between the halves was stark.Fortunately, we got things back on track with a 2-1 win over Wigan on Wednesday. This was a much more solid display. We created quite a few chances after Ngog opened the scoring. He started in place of Torres who is having his injury managed and can't play two games per week.

Yossi, Agger and Gerrard all had good chances to increase our lead before Torres, on as sub, went round the keeper and scuffed it over the line. Not the prettiest he's scored but they all count. It did get a bit easier after that but we still had a nervous ending as N'Zogbia got one back for them in injury time. On a positive note, Insua looked much fresher, and seems to have benefitted from a rest. Ngog continues to score and now has 6 goals this season. He's developing every game and his movement and link up play are improving rapidly. Given the fragility of our Spanish striker, I expect young David to continue to play regularly for the rest of the season. A £1.5m bargain from Rafa, despite the bosses reputation for profligacy in the transfer market.

Today's match sees us take on Portsmouth in Fratton Park. This hasn't been a happy hunting ground for us in the past but that was more under 'Arry. They're not in great form but have Grant in charge now and he may make a difference from their early season form. GloJo and Babel are back in the squad for this one. Happy to have Glen back but Babel is a waste of space. I expect another tough and nervy match given our fragile confidence and form but it's one that we should win ultimately.

The Ruud Van Nistelroy rumours won't go away. There might actually be something in this. I think he'd be a great impact sub or striker to have on rotation.

Danny Pacheco has a bright future according to the boss. I think we all saw hints of that future with his cameo against Fiorentina. I can see him getting more game time now that Voronin is out in the cold. Another youngster who made an impression in the Champions League group was Jovetic. He's a player that Rafa tried to sign in the summer before budgetary constraints kicked in, according to Dominic King in the Echo. I think he'd be superb for us but I fear he's out of our price range now.

I'll leave you with a one liner I came up over last weekend.

What's the difference between Berbatov and Voronin?

About £31m.

Blackburn and Fiorentina

0-0 draw away to Blackburn was not the result I was looking for. We were rubbish in the first half and improved in the second. Ngog was unlucky when the ball bobbled in front of him and he hit the bar rather than the back of the net. But overall it was a poor enough display and we didn't really deserve much more than a point.

Fiorentina was much better on Wednesday night even if we were beaten 2-1. We really went at them for large parts of the game, even though it was a dead rubber. The game was notable for the much anticipated home debut of the Aquilani, the prince. He looked quite rusty, after almost 9 months out, but was very positive with the ball. He made a real difference with his touch, passing, pace and movement. It was exciting to see the way he linked with Gerrard. But he was only really fit for half a match and ran out of steam quite early on.

Torres and the kid Pacheco gave us a glimpse of what our all Spanish front line might look like in the near future. This kid can play. We've heard about him for the youths and reserves for a while now but this was his first go with the first team. Injury stopped him getting a go earlier. He was really positive on the ball and had a crack at goal with his first touch. I would liek to see much more of him in future rather than Voronin or Babel, the waster. Arsenal on Sunday is a massive game. They have many injuries up front and a few all over the pitch really. We're returning to full fitness now and while the likes of Aquilani, Gerrard and Torres aren't 100%, they are in contention. It's only Riera, Kelly and El Zahr who won't make this one. It's a very hard game to call. I'm going to say that El Nino will make the difference and win it for us, if he starts.

Pepe Reina is an unsung hero according to this. He says he wants to stay here for a long long time, which is brilliant.

Rafa says that we're in talks with Mascherano about extending his contract. He's been playing much better in recent times. But the player himself doesn't seem too interested in talking about an extension, at least not in public. I still expect him to leave this summer.

16 year old Icelandic defender Kristjan Gauti Emilsson has joined Liverpool this week according to news reports. Utd and Rangers have previously been after him apparently.

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.

Building bridges

It may sound hard to believe but we played pretty well in our 2-0 defeat in Stamford Bridge. I thought it was really even until we conceded the first goal. After that we over committed numbers forward and were caught on the break. To be honest, I thought our defence played really well bar the slip up at the end for the second goal. The midfield punched their own weight but neither Dirk not Riera gave great service to Gerrard and Torres, neither of whom had much impact. But our performance level was much the same as it was last season, the difference being that this time we didn't get the result. I wasn't too disheartened afterwards, just a bit pissed off that we have to wait two weeks to get things back on track.Ahead of the match, El Nino had an interview in the Guardian where he opens up on fatherhood and how he loves living on Merseyside. Sure the city is lucky to have him.

Carra says we're facing into a massive week after the international break, and he for one is ready. We face Sunderland away first up followed by Lyon and Man Utd at Anfield. Let's remember that Sunderland drew at Old Toilet, and only missed out on a victory by a cruel deflection off Anto Ferdinand's leg. This will not be easy and our defence will have to be on top of their game to deal with Bent playing as good as he ever has. Himself and Jones are a real handful. On the plus side, we might have a fit again Daniel Agger in the squad as he came through a reserve match last week. Aquilani is progressing well but is still about two weeks away for fitness.

Paul Tomkins doesn't pull any punches in his slating of Tony Cascarino and his ilk. Give's 'em what for.

Ian Ayre has some positive spin on the new shirt sponsorship deal on the BBC site. It sounds like they've done well on the commercial side, the downside being that the money will probably end up in the pockets of George and Tom, despite their protestations. You can read the full transcript of Gillett's interview with SOS here.

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.

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.