Liverpool Echo - Another Red Letter Day

PORTSMOUTH'S GLEN JOHNSON TO ANFIELD?

2009-06-17T11:26:40Z

SO, £17m for a full back?
And one from Portsmouth who is hardly a regular full international with 30+ international caps under his belt?
It seems a hell of a lot of money to pay.

As regular blog commenter Mr Skyner points out in my previous entry, I've been banging on about Liverpool nabbing a rampaging full back for months.
It's definitely a position we need to improve. Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea are served by Clichy/Sagna, Evra/Fabio twins and Ashley Cole.
The Reds are definitely a lesser attacking force with full backs who rarely pass over the halfway line.
But I'd be against an £17m Johnson for the following reasons.

- Liverpool don't seem to have much dough. So to spew £17m on a full back, ahead of what seem like greater priorities at right wing and centre forward seems skewed.
A spate of 0-0 draws cost us the league, and an inability to score against well-drilled defences.
A speedy right winger or potent striker to compliment Torres would better remedy that failing than a dashing full back.

- Is Johnson worth £17m? In this world of crazy transfer fees, even this seems inflated. Ok, he's 24, so he's got a good six years in him. But he's never proved it at the highest level and is only now threatening to break into the England side.
There are question marks over his attitude and ability to defend when the going gets tough.
He excelled in midweek against Andorra when every England goal seemed to originate from him, but it was Andorra for Gods sake.
Let's not get carried away by that 40 yard looping blockbuster which won him the Goal of the Season award for Porstmouth the season before last.

- I actually think our full backs have improved immeasurably. Ok, so The Doss is a dead duck and needs shifting.
But Insua looks a real find with decent pace, a nice left foot, a willingness to attack and cross and a wise defensive head on young shoulders.
I'd start him ahead of Aurelio who threatenes to be good, but is still a bit iffy for me with both fitness and form.
On the right, Arbeloa had a pretty good season. 7 out of 10 all the way. And crucially, he started to really get forward.
At Man City away it was his foray and cross for Torres that started the comeback and his finish at home to West Brom was a cracker.
All in all, he seemed a lot further up the pitch.
Arbeloa is hardly the world class option we need, but if he's valued at, let's say, £6/7m, are we really saying Johnson is £10m better than that?

Ok, so we're still owed £7m from the sale of Crouch, but we could still take that £7m and use it to bolster the attacking third.

Here's how the possible signing is being viewed in other rival quarters. Chelsea were also interested in signing the full back.

What's the consensus of opinion amongst you? Do we want Jonno for that price?

CRISTIANO RONALDO AND ITS IMPACT ON LIVERPOOL FC

2009-06-15T12:42:55Z

SINCERE, sincere apologies for using such a monstrous image at the top of this posting.
Yet it seems to perfectly sum up the devil incarnate who has decided to leave this fair shores for sleazier times in Spain.
Yes, the Greasy One has departed for loadsamoney Real Madrid.

Good riddance.
As much as Ronaldo lit up the Premiership stage, for the neutrals at least, he brought bad attitude, poor sportmanship and general hardfaced behaviour to a new level in England.
But personal bias and opinion aside, just what effect will his departure have on Manchester United, and furthermore, Liverpool's ability to pip them next year?
£80m is a hell of a lot of money, and with a pretentious superstar with half an eye already on Madrid, it was almost an offer to good to resist.

The mind boggles with what you could do with that sort of cash. Three truly world class players could be snapped up for that sort of money.
But do Man Utd really need that £80m, with strength in depth in most positions?
If Liverpool were handed that sum, it would be a godsend, and Rafa would presumbaly go out to recruit the very best at centre forward right midfield and right back.

With United, however, there's only a right winger and perhaps another top class centre mid to go alongside Carrick that would boost their squad or first 11 any further.
Even then, Anderson, Giggs, Fletcher and Scholes have been excelling at various stages this season.
That's why for even £80m, perhaps there'snot huge physical value getting £80m for someone who is perhaps the best player in the world.
The amount of times Ronaldo pulled Man Utd out of trick spots is countless.
The Villa game at Old Trafford was prompted by a stunning 25 yarder into the bottom corner.
Their home game against Blackburn, when they were looking decidedly shaky, was rescued by a dipping Ronaldo bender.
The Champions League away ties against Porto and Arsenal were effectively settled by a pair of Portuguese blockbusters.
Match winners are almost priceless. Gerrard, Messi, Ronaldo. They're virtually unsellable as they alone win you trophies.

Ok, so there's money to spend, but it only takes £30m on a disinterested Berbatov, or £30m on an unsettled Veron, and before you know it, you've got £30m left which you could fritter away on a Ryan Babel, a crocked Owen Hargreaves and a 'when the mood suits me' Nani.

It would be more catastrophic for Liverpool to lose Gerrard than United lose Ronaldo. Simply because, they have more matchwinners than us.
But let's bear in mind, that even WITH those mathwinners, they only pipped us to the title by a few points.
Now with their main man gone, the playing field could more level.

From a general point of view, though, there's almost part of me that hopes football will suddenly implode.
£80m for a footballer and the grotesque wages that go with it that allows Ronaldo spend thousands of pounds a night on Cristal while Paris Hilton masages his nads.
And these are the people we eulogise week in week out. Working class man's game? I hardly think so.
Yet still we keep buying the tickets. The pull of football.
What's the bet that Madrid are still a let-down next season? For all the attacking prowess, they'll probably still be wafer thin at the back and allow another Dossena-type carve them apart.

LIVERPOOL FC - END OF SEASON AWARDS

2009-06-01T15:06:21Z

ALL IN ALL, it was a hugely productive season for Liverpool, but one which ultimately ended in frustration.
So near yet so far to that first title in 19 years.
Still, there are many reasons for optimism that will mean we march into the next campaign with hope in our hearts.
Here, Another Red Letter Day presents its End of Season awards.

DEFENDER OF THE SEASON:

Jamie Carragher

A tough choice this, with Skrtel running Carra close. But Kurgan fell away slightly in the second half of the season after some monster displays in the first half of the campaign.
Carragher might get done for pace more than he used to, but for general consistency there's nobody better.
He seemed to eradicate his strange penalty disease this season, and always put in big performances in the big games.
Ane while the Arbeloa incident was a touch on the unnecessary side, if nothing else, he showed the fire remains in his belly.
Elsewhere, Agger had a stop start season due to injury and specualtion, but he is doubtless a fixture in the Liverpool side for the next five years.
The improvmennt of our full backs as the season wore on was another real tonic.
Both right and left back positions were always problem for us, as we lacked the dashing dynamism which players like Cole, Clichy and Evra supply.
While our boys aren't quite yet on that level, Aurelio stopeed up to the plate in the spring and Arbeloa even decided to venture forward with some positive abandon.
The real find was Insua who, for his 20 years, looks an old head on young shoulders. Comfortable on the ball, sensible at the back, he should start ahead of the Brazilian for me.
The real lowpoint was Dossena. Quite what Rafa saw in this guy beats me. He came to Anfield for £7m, with words like 'Italy's first choice full/back winger' ringing in our ears.
They must be wearing blindfolds in Azzurri land. Clueless would be kind.

MIDFIELDER OF THE SEASON

Xabi Alonso

Again, a hugely difficult choice between two massively talented individuals, Gerrard and Alonso.
Nobody quite expected Xabi Alonso to put in such an impressive season after the speculation surounding Gareth Barry's probably arrival and his own probable departure.
It never worked out for reasons that got fairly tiresome, but Xabi just shrugged off the uncertainty and delivered performances of class, popise, energy and good old fashioned grit.
My criticism of Alonso in the past has related to his refusal to get his boots dirty and get further up the pitch, but he rectified that failing this season.
The passing was, as always, exemplary, but he added a willingness to tackle, score goals and LEAD the team in critical games.
At present, there's continuing speculation as to whether Alonso will remain at Anfield next season. Selling him would be a huge mistake.
Although, with teams willing to pay £20m for his services, the signing of a big money second striker at Liverpool could signal the end.
Basically, Torres, another big name forward, a rampaging Gerrard, Mascherano AND Alonso does not fit, so it will be an interesting few months ahead.

Steven Gerrard could have easily have scooped this award following another peerless season.
It seems pointless to repeat the superlatives all over again. But some stupendous goals, great performances, and a razor-sharp cemented with Torres.
Quite simply, the best midfielder in world football. No, Messi plays up front. I'd still take Gerrard though.

Elsewhere, Riera had a decent enough first season. He had high points combined with some periods of relative indifference.
Certainly, there were high hopes when his debut against Man Utd revealed a jinking clever winger seemingly in his pomp.
Performances against Villa at home, and his scorching strike against PSV Eindhoven were just some of a fair few highlights.
For a clutch of games, however, Riera would disappear. Still, he is the first productive left winger we've had in a good while, and for £7m, he can be satisfied with his contribution to the cause.

Mascherano seemed to struggle in the first half of the season. He wasn't destroying opponents' passing games with as much relish as previously, and his passing was, at times, very lazy.
A second half of the season saw more bite and enthusiasm from the Argie, but fans will be wanting a touch more from the midfielder next time round.

STRIKER OF THE SEASON

No contest this really. Fernando Torres underlined that, when fit, he is the best striker in Europe.
When 100% and free of niggles, he is unplayable. The way he tore into Arsenal and Madrid towards the end of the season was breathtaking.
Just a pity we didn't have him available for more games which may have made all the difference in the hunt for the title.
A rusty Torres, carrying a slight knock, is the one who was shackled by Jagielka in both FA Cup derbies.
The electric Torres is the one who swatted aside Blackburn at home and who made a mockery of Vidic's claim tp being one of the best defender's in Europe.
Peerless.

Striker or right midfielder, special mention must go to Dirk Kuyt who has finally, it seems won over the fans.
Though not in the manner we all had initially wanted.
It seems he can't be the bustling number 9-style striker we crave, but instead has carved a niche as an undroppable right midfielder who creates, scores a few and puts in monumental shifts every game.
The chipped, floated Dirk cross is now a major weapon for Liverpool going forward and playing a centre forward as a right midfielder certainly gives some extra presence in the box.
And his blast against West Brom away shows that the Dutchman still does know how to find the net.
An admirable season's work for Kuyt. From being the first player most wanted to leave Anfield, he is now a must stay.

BIGGEST LET-DOWN

Ryan Babel

A big, big disappointment.
Ryan has quickly turned into a villain in many fans' eyes, not just because of his failure to produce, but because of an attitude which seems to say ' I couldn't give a toss.'
Blessed with obvious pace, and a booming shot, he never puts those talents to any effective use.
Criminally lacking in brains, the Dutchman likes to run straight at brick wall defences, and loves to shield the ball, only to be knocked off by players of Leon Osman-like stature.
It has been said he yearns to play up front, as oppose to the wing, but he's been given opportunities there too, and never taken them.
Goals against Man Utd and PSV away hardly masked a season of frustration, lack of effort and unwillingness.
An expensive mistake.

GOAL OF THE SEASON

Plenty of crackers from Gerrard - his second against Madrid, opener against Everton in the Anfield derby, and his swingingopener against PSV was a goal that defied belief.
Keane's away at Arsenal was a belter, but nothing beats Torres' opener at home to Blackburn.
Carragher's chip into the far corner of the box was unthreatening enough, but the way Torres brought it down on his chest, swivelled mid-air and hooked a dipping 25 yarder into the top corner, from an impossible angle, was Roy of the Rovers stuff.

PERFORMANCE OF THE SEASON

The demolition of Madrid was special, but the Spaniards are always overhyped.
What was more impressive was Liverpool's destruction of Man Utd in their own backyard.
United went one up, but were dealt a body blow not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times by the Red men.
Gerrard and Torres had too much for the supposed best defenders in Europe. It should and could have been 6-1, after some glaring sitters were missed.
And Dossena bagged a pearler. Now, THAT'S when you know it's been one hell of a good day.

BIGGEST VILLAIN

Toss up between Drogba and Ferguson.

How muscular, strapping Drogba has not been shamed about his cheating, feigning injuries, moaning antics beggars belief.
A brute of a man, he writhes on the floor in agony after the merset shoulder barge. Behaviour to make his family proud?
A real shame to see this from a footballer with so much ability.Rolling back onto the pitch at Anfield, when supposedly 'injured' off it, to get the referee to stop the game, took the biscuit.

As for Whisky Nose, it seems his rivalry with Ferguson has reached its height. It all got a little 'kids in the playground' at times, particularly the Allardyce/Fergie ganging up to snitch on Rafa's meaningless hand gesture against Blackburn.
But it was right that someone took Ferguson to task for his constant manipulation of referees, ill-perceived injustices and general bad grace in post match interviews (granted Rafa is tarnished by the same brush on the third charge)
The 'Rafa's cracking up' chants were inevitable, but didn't in my book contribute to Liverpool's downturn in form after our trouncing of Newcastle 5-1.

CHANT OF THE SEASON.

The supposed prodigal Geordie son Alan Shearer sits in the Afield dugout as his team of ageing journeymen are outclassed by a hungry Liverpool side.
'Alan Shearer football geniuns!', rings out from the Kop. Cloesly followed by 'You should have stayed on the telly!'
Closely followed by 15,000 voices singing the Match of the Day ditty. All very amusing.
To be fair to Sheaer he took it well, even emerging onto the touchline with a wry smile towards the Kop.

WEST BROM 0 LIVERPOOL FC 2

2009-05-18T15:41:20Z

I THOUGHT we would have a disinterested air for this game, the league title having been sown up the previous day by United drawing with Arsenal.
But all thoughts of any Liverpool apathy was dispelled by the sight of Carragher and Arbeloa coming to blows in front of baying Albion fans.

On Sunday, the Reds were opened up at the back more than most games this season, a point acknowledged by Carragher in interview.
But a mixture of bad luck on Albion's part and some clinical finishing from Gerrard and Kuyt meant that we secured three points without playing well.
The sight of Carra and Arebloa squaring up (more the centre half bawling at the astonished Spaniard, really) was astonishing.
Carra's post-match explanation about his reaction being provoked by his desire to get Pepe Reina the clean sheet record was a good attempt to hide the truth.
In relaity, Arbeloa was caught napping on a few occasions during the match and was bailed out consistently by the Bootle lad.
One last-ditch block, when Arbeloa was seen gently jogging back to his 18-yard box was particulalry brilliant.
Certainly, Arbeloa needed a bit of a strong word in his ear, but perhaps he didn't need the sight of a frothing Carragher ready to lamp him one.
Still, it showed how much the 31-year-old cares.
It was also good to see Alonso stepping in and having the authority to give Carra a bit of a stern talking to.
A sign of Xabi growing in stature in this Liverpool squad.
For me, Carra's episode was the culmination of disappointment and anger that the Premiership title had slipped him by.
Gerrard still has a few years left to grab that ultimate league title, but time is running out for the defender.
This season, we've maybe seen the first evidence that Carragher has lost a touch of pace than in previous years.
There's strong competition from Skrtel and Agger these days, and it will be an interesting choice for Rafa next year as to exactly who his first choice centre half pairing will be.
The manager willl be wanting to keep Agger onside after his contract palava and Skrtel can be as solid as they come.
That said, Carragher has had a fine season, and should probably remain first choice for at least another 12 months.
He's never been blessed with great pace and his reading of the game can be second to none.

It was good to see Kuyt bag a cracker and an admirable second half of the season for the Dutchman has transformed him, in the fans' eyes, from someone they would quickly sell to a performer they must keep at Anfield.
Lucas also had an efficient game and he deserved a goal with his surge forward, lovely quick feet and a cute dinked finish that slipped the wrong side of the post and deserved more.
He seems to have carved out a decent spoiling midfield role when he's called upon by Liverpool, but the jury remains massively out on him.

This is a crucial summer break for the Reds and a few good buys could make this year's genuine title bid the real thing in 12 months time.
There is still a lot of blinkered opinion circulating among some of our fans. Let's be honest, we didn't quite have enough to pip the Mancs this time round.
We can argue about Torres and Gerrard not playing enough together, but that's why big teams have big in-depth squads.
I don't want to blow any Manc trumpet, but when Berbatov lollops around doing nothing, Rooney is on top of his game.
And when the Crocky lad is moodily having little effect, Tevez is running round like a man possessed.
Sadly for us, when Gerrard and Torres are either not quite fit or off song, you can't really rely on Ngog, Kuyt and Riera to produce consistent match-winning football.

Similarly, Reds are pointing to the reams of luck United have had this season, which I think is wide of the mark.
Certainly, the Spurs penalty was a huge help and the Blackburn game was handed to them on a plate by the ref, but good teams make their own luck.
It should be remembered that Liverpool had their moments of fortune, particulalry at the start of this season, with a welter of last-minute goals and borderline red cars all helping our cause.
It's been far too many home draws which have cost us. Simple as that. You can excuse the odd off day against Boro away, being held by a battling Everton, the 4-4 draw against an Arshavin-inspired Srsenal or even the unust debacle at White Hart Lane.
But stalemates at home to West Ham and Fulham, allowing the now woeful Hull take a point off us at Anfield, two nil nils against Stoke and, probably the worst of the lot, a 1-1 against Wigan at the JJB when we should have torn them to pieces.

As for the continuing bitterness between Rafa and Fergie, which the likes of Lee Dixon alluded to on MOTD2, a league title for United this year doesn't stop Alec from being pretty objectionable.
So, why start cuddling him now?
Yes, they deserve the league title, but it's right to applaud the players, but hardly the manager.
Shall we start praising Drogba and calling them an admirable human being despite his ludicrous behaviour on the field.
Ferguson's collusion with Allardyce recently over a non-existent hand signal was one of the most petty accusations I've seen in many a Premiership year.
Rivalries can be pretty depressing sometimes. Half the flags at Old Trafford for the Arsenal match were about Benitez.
Why can't teams proclaim their teams own brilliance without alluding to their opponents?
Liverpool are as guilty of this sin as any others. Everything seems to be about rubbing the others nose in the dirt.
The fun seems to have evaporated from the game and it's all about malicious point scoring.
On Merseyside its just the same, a point illustrated on a wet afternoon yesterday.
Me and a mate were getting out a car in the West Yard on The Strand to see a bloke, dressed in an EFC kagool, stop in front of a billboard on the railings.
With a look of menace, he stopped and deposited copious amount of spittle on the billboard before walking off.
I wasn't even sure what the billboard was, so I jogged round to see. Ah yes, an advert for the new LFC magazine with a picture of Torres on the front.
Mmmmmmmmm, the love of the game.

WEST HAM 0 LIVERPOOL 3

2009-05-11T11:10:39Z

I HAD this game down as a tricky one in the title challenge run-in.
As it transpired, this was as pleasant a stroll as we've had in many a season down in East London.

The early goals is always a massive help. Liverpool rarely chase a game well, and there's not many better at imposing their superiorty on a game once that all-important first strike goes in.
The Reds had a couple of moments of good fortune at Upton Park, but we were pretty much dominant throughout.
It was good to see the captain back and hitting the straps from the start after his recent lay-off.
When he gallops forward onto a pass beyond the back line, there's few defences in the world that can live with him.
We got our luck for the second goal, Mascherano clearly chopped down Boa Morte only for the referee to get Norwegian referee syndrome.
A simple shift of the ball upfield, a cute dink from Yossi and a pretty non-existent shove from the Portuguese handed us a fortuitous spot kick.
As great as Torres is, he does have tendency to go down easily. Still, so do most forwards these days.
The third piece of look in this passage of play came with Rob Green's cracking save from the resulting Gerrard penalty.
Hard lines on the keeper that his strong right hand saw the ball ricochet the other way and present Gerrard with a tap-in.
From that moment, the game became a procession for Liverpool and a pretty drab spectacle for the neutral.
There was still time for comedy though. Carragher wafted a clearance at thin air, allowing Di Michaele a free run on Reina.
A swivel of the hips to take out Pepe was brilliant, a slip and fall to the ground with a gaping goal in front was not.
An appeal to the referee for a penalty was naughty.
The second half was a non-event, bar Ryan Babel's tap-in after Green had parried his header.
Credit though to Liverpool for strolling through a tricky away fixture. West Ham have become a competent side under Zola, so to dispatch them with such efficiency showed Liverpool's growing authority in the Premier League.

Fast forward 24 hours, and Man Utd's inevitable win against a toothless Man City pretty much wrapped up the title for them.
Four points required from Wigan away, Arsenal at home and Hull away is guaranteed, surely.
Arsenal look despondent after their Champions League embarrassment at the Emirates, Hull are in freefall and Wigan have got the beach towels out already.
It's been a commendable showing from Liverpool in the Premiership, but in our heart of hearts, we know we've thrown it away.
Fans may have lambasted the gloom merchants who ranted and raved about dropped points against Fulham, Hull, Wigan and others, but they were right.
Those draws may have taken place four, five, six months ago, but they were critical.
I can almost accept the odd bad day at the office - Boro away, Man City at home, a draw against a tigerish Everton, the White Hart Lane headscratcher.
But less forgivable were the games where we bossed inferior opponents only to be pegged back to draws through a mixture of a lack of enterprise, postitivity, ambition, desire and skill.
The draw away to Wigan was appalling, as were the stalemates against Fulham, Hull, West Ham.
Even the 1-1 draw at the Emirates, in most cases a good result, was poor seeing as we had a man advantage for a long period in the second half.
We were in charge of that game and yet we seemed content to stroll to a point. It all comes back to haunt you.

New players? It seems accepted that Liverpool need another top class striker to take the weight of Torres.
And a right winger is important to stretch teams on that side and perhaps a dashing full back, although it's been a good second half of the season for Arbeloa, Auerlio and Insua that suggests we could finally have found sufficient quality in those areas.
Tevez seems a perfect Liverpool player to me. Great attitude, Kuyt-like workrate, skill, energy, an ability to score goals.....
Gareth Barry? A great player, doubtless, but do we really need a player, nearing 30, now that Riera has proved himself a relative success as a left winger in his first season, and given we have three outstanding centrral midfielders at the club?
A word here for Xabi Alonso, who has been head and shoulders Liverpool's best player all season.
The Spaniard has added grit, a willingness to tackle and desire to get forward to his already obvious abilities.
People talk of Silva from Spain, but it's the right hand side where we need pace. Lennon is the answer.
Searing pace, a genuine wide man, and his crossing is getting better.

Ok. So these are two players who will cost a fair bit of dough for a club who isn't exactly got bundles of cash to spend.
But with £7m for the woeful Babel, £5 for Dossena, a similar amount for Lucas (£4m Voronin?) will recoup some funds.
Kuyt is an almost certain stayer after an excellent second half of the season and Benayoun has proved he is a Liverpool player through and through with his efforts in the last five months.
I've heard talk from some Reds of how we should bid for Haangerland from Fulham to replace Hyypia, but with three top class centre halves already, that would seem a pointless buy.

Still, we get ahead of oursleves. Three games to play and a miracle could still befall us in the league.
But don't bet on it.
All that remains is to hope Barcelona turn up in Rome, Everton raise their game to see off the dignity of Droga, Ballack and Co and Middlesborough do down and England win the Ashes.

A BLACK CLASSIC

2009-04-24T20:27:02Z

WHAT a game.
Tuesday's match against Arsenal will surely go down as one of the greatest in recent Premiership history.
But for Liverpool it was a damaging result.

Strangely, despite conceding four goals and drawing against an under-strength Arsenal team, I've only got admiration for the boys.
We've been waiing for this cavalier attacking play for months, and now that we've got it, it's time to savour it.
Of course, conceding four goals wasn't part of the bargain.
But, it's hard to castigate usually mistake-free, solid players and a spate of wonder finishing from a hugely gifted Russian.
It was just one of those crazy evenings when errors were capatalised on and punished to maximum effect.
Yes, Arbeloa dawdled on the ball for Arshavin's second, but the midfielder still had loads to do before piledriving one into the bottom corner.
Similarly, Mascherano is often the most sensible and professional of players, and the times he'll get caught in possession is rare.
Still, Arsenal had much to pick through before Arshavin plonked the ball into the roof of the net.
It's not really been highlighted, but the way Gooners manouevred the ball from Nasri to Fabregas, a cute round the corner ball to beat the offside trap, before squaring for the Russian was majestic, and would have defeated most defences.
Aurelio's gaffe, granted, was a poor one, but there was nodody to blame for Arsenal's fourth.
We were having to push up, and the devatating pace of Walcott and Arshavin's lung busting support run was too much.
Why has it got to be blame all the time, too? Sometimes, you've got to hold your hand up to fine attacking play.

For many, the question seems to be, why have we suddenly lost our defensive solidity even though we have suddenly learnt how to score goals?
But, other than four isolated moments, Reina hardly had a save to make. Sometimes, these kamikaze games just happen.
Ask Man Utd. Solid as a rock all season, we go to Old Trafford and wallop four past them, and in truth, it could have been six.
It was great to see Yossi coming to the fore. A great little player who deserves a couple more seasons at Liverpool, and more time off the bench.
He was a constant menace, with an appetite that would embarass the rapping, on the street, Ryan Babel.
The courage he showed for the second goal with flying boot to his face was commendable.
And he, Kuyt and Torres formed a potent front three.

A word for Kuyt here. As limited as the Dutchman sometimes is, he warms the cockles of your heart.
What a trier. A spot on dinked ball for Torres' header and a lovely curved delivery that Yossi bravely snapped up.
From week to week, my opinion on Dirk changes. At present, I want him to stay. Next week I'll be saing something different.

It's interesting that with Gerrard out the side, Liverpool have bagged 12 goals in three games.
A theory I have often put forward is that the absence of the great man makes other players come out of their shell.
Suddenly, Riera know he's got to get his finger our. Yossi probably benefits massively as the area behind Torres which Gerrard patrols is now his territory.
But most of all, Alonso is able to shine. The Spaniard has been exemplary in the last three games.
It's almost as if he steps up to the plate when the skipper is gone and everything is chanelled through his brain and wonderfully precise right passing boot.

As for Torres, his finishing and nose for a goal is just phenomenal. He just hunts down goals and is by a street the best striker in the Premiership.
As has been said, if we had him fit for more games, maybe some of those frustrating draws may have been turned into victories.

Onto the title, Tuesday's result is a big sucker-punch, and I can't really see United dropping a potential six points, but as Arsenal have shown, all games are tough and any result is possible.
Man Utd still have three tough home fixtures in Arsenal, Man City and Spurs at Old Trafford, so a couple of draws might let Liverpool back in.
Here's praying.

THE AGONY...THE ECSTACY

2009-04-06T07:30:18Z

IT WAS almost the perfect weekend.
Three points at a tough Craven Cottage with a last-gasp winner and Man Utd being held at home by Villa.
Sadly, it wasn't to be.
Hard to complain when we ourselves dragged victory from the jaws of a stalemate, but Sunday's result in Manchester has left us all a little flat.
But there's surely got to be more twists and turns and points dropped by all in this heady title race.

Damn that 17-year-old Italian Rican kid.
One point ahead having played a game more seems infinitely preferrable to being a point behind having played a game more.
United have been jittery and short on confidence of late, so any regained momentum and confidence on their part is worrying.
Plus, the big guns could be on their way back for them.
Still, a scraped 3-2 win against Villa, who we dispatched 5-0 the rpevious week demonstrate there's only one team who is bang in form.
And it's not them.
Looking back on Saturday, it's safe to say that without Yossi's dramatic winner, the title was gone.
You've got to love the little man. Regulalry left out and not given the run in the side that perhaps his quality deserves, his attitude is exemplary.
His desire to make an impact is a lesson to many others, Babel for example, who gave another indifferent cameo.
The Dutchman got plenty of the ball when coming on, yet seemed intent to make Insua do all the spadework from the byline.

The match was like Spurs at White Hart Lane, all over again.
We were playing half decent, and smacking post and bar with abandon.
All we needed was a bit of luck to our way, but we weren't getting it.
Dossena was in the thick of it, but the Italian still isn't convincing for me, surely a quality player would have buried that header?
Selection-wise, it was the line-up most people expected, other than dropping Riera to the bench in favour of Dossena.
The Spaniard was electric against Villa so that was strange one.
There were decent showings all over the pitch, Gerrard was effective without being brilliant, Lucas was winning a lot of second balls and Alonso largely dictated the pace of the game.
It was one of Kuyt more ineffectual games and Torres hitting the post aside, he wasn't getting a great amount of joy.
It was good to see Insua back and the lad looks a real prospect, although with Aurelio playing well now, the left back slot could belong to anybody.

The celebrations at the end went on for ages and you could still hear the 'We're Gonna Win the League' chants on the Setanta coverage for a good 20 minutes after the final whistle.
A 2-2 at Old Trafford just would have been nice.
But as it has been pointed out, the form remains with Liverpool.

IT'S DEFINITELY ON

2009-03-23T00:16:05Z

What a difference a couple of weeks makes.
Last weekend's drubbing of Man Utd was seen by many as a sweet postscript to a league campaign of so many what-might-have-beens.
Fast forward seven days, a Fulham win over the Mancs here, a routing of Villa by a rampant Liverpool there, and suddenly the title race is back in the mix.

There is not better time to be coming into form. Just when Man Utd suddenly look fallible, the Reds are playing better than they have done all season.
Even after United lost to Fulham, I wasn't overly confident of beating Villa, so often have we dropped points at Anfield this term.
But there was confidence buzzing thoughout the side. And what a massive difference the early goal makes.
Wonderfully, it wasn't Torres who we had to thank for Sunday's mauling of Villa. And despite Gerrard's hat-trick, he wasn't even close to being the best player on show.
Seeing Kuyt and Riera and Arbeloa star as our best three players yesterday was as heart-warming as anything for me.
Torres and Gerrard can't fire all the time, so it's essential that the supporting cast weigh in with important contributions to help them out.
The Dutchman, and two unsung Spaniards were outstanding.
Riera in particular is a maverick sort of player. His early season good form had been lost of late, and Benayoun's recent performances had almost pushed the Israeli ahead of him in the pecking order.
He was a constant thorn in the Villa rearguard, that languid drifting gait tying Reo-Coker in knots.
His strike for the second goal was outstanding, and it was great to see him sniffing for the goals almost like a centre forward.
Riera should be encouraged to attack the full back more often as he's a joy to watch when on song like this.
The tumble to win the penalty may have been a bit soft on Villa's part, but it was equally savvy by the Spaniard.
And the wing play he showed to almost set up Lucas late on was the kind of assist of which Babel can only dream.

It was also a cracking day for workhorse Kuyt. Thsi time, however, there was class and quality to go with the effort.
The first goal was one he'd be expected to take, but it was slammed home with all the confidence of a striker in form.
And the 60 yard ball to Riera for the third was a pass straight from the Xabi Alonso textbook.
Keep Kuyt or get rid of him? Mine and everyone else's opinion seems to differ from one week to the next.
But when he's on song, there are few players in the Premiership more invaluable than the Dutchman.

Onto Arbeloa, I thought he was outstanding. A brick wall in defence, he covered brilliantly for his centre halves and is quite possibly turning into the attacking full back we've needed for so long at Anfield.
He seems to have been left off the leash by Benitez and he was constantly jinking into the box on the right hand side.
It's taken a long time coming, but with a fit Aurelio and a learning Arebloa, Liverpool may finally be developing two full backs who could be a fixture in the side for a good many years.
And against deep-lying defensive-minded opponents, these sort of players are crucial to make chances.

Torres, God bless him, was out of sorts. His touch was off, understanding with Gerrard skewed and his forward runs difficult to predict sometimes.
Still, we'll forgive him after his match-winning performance in Manchester last week.
And it hardly mattered, with the two wide men playing so well and Gerrard prowling like a cougar.
When Liverpool purr like this - Mascherano killing anything that moves, Alonso picking holes in the tightest of defences, and Gerrard having licence to link up with Torres, they are a match for anyone.
And all this without Liverpool's best player in the last two months, Benayoun soon to come back into the fold.
Who knows? Even Babel might decide that this attacking football lark is actually something to get amongst.

Liverpool are giving themselves a chance. Confidence is everything in football and United do look rattled.
It's just a shame we've got a fortnight break as the momentum is very much with Liverpool at present.
Still, with Vidic out for another game, Scholes out for three, and Rooney one, they are some key personnel down.
And their run-in looks a touch tougher than ours with Spurs, Arsenal and Man City all to play them at Old Trafford.
The table shows us one point behind having played a game more which makes us definite underdogs.
But at squeaky bum time, when results can go either way, with teams scrapping and fighting for every available point, it could be a close run thing.
Doesn't it feel great to be approaching April and to be in with a real shout at landing the title?

'WE WANT NUMBER 5!'

2009-03-14T21:49:26Z

It's a song we could have hardly imagined we'd have been singing at Old Trafford.
But we were.
Man United were mauled in their own backyard.

Rooney and Co just didn't know what hit them today.
Four goals scored against supposedly the meanest defence in the Premiership, even after we gave them a headstart.
It seemed like the same old story early on. We had settled well after a slighty anxious opening, and if anything, we just about had the upper hand.
The, Reina had a rush of blood to the head and handed United a goal on a plate.
That was one of the things that pissed me off with expert's view of the game. Everyone talked about Vidic's calamaties, Evra's too.
But Reina's walkabout was just as disastrous. And yet the pundits barely alluded to it. It was a gift goal. Park was going nowhere, and if Pepe stayed on his line, there was no real danger.
The spot kick being duly dispatched by Gel Head, past years Liverpool would have seen Liverpool fold at this point.
Not so this this season, and Torres was harrying the hapless Vidic to an error which was finished with majestic coolness.
Torres, like on Tuesday, was outstanding again and his pace had the Sebian and Ferdinand in knots all afternoon.
It takes a special type of character to draw level after going behind at Old Trafford. It takes more of that character to then grab the lead.
It was a lung-busting run from Gerrard and cute measured ball from Torres which secured that, and there was absolutely no argument about the penalty award.
People say the skipper goes missing at Old Trafford. Well, he didn't do so today.

Obviously, Torres and Gerrard were stars of the show for Liverpool, but they were helped by strong performances all across the park.
Only Riera let us down and was rightly subbed for a nothing display of misplaced passes and a general indifference towards the game.
Even the much maligned Lucas was pretty effective. The Brazllian does have a talent for stopping more creative teams from playing, with a decent ability to read the game and nip in front of an attacker to win the ball.
Him and Mascherano were a nightmare for Man Utd's usual silky midfield. Carrick, in particular, was shocking.
Put that down to our two South Americans.
Onto left back, and Aurelio is starting to win me over. It's taken me a couple of years to be convinced by the Brazlian, but he is starting to look like a player of class now.
Not just because of the 25-yard free kick either. He is assured on the ball, joins the attack well and his defending is growing ever more dependable.
If we keep him fit, that problem position could just be solved.

Putting Carragher on the right, due to Arbeloa's late knock, is never ideal, but Jamie was as professional as ever.
And you've got to take your hat off to Hyppia for putting in a commanding performance on 10 minutes notice.
Years of unstinting service to the Reds and £23,000 out of his own pocket to Arrowe Park's new Ronald McDonald House to boot. The Finn deserves a well-attended testimonial.
As for Kuyt. Yes, sometimes he's not got the class a Liverpool player needs, but he's vital in these games when you need midfield players working their socks off to frustrate top class opponents of the calibre of Ronaldo and Rooney.
The shift he put in was staggering.

It's about time we gave them a pasting, as we've been unlucky in recent years after outplaying them at Anfield.
Typical of Alec Ferguson to state they were the better team after the match. Sheer nonsence.
You were out played, out-muscled, out-thought, Alec. How about a magnanimous Fergie for once? Never going to happen.
It could have been even worse for Man Utd. Had Gerrard had scored when he blazed over from Babel's backheel, and if El Zhar had simply squared for Babel late on, Liverpool would have notched six.
As it was we had to settle for sumptous Dossena chip to send us into escstacy. Two in two for Big Doss.
His celebrations are quite amusing. He doesn't know what to do.

If only we hadn't frittered those away against Stoke, Wigan, Fulham and West Ham - even forgetting about Middlesborough and the derby.
But this is a time for satisfaction. Oh, the irony of Reds fans singing 'Rafa's cracking up' to the stunned Stretford End.
Cheers to you all.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

2009-03-11T08:20:00Z

You can be certain it's been a good night for Liverpool when much-maligned full back Andrea Dossena sprints 60 yards to get into the box, controls and fires into the net of the best keeper in the world with aplomb.

Liverpool were in the groove from the start.
Torres seemed reborn from previous displays. And this was a man who was unlikely to start due to an ankle injury.
Maybe playing his old Madrid foes fired him up, but he showed the form of last season as he terrorised their well-established back four.
The backheel turn early in the game that left Cannavaro for dead was stunning and his whippet-like pace seemed to be back.
This was a snarling hungry Torres, berating the demoralised Heinze and proving his status as best striker in Europe.
Just behind him was Gerrard who once again showed that there is perhaps no parallel in world football when he is on song.
The technique showed for his second goal was exemplary and the Madrid midfield and defence didn't know how to handle him.
It was no exaggeration that Liverpool could have bagged seven goals, and the only thing that stopped him was the brilliance of Casillas.
I felt sorry for the keeper, he almost had tears in his eyes as the fourth goal went in.
He must have produced five brilliant saves, the tip over from Mascherano outstanding, yet he still picked the ball out his net four times.
He does not deserve his teammates.

It seems unfair to pick out individuals as every Reds player produced an excellent showing.
Mascherano was back to his snapping best following an indifferent couple of months. It must be a nightmare to play against him in this mood.
His celebrations for Dossena's goal was worth noting too. It was like we'd won the European Cup again.
He even managed to get booked for a Xabi Alonso tackle. The Argie really was everywhere.
Ryan Babel, rightly the source of fans' anger in recent weeks for some disinterested displays, bought into the party mood.
He showed regular flashes of his abundant talent here, skinning the full back for Gerrard's second and delivering a perfect cross for the skipper to crash home.
Bottle that Ryan, and serve it up again. You've whizzed past defenders of the supposed class of Pepe, Cannavaro and Heinze.
The pace, the ball control, the shot is all there. It's just the attitude and desire that needs to be maintained.
Kuyt offed up another excellent display, being involved in most good things that Liverpool produced.
And as Clive Tyldsley rightly pointed out, there were two worthy Liverpool full backs on view - with a run of games under his belt, Aurelio is looking more and more assured.
And Arbeloa seems to have added a willingness to attack to his game that, allied to his defensive work, makes him more than a decent player.

So how much was this Liverpool brilliance and Real Madrid blunder? Like always, a bit of both.
But this kind of exhilarating attacking play would have bowled over better teams than Madrid.
It just shows what can happen when you go for the throat from the start, not just after 70 minutes.
But then, it also helps to be able to select your first choice side.
It's only when a couple of key individuals are missing that the Reds struggle. It's the quality in the squad that we need to address.
If Torres had not been fit, it almost certainly would have been Ngog up front for this game. That's when the holes start to appear.

We could talk about the ineptitude of Madrid and the lack of fight in players like Robben, Snieder and Gago, but that would be cruel on Liverpool.
This was the sort of Anfield display that would have left the best sides in Europe on their knees.
It just shows what can be achieved when a cautious approach is dropped in favour of ambitious attacking football.
The pundits believed that the Reds were the ones who would be sitting back, protecting their one goal lead.
Not a bit of it. This is the way to win matches.

IF WE DID THAT AGAINST STOKE...

2009-03-04T21:21:15Z

IT'S BEEN a while since a league home game at Anfield has been looked forward to with such little anticipation.
Defeat to Middlesborough, following on from the draw against Man City the week before, had knocked all the fight of every fan alike, it seemed.

With Man Utd now having found top form, the league has been officially conceded.
In truth, we waved the white flag long ago, around the time of the 1-1 draw at home to Everton.
But at least we got back to winning ways on Tuesday night, and managed to put away a deep-lying mid-table side, a feat which we have struggled with this season.
It wasn't a game to salivate over. The first half basically summed up why Liverpool have had problems in the Premiership, particularly at home.
Plenty of possession, passing from side to side, but no real penetration.
There couldn't be too many gripes with the formation or team selection, for me, bearing in mind injuries.
Even Mascherano at right back made sense. Without Arbeloa, and Carragher's growing reluctance to play in the position, the Argie was the natural choice.
I thought he did fairly well and didn't particularly hinder us.
The Latin captain is quick, loves a tackle and is willing to receive the ball.
On the left, it was good to see Insua back and he seemed to carry on just as he left before the Copa America U-19 tournoi, or whatever it is, beckoned.
The lad is positive, and defends and attacks with a gusto that puts the Dossenas of this world to shame.
His decision making appears sound to.
Gerrard looked short of fitness in the first half, and was not the huge presence he tends to be for us.
But he still produced the first moment of class, his sideways header for Ngog's goal the sign of a top quality player.
I know I'm an Alonso griper, but yesterday was another of those games where he was prepared to let others break down a stubborn defence.
After an excellent first half to the season, he's regressing again for me.
In these difficult times, we want out senior, better players to step up to the plate.

Riera's an interesting one. The winger certainly has something, and so far, his buy has been a relative success.
The way he beat the full back for the first goal and found Gerrard's forehead showed quality, but he needs to do it more often.
The Spaniard has been worryingly inconsistent of late.
And it's pleasing to see our player of the moment Benayoun rewarded with almost a full game. He responded with a Man of the Match display.
The Israeli must have been baffled to be omitted against Boro after his fine performance in the Bernabeu.
But then baffling selections have not been uncommon this year.
It's time to give Yossi a starting place for the rest of the season, he's one of our few players who has invention and creativity, and, carries a genuine goal threat.

It would have been interesting to see how Liverpool and the crowd would have responded had Kenwyne Jones accepted the gilt-edged chance that came his way in the first half.
It was brilliant play to manoeuvre Carragher then slip Skrtel for pace, but his finish had Bottler written all over it.
Still, he missed and Ngog had his chance to take centre stage and he was in the right place to tap in the first goal.
I think all of us would have fancied that one, mind.
Kuyt did what Kuyt does, having plenty of the ball, being busy as a bee, and causing mild concern for the Sunderland back line on occasion.

A regulation three points, but the paucity of attacking options on the bench (Babel doesn't count as an option anymore, I'd prefer Ferri) shows how there's a lot of players who could be shipped out in the summer and a lot coming in.
But bringing in personnel doesn't necessarily mean they'll be the right personnel.
For every Skrtel, Agger, Riera(possibly), there's a Dossena, Degen, Babel, Gonzalez and Lucas.
A point came to me the other day that, looking at our available strikers in Torres' absence - Kuyt, Ngog, Voronin - I'd still much rather have the outcasts of Bellamy, Crouch and even Cisse (he's had a relatively successful time with Sunderland) in this Liverpool squad.
Quite a sobering view that.

TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY

2009-02-25T22:20:15Z

IF EVER there was a recipe for a dire night in Europe, tonight was it.
Struggling to keep in touch with Man Utd in the Premiership, rumours about Rafa's job sweeping the city.
But then this is Liverpool. And a 1-0 win at the Bernabeu cauldron against a bang in form Real Madrid side, when the rest of the world is sniping, is pretty much par for the course for us.

Going into this game, not many were holding out a huge amount of hope.
Madrid had bagged 10 goals in two games, and Liverpool were struggling to score a goal more than once a game.
What we got was a perfect European away performance from the Reds.
Yes, the Spanish outfit were poor, but credit more Liverpool for suffocating the life out of talented players to the point where they had no clue how to break down a well-drilled English side.
The goal by Yossi was a huge bonus, and in truth, if we'd have shown a little bit more adventure there was at least another goal there for the taking.
The Israeli was one of Liverpool best players, and it was heartwarming to see a player with genuine skill and attacking verve being allowed to express himself.
Play Yossi in a central, floating role and he has the talent to do damage. He wasn't known for his heading, mind.
Also putting in an excellent shift was Aurelio who was solid in defence and looked cultured when going forward.
Why we needed to shell out £7 odd million for Dossena when we had the Brazilian and the emerging Insua is a tough one.

As usual, Carragher and Skrtel were excellent and Arbeloa always looks professionally sound in these type of games.
Mascherano, not having to creatively probe as he sometimes has to do at Anfield, loved the battle in the middle of the field, and Kuyt always did the right thing, although his goalscoring edge is pretty blunt these days.
Alonso, for me, was a shade disappointing. With Gerrard missing we needed the Spaniard to dominate, but he didn't demand reponsibility enough which would befit a player of his class.
Torres was off the pace, but we'll put that down to the knock he got on his ankle early on.

In an attacking sense, we didn't create many clear-cut opportunities, other than Torres drawing a save from Casillas.
There were plenty of promising breaks and situations on the edge of the box when a lack of incisiveness was apparent.
Not that this Madrid side was anything special. Still playing grandads Raul and Guti? An ex Portsmouth centre mid, Man Utd reject ageing left back, a hugely overrated centre half in Pepe and temperamental winger in Robben. What were we concerned about?
The Dutchman was the only one who caused us problems and we kept him fairly well in check.

A word must also be said about the diabolical refereeing which Liverpool endured. It was farcical at times, and thankfully there were no big decisions which would have swayed the game.
The bookings handed out to our players were laughable. Mascherano won a great tackle, but saw yellow.
Riera put his hands up instinctively to protect his face, and saw yellow for deliberate handball.
Pepe was screaming and rolling around in the first few minutes after a nothing brush with Torres.
Heinze gave it the agonising looks after being blown on, and Robben was clutching everything bar his knackers after every slight shove or prod.
It's gone beyond a joke and referees need to wise up to the conniving, cheating, simulating tactics of foreign footballers.
Even the foreign stars of the English clubs don't do it once they come to the Premiership.
They see it for what it is. Laughable.

As alluded to, the game was played against backdrop of rumours about Rafa's future which made the result all the more impressive.
Jamie Carragher brushed off the talk in interview in typically jokey fashion, a refreshing honesty to everything he said.
There's no inside information here, other than to say I can't see Liverpool putting a performance in like that, with a visibly passionate manager on the touchline still patently caring, if he was on the brink of leaving.
It's a game of cat and mouse which the Spaniard is playing well, but the world gets too easily swayed into believing everything they read on a mate's text, or a trigger happy internet forum.
'I've got a source whose close to Sammy Lee, who says....."
Yeah, whatever.

There's no doubt the result is a shot in the arm for a season that was in danger of heading for the knackers yard, in terms of trophies at least.
The league is looking like a forlorn hope, but the wily Liverpool are tailor made for Europe, a competition in which just two or three class players, coupled with a huge work rate, iron defence and painstaking organisation can easily make you champions of the continent.

BEWILDERMENT TO JOY

2009-02-08T18:37:30Z

THERE were two emotions uppermost in my mind moments after having watched Liverpool snatch an improbable victory from the jaws of defeat at Portsmouth.
Elation that we had managed to secure three crucial points in such dramatic, kamikaze circumstances.
But frustration and anger that loyal fans were being forced to try and understand the inexplicability of one of the most baffling Liverpool starting elevens, and its resulting formation, in years.

It's safe to say that most Reds supporters would have been astonished to pick up the Liverpool teamsheet at 5pm on Saturday evening.
Even accounting for 120 minutes of football played on Wednesday night against Everton, and the likelehood of some tired legs, none of us were prepared for this.
To add to a crocked Gerrard and a suspended Lucas (I can hear your sigh of relief from here)Torres, Kuyt, Riera, Alonso. All out.
Instead, Auerlio playing in central midfield and an alien wing back/three centre halves system for a must-win game.
The attacking instincts of Dossena (!?!) might be suited to that, but Arbeloa as a marauding right wing back?
Added to this, we had to contemplate an almost embarrassed-looking 19-year-old Ngog on his own up front, together with perhaps one of most infuriating players to wear a Red shirt in a long time - Ryan Babel.
It was bizarre. And the fact that we eventually bagged the three points, was no thanks to any tactical masterstroke on the manager's behalf.
Even though we don't need a smug Tim Sherwood to tell us so, he was correct as he sat in his studio and questioned Liverpool's ability to overhaul Man Utd with some of the mediocre personnel at Anfield and the strange decisions being made almost routinely now from the Spanish hotseat.

The system looked ok-ish in the first half, as Liverpool largely controlled the game, fashioned a few half-decent openings without really putting Portsmouth under serious pressure.
Tale of our last seven or eight matches, really.
Aurelio held his own in the middle, Dossena got forward, Arbeloa didn't, and the game passed poor Ngog who had a bemused expression on his teenage face.
We went behind largely due to a nice cute ball from Crouch to Nugent and a sound finish from the Huyton lad which Reina should have perhaps have done better with.
Rafa in his press conference bemoaned 'two defensive errors' as the root of our woes in this game, but that was masking the ineffectual nature of our general play.
It just didn't make sense to employ such a vastly-different system in a vitally-important game.
A midfield of Mascherano, Benayoun, Aurelio, with Babel playing of Ngog was hard to fathom and accept.
The one positive was that it allowed the Israeli a starting place in order to once again show he could be a key player in the title run-in.
He was Liverpool's man of the match, and continued demonstrating the positive form he displayed at Goodison on Wednesday.
He looks inventive when he is allowed to drift around, and the quality of his cross for Torres' winner can't be under-estimated.
When Yossi is up for the fight, he's offers something a little bit different, that bit of class and vision, over and above the welter of steady eddies in our side.
Babel was again predictably anonyomous, his performance further highlighting why our brows were creased when Rafa name-checked the Dutchman as a reason why Keane's departure wouldn't be crucial.
Obviously, publicly Rafa must encourage his players, but if he isn't becoming exasperated by the lack of product from our £11m signing, he is seeing something that thousands of us aren't.
As for the Ngog experiment, that must be put to bed and never happen again. The lad doesn't look ready for reserve football, let alone one of Liverpool's most important six months in a long time.

Thank God for Crouchy to throw us a lifeline. His suicidal back pass put James in all sorts of trouble, and as a mate pointed out, the keeper should have seen red as without his handling Kuyt would have scored.
It is Kuyt though, and I suppose the ref was thinking nothing is certain finishing-wise with the Dutchman.
Jokes aside though, hats off to Dirk for putting in an inspired 30 minutes that helped turn the game for us.
He rolled up his sleeves and dragged us out the mire. First he set up a open goal tap-in for Babel which he proceeded to miss (worse than Rosenthal's for me, that), then he brought us level with an almost impossible thunderous strike that left James with no answers.
And he may have scored another if he hadn't of been wrongly flagged for offside when through on goal.
He's a difficult one is Kuyt. In the fans eyes, he's gone from hopeless, to undroppable as a team player, to ineffectual in recent weeks.
Last night, he once again upped the ante and won his way back into our affections again.

As for Torres, the pace has not quite returned, but there's nothing wrong with his heading on recent evidence.
The way those neck muscles twisted to bullet that header even left a fantastic shot stopper like David James only able to push it into the roof of the net.
It was hard to understand why Torres, Kuyt, Riera and Alonso ALL had to be rested for the game.
The better way, surely, would have been to start with the big guns and then withdraw them with the points sown up.
Particularly owing to how poor Portsmouth had been playing, and how poorly they DID play on Saturday.
These are professional footballers who must be capable of playing a football match two days after the previous one, even if that FA Cup game across Stabley Park did last for two hours.
And if playing a few slightly jaded top quality players means you can avoid massively re-working your team set-up and formation, that would seem hugely preferrable to an alternative that sees Aurelio as our main playmaker and Arbeloa instructed to dribble to the byline and swing over invitations for a teenage boy who has scored one goal in his Liverpool career.
The Ngog move is probably the most baffling for me. If he is going to be used in our title run-in, the portents aren't good.
It's not the lad's fault as he's only starting out in the world of football, but are we seriously saying he can be the attacking focal point of a side trying to win the toughest league in the world?
Surely, even bringing Voronin back from Hertha Berlin is a better options than this?
Granted the rotund Ukranian has no real future at Anfield, but he knows where the goal is, despite having next to no pace, and would contribute more than a perplexed 19-year-old French kid, or a nonplussed and young Dutch winger cum centre forward for that matter.
If we are relying on those two as serious alternatives to Torres and his dodgy hamstrings, it doesn't bear thinking about.

So why did Rafa employ that nonsensical formation? Is the manager trying to persist with clearly ailing players, and adopt unexpected formations, to prove a point some kind of point to his detractors?
'My questionable buys WILL work, and I will SHOW YOU that they WILL work.'
Perhaps that explains the continual selections of his favourites Kuyt and Lucas, and persistance with struggling mavericks like Babel.
But if that policy starts impacting on results and ultimately wrecks Liverpool's best title shout for many a year, that's another matter.

As I write, Man Utd have just picked their way through a potentially tricky away game against a vastly-improving West Ham side.
I really thought they may have slipped there. But the evergreen Giggs provided the one moment of quality to win the game.
And that's the difference, a flash of brilliance from certain individuals to grab those precious three points.
It was the driving run of Carrick the week before last that won the penalty that dispatched a battling Everton side.
Have Liverpool got the same number of match-winners who will step up to the plate? Other than Torres and Gerrard, who's going to win us games?

In the end, we got the three points, and Rafa's team selection was given a lifeline by the big guns and some generous Pompey defending.
But, it's all so head-scrathingly bizarre.

WHY THE KEANE SAGA IS UNFATHOMABLE

2009-02-03T20:28:25Z

And so Robbie Keane moves back to Spurs to complete one of the most bizarre, frustrating and downright puzzling Anfield transfer sagas in a long time.
But has Benitez got this one right?

TRYING to understand Rafa's mind sometimes is like trying to wade through the thickest of mud.
Many commentators have offered opinions on the well-trodden Keane saga, but not one has managed to produce a reasonable account that would explain the manager's rationale.
If there's one person who has emerged out of this sorry affair with head held high, it is Robbie Keane.
Straight-batting and tight-lipped throughout, he never resorted to speaking about being shabbily treated, his behaviour was an absolute credit to him.
I read Rafa's comments in the Echo last night about why he HAD to sell Keane, but I was still none the wiser.
It all adds up to the conclusion that we are not being told something.

For a team having their first realistic shot at a Premiership title in years, it seems strange to sell on one of your top strikers.
Particularly as our major undoing in recent weeks has not been our defending, but our inability to score more than one goal a game, or rather, someone score a goal other than Gerrard or Torres.
Why sell Keane now? Why not wait until the summer? He'll still be coveted then and Spurs will doubtless be waving silly sums of money around again.
It's seems hard to escape the fact that Liverpool are now seriously bereft of genuine attacking options.
Ryan Babel has spent the last couple of months angering Reds fans with his apathy on the pitch, lack of any tangible end product and general air of indifference.
He is barely worth a place on the bench, let alone a starting place.
Ngog may have pace, but is miles way from first team standard.
Which leaves Kuyt, an admirable professional who has fashioned a right midfield slot for himself by virtue of the fact that he has nose bleeds in front of goal.
Added to that, Torres is showing himself to be more and more susceptible to hamstring problems that dogs strikers with great pace.
What happens if El Nino gets crocked again? Do we summon back The Tank from Hertha Berlin?

People say Keane's market value would have dropped significantly in the summer to something round the £10m mark, as at 29-ish he only has a few years left, so the chance to recoup most of our iniial outlay had to be taken when the money was on the table down in London.
Perhaps.
But why not bring a striker of note into the squad into the transfer window to compensate for our lack of strikign options?
Even a Heskey for £3.5m would have given us another option up front as he is already proving for Villa.

It's just all very strange. Benitez is persisting with the big money signings of Babels and Lucas' of this world despite below par showings, yet he can't do the same for Keane.
And Keane has actually had some decent moments for the club amongst some proper howlers.
For the misses against Preston, Bolton, Villa and the anonymous performance against Everton at Anfield, there were clincal double strikes against West Brom and Bolton, a man of the match showing against PSV away, some decent assists as in the derby at Goodison, and during the games he didn't deliver, he still put in impressive 100% workrate.
Kuyt gets the plaudits for just doing the latter and nothing else every game.

Some people claim Keane has been shocking, I don't agree. He's been definitely disappointing at times, and below what a £20m should deliver, but a player, particularly a striker, needs time to settle.
Look at Henry at Arsenal. How long was Crouch given to settle at Anfield when he couldn't hit a barn door?
The general consensus is that Rafa didn't want Keane, but Parry did, and the chief executive got his way.
Maybe this is true. But surely Rafa must have had some sort of keeness (pardon the pun) for the Irishman?
Otherwise, we are faced trying to comprehend a balance of power at Anfield that sees players brought to Liverpool, COMPLETELY against the manager's wishes.
Surely if a £20m striker was brought to Liverpool completely contrary to Benitez's wishes, he would have walked.
He didn't, which suggests that there was a fair degree of willingness from him to bring Keane to Anfield.
That said, it makes his treatment of Keane all the more baffling.
And come on, the endless substitutions, dropping him after a couple of ineffective games, was hardly sending waves of confidence to his new star signing.
They might as well had the dressing room bath full to the brim with hot water on 66 minutes every game so predictable were Kean'e withdrawals.
And decisions not to introduce him, for example, during the home 2-2 against Hull, and instead bring on the striking talent (!!) of Lucas simply could not be explained by anybody.

Equally, employing Keane as a deep-lying striker in a kind of Cantona role was always going to be foreign to Keane.
He was never played as he wanted, the way he has been reaping rewards form the bulk of his career.
As a centre forward.

I was one of those delighted with the Keane signing. It seemed he was the star talent that would compliment Torres and give us licence to attack sides, to finally shed that slightly cautious approach we've always had under Benitez.
Early on, there were worrying signs that Keane looked slow. I remember being alarmed at his miss away at Villa.
Not with the fact that he missed the target. But that he had several yards on Reo-Coker, but the defender ate up the ground to catch Keane and throw in a challenge that ultimately put the striker off, despite his howls for a penalty.

There were other moments when he looked short of pace, unable to pull away from defenders.
This slowness meant he would drop deep often looking for the ball. It was hard to understand that a top drawer striker could look so leaden-footed against average defenders.
It wasn't the stuff we expected after seeing Keane make mincemeat of our back four last season in the 2-2 at Anfield, him bagging both.
Perhaps that was the thing. Both the majority of his goals involved gliding instantly across the 18 yard box, aided by flick ons from Berbatov, or balls pulled back from the byline (another failing of this Reds side) by Lennon or Bale.
Perhaps, that was the match up he needed, a tall, good in the air partner who supplied him with fodder, and proper width.
And paired with Torres he would never get that. He was always going to be the one doing the donkey work, dropping deep to find work.
His detractors nonetheless would argue that a top striker should be able to switch into any system, and any way of playing if he is skilled enough to do so.
Perhaps.
Why am I making these points if I feel Keane should have stayed and was not given a fair crack of the whip?
It's because surely our management team would have done their homework before we signed him, looking at Keane's strengths, how to get the best out of him, and analysis made of the type of strikers he plays best with.
If we did, would it not have been apparent that he was a forward that would have struggled to fit in with our style of playing.
That out and out PACE, and PACE ALONE, was essential to play in this Liverpool side?
And if that homework WAS done, then it's the Anfield hierarchy who have got to take a fair share of the blame for a signing that did Liverpool no favours and left Reds fans baffled.
What a way to lose £3m in six months.
By that token though, why wasn't the pacy Craig Bellamy a success at Liverpool? And equally the pacy Cisse?
It seems to boil down to the frustrating point that strikers find it excruciatingly difficult to fit into Liverpool's way of playing.
Bellamy, Cisse, Morientes, Diouf, Heskey, Crouch, Kuyt......
Only truly exceptional talents like Torres, Owen and Fowler have reaped any rewards in recent times.

For the sake of Keane, I'm pleased he's got some parity in his professional life and will be allowed to carry on scoring goals, which I'm sure he'll do in abundance again with Spurs.
It will will be mightily interesting come the last game of the season, home to Tottenham, if the league title remains in the balance.
I wonder of a wound-up Keane will be terrorising us as he did last season, determined to prove a certain cast-iron Spaniard wrong.
I hope not.

RELIEF ALL ROUND

2009-02-02T09:29:20Z

AS the clock ticked down towards 90 minutes on early Sunday evening, the knives were being sharpened to further puncture Liverpool's faltering title challenge.
But three mad-cap minutes changed all of that and breathed vital new life into the pursuit of Man Utd's at the top of the table.

Never were three points so essential...yet they say that for almost every game these days, don't they?
Fernando Torres pilfered two last-minute goals for us that just might be a hugely defining moment in our season.
In all honesty, it was a win that Liverpool deserved, although it highlighted a lot of the failings that the side have shown this year.
There was only one team trying to win the football match and the half-decent openings can be toted up to demonstrate the Reds dominance.
Alonso forced Cech into action, so did Benayoun, the Israeli grazed the top netting, Riera stung the goalkeeper's fingertips and Torres was twice denied by brilliant blocks from Man of the Match Alex.
It was a typical Liverpool display, having the bulk of possession and territory, some promising openings fashioned, but nothing clear cut.
Sometimes though, it's only right that the team trying to win the game should be handed a slice of fortune.
And there's no doubt we were lucky in the extreme over the Lampard sending off.
It's hard to feel sympathy for Frank, particularly after his ankle breaker on Alonso a few years ago and countless deflected shots winning him plaudits.
But it was easy to understand his bemusement after a shocking decision by Mike Riley.
As it's been pointed out, the foul was really committed by Xabi Alonso who belted Frank's leg after the Chelsea midfielder had cleanly won the ball.
As TV replays show, the referee's angle wasn't great and he was no doubt won over by the Spaniard's reaction, not to say Xabi was faking by clutching his leg.
Liverpool were already in the ascendancy before the red card, and whether they would have gone onto win if Chelsea remained with 11 men, is anybody's guess.
But it definitely handed Liverpool some extra impetus to grab the three points.

Have you ever seen Chelsea so inspid? This was a performance to rank alongisde their no-show at Old Trafford in recent weeks.
Barely a shot at goal, they seemed content at merely keeping things solid despite having a huge chance to get back into the title race.
Players like Lampard, Anelka, Ballack and Mikel were quiet, but credit our midfield and defence for swarming all over them.
These are the games that Mascherano loves and he was back in the thick of it after some poor displays of late.
Gerrard was one of the best players on the park, again, and our best stuff predicatably revolved around him.
One blatant dive by the captain on the edge of the area however, for which he was booked, was a bit naughty.
But it's games like this that showed the thin line between failure and success. If Chelsea had held out for three more minutes to secure a nil-nil, the howls of dissatisfaction would still be echoing around Anfield.
For all the Red waves lapping away at the Blue back four, this was a repeat of Liverpool against Wigan and against Everton in the FA Cup.
Bottom line, we need more firepower to break throuh tough, durable, defensive teams.
It was noticeable how Chelsea had far more to worry about when suddenly they had Torres AND Kuyt playing centre forward.
It made the decision to exclude Keane all the more baffling. But it's like banging your head against a brick wall to understand Rafa's treatment of the Irishman. Only a few hours to go until transfer deadline...watch this space.

The fact that Babel even got on the field to predictably run into cul-de-scas and lose the ball only reinforced the point.
Maybe the Dutchman should take a leaf out of Benayoun's book on how to make an impact on a game.
The Israeli provided real impetus, and is one of those frustrating players who is far more effective coming off the bench than in the starting line-up.
Whether Keane is sold before 5pm today remains to be seen, but if the Irishman remains at Anfield, his exclusion made no sense.
Are were seriously saying that Keane at his worst is worse than Ngog at his best? Not a chance.
Or Babel in any kind of form for that matter. I'd rather have Keane on a broken leg than Babel in his pomp. Does the Dutchman have a 'pomp'?
If Keane does remain at the club for the rest of the season, what does leaving him out of the squad do for his confidence?
And selling Keane seems a strange decision as that leaves us with just one genuine striker, if we say Kuyt is now a bona fide midfielder.
As much as Gerrard is great linking up with a lone-striker, it's no wonder we are easy to defend against with one number nine to occupy a back four's thoughts.

In the end, with a little help of lady luck, we got the result we deserved. It's safe to say that being four points behind Man Utd, with an extra game played, would have been too tall an order.
Now, hopefully we can dispose of a struggling Pompey side on Saturday and West Ham can defend against Man Utd like they have defended against every else so far this season.
Let's put a bleak January behind us and go on a run with renewed confidence, with our without a certain luckless Irish striker.