When he got going on Saturday you could see that the boy Ryan was thinking "u can't touch this." I reckon this was his best game yet for the Reds. He tormented both of the right backs and was a constant threat. He scored one goal and could have had another two or three. He is doing well in his wide left attacking role, similar to where he played for Ajax and Holland. It seems to be working well away from home where teams leave gaps for Babel and Torres to exploit with their pace and skill. He still needs to work on his stamina and tends to drift out of games after 60-70 mins. If he continues to improve then we're going to have a quality player on our hands. In the end it was a routine victory but we looked quite nervous and under pressure at the start. Bolton had us under the cosh for the opening 10 mins with their usual corners, frees, long through ins and punts from the back. We didn't look to clever defending the high ball all match. It could be a case of Skrtel not being used to the zonal system yet. This will come with time. Maybe it would have been easier for him with Carra, rather than Sami beside him. Once we got the flukey opener, it was a lot easier for us. Bolton pushed on which left gaps for the forwards to exploit and we could have had a few more by half time. Jussi made a few good saves from Babel and made sure that Bolton weren't dead and buried at half time. Babel struck the all important second with a lovley near post strike after Dirk hit the post. His acrobatic celebration was one for the soccer am fans. Aurelio hit a sweet half volley for the third. A fine strike from a player who's improved over the last few weeks after getting regular starts. I hope that's not the kiss of death as he's been very unlucky with injuries once he puts a run of form together.

This Wednesday it's the turn of the 'appy 'ammers to visit Anfield. They were hammered (opps) by 10 man Chelsea on Saturday so here's hoping that they're panicking after that. It's an important opportunity for us to reclaim fourth and put pressure on Intertoto cup applicants Everton. Rafa may decide to rest Torres for this match or for Newcastle on Saturday give the number of important games that we have coming up. The takeover speculation continues to drag on. The latest rumour is that Hicks is attempting to get finance or a partner to buy out Gillett's share. Given the current financial climate and lack of available credit, he may find it hard. This image appeared on RAWK. I like the work.

The official site had an interview with Paco De Miguel, our fitness coach. I hope he does as good a job as Pako, his predecessor, did. Check this shit out. Good interview with our newly signed world class Argentine ace, Javier Mascherano. His english is impressive. It's about time that we've got him tied down. It's a relief that he is now ours and not owned by MSI anymore. Maradona said: "Of all the youngsters to have come through in recent years, the one who impresses me most is Javier Mascherano." Boss. Good to see that Momo is fitting in well at Juve. Why didn't he ever do this for us? Nice of UEFA to admit that they made a mess or things in Athens. No turnstiles is asking for trouble.

The answer is yes. An unremarkable match was lit up by the brilliance of our number 9. 3-2. Job done. There have been many days when we deserved more than we got but failed due to bad finishing. Here, we finished well without playing well. Boro might feel that they could have gotten a draw but the finishing of the kid proved the difference.

Torres helped himself to three and could have ad four only for a superb save from Swartzer in the second half. The Boro defence were semi sucidal in their back passing and indecision. I think that the pressure and presence of El Nino caused them to panic and make errors. Arca headed back towards his keeper for Torres to latch onto and score his first. His second was a beautiful shot from distance after good work from Babel and Aurelio. Pick of the bunch. For his third, he closed in on a through ball from Kuyt. The keeper and defender managed to collide and Fernando took full advantage to finish them off. That's 15 in the league for the season. I'm sure it would have been more if he hadn't missed a few games with injury. Where are those who were saying in August that he was over rated and we'd overpaid at £18m?

Our defence has had better games. I don't think that Arbeloa does as good a job at centre half as he does at full back. As a result our defensive line wasn't as sharp as usual. But Carra is back for the next match so we should be back to our usual solidity. Masherano did his usual stirling work in the middle. He's fast becoming my favourite Liverpool player. Babel did a decent job and set Kuyt up for a good chance in the first half. He seems to be benefiting from getting a run of starts. Gerrard was ok but hit a lovely free which Swartzer could only knock onto the post. With the race for fourth as close as it is, the points are more important than the performance at the moment. If we play badly and win for the rest of the season, I won't be complaining.

It's a short trip to the Reebok on Sunday. Bolton are doing ok, bar a 4-1 hammering today, and had a good result in the Uefa cup during the week. I thought Megson would be shit and take them down but they look like they might survive due to the teams below them being worse than them. So we'll have to go there and be up for it. These are the kind of games that we've been drawing and losing this year. I predict a draw.

It appears that there was some drama after the match yesterday. Tom Hicks son walked into the Sandon pub and was met with a hot reaction from the Reds inside. There seems to be some debate over what actually happened but I don't think that he was met with open arms. Can't say that I'm surprised. He was badly advised if he expected otherwise.

Kop idols.

Well we don't like going it the easy way, do we? 1 point after 3 matches to leave us looking at expulsion from the champions league, or a fate worse than expulsion - the UEFA cup. But we invoked The Spirit of Istanbul™, and we pulled 3 wins out of the bag with our backs to the wall. Second in the group with 10 points after Porto. It'll be a tough draw against one of the winners on Friday but it's a hell of a lot better than facing the refuse in the UEFA cup. El Nino wants Madrid. He'd be fired up for that one alright.

4-0. Only 4-0? Sack Rafa. That should have been 20-0, at least. According to the pundits, Marseille were a good team, much improved under the new manager, until we beat them. Just like our other champions league opponents. Funny, that. I know that I shouldn't rise to the bait of idiots spouting crap for a living but I can't resist sometimes. All of the rotation comments get very tiresome very quickly especially when the evidence shows that Fergie and Jose rotate as much as Rafa. The zonal marking debate is also a red herring. We have the second best defence in the league, had the second best last season and we concede less goals from set pieces than other teams do. But don't let the facts get in the way of a media lynching. Tim Sherwood, the twat on Setanta, said that Liverpool's season would be over if we lost to Marseille. Apparently we're out of the title race because we've lost one match this season to Reading. Are Arsenal out of it as they lost to Boro? Are Utd out of it as they've lost twice to City and Bolton? I don't know how fools like Sherwood get paid to talk crap on tv. Surely knowledge and intelligence are not job requirements. Rant over.

But back to the match itself. It was a great result but not the best match that we've played this season. Rafa paid a pretty attaching line up with Monster Masch the only defensive player outside of the back four. The team worked really hard and pressurised Marseille who had most of the possession. They couldn't do anything with it and we made our chances count. Gerrard got an early peno to take the pressure off after a few mins. Then Torres displayed his genius with a goal of amazing beauty. It was phenomenal. I don't think that I'm exagerating when I say that he's looking like the best striker in the premiership. I wouldn't swap him for any of the other ones. Some people said that he was over rated when he signed him but £20m is looking like the steal of the century now. The ease at which he went around the Marseille defenders was magical. The kid is a genius.

Dirk Kuyt scored with a nice finish in the second half. Harry did well to pick him out with a great ball and he escaped the offside trap with some good timing. He showed a good strikers finish to wait until the keeper commited himself. Babel came on and did his usual thing of tormenting a tired defense. Again it paid off and he helped himself to the final goal. Nice one my son.

Cara reckons a victory over Utd will be worth more than 3 points. Technicly he's wrong. We will only get three points. But I get what he's saying, we haven't beaten them in the league in a few years and it'll be a huge result if we can do them. The last few games at Anfield have seen us dominate but lose to flukey goals by pricks like Ferdinand and O'Shea. That's a bit unfair as O'Shea isn't a prick but he does play for Utd so he's guilty by association. I will be sick if one of them scores an undeserved winner on Sunday. I predict a score draw. No doubt Tim Sherwood and Andy Grey will be saying sack Rafa if we lose. Tools.



The Times had a great article this week where they got Kenny and the kid together. Brilliant idea. Two reds, one a legend, the other well on his way, in one room. Congrats to Messrs Ballague and Marcotti.

Who's going to be pissed off on Sunday evening? I think that bother teams will as a draw isn't great for either team. I hope that I'm wrong, we win and Fergie's face goes purple.