And win the champions league. Wouldn't that be hilarious? I think David Moyes would explode with bitterness. It'd be worth it to see the look on his face. The sky camera could go live to his gaff as we pick up the champions league trophy. I'm fantasising of course, but isn't that what the internet is about?

Great game last night. I really enjoyed it. It was the best that we've played in a long time. We were the better team by far, even before Matrix got himself sent off. I thought that Inter looked nervous from the off and got worse when a man down. But we played well all over. t was a team effort. Defence didn't have a huge amount to do but did it well when called upon. Aurelio and Finnan especially overlapped well to join the attack. Aurelio could do with improving his crossing and set pieces were dire but he's not on his own there. Masch, Lucas and Stevie were class in the middle. I don't think that there is a better player of his type than Mascherano. He is boss.

Dirk and Babel did well supporting Torres. Dirk had his best game this season. His touch was much improved and he took his goal well. I'm hoping that this will help him and his confidence. He's had a really hard time in his private life over the last few months and I don't think that it's helped his game. But he never hides and gives his all even when he's playing poorly. His long term future may lie elsewhere but I'll always have a soft spot for him.

Babel, like most games this season mixed the sublime with the stupid. He has great skill, pace and power but isn't making the most of it yet. If he can improve his decision making and develop his vision he will be superb. But we'll have to be patient with him for now. El Nino did well and was very unlucky to see Cesar knock his effort around the post when he was clean through. Pity.

The second leg won't be easy but we've given ourselves a great chance. Inter will be without Matrix who is suspended and Cordoba who is very unlikely to recover in time. They will be a lot more confident at home, I would imagine, but if things don't go their way early then the crowd may get on their backs. Should be a great night in three weeks time.

It's time to butter our premiership bread with a spread of Boro on Saturday. We really should be beating the likes of Boro at home. The press talk this week is that Rafa is going to cut down the rotation for the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to see what team he picks.

Ballague in the Times has a good interview with El Nino. He does seem to have a habit of getting interviews with top people in the game.

The DIC rumours won't go away. The latest wildfire on the forums this week is that the deal is all but done for them to buy from the Yanks. I do think that it will happen eventually but it could be a long time off yet. I have no insider knowledge but am not counting any chickens until I see the Sheikh or Al Ansari in Anfield.

I made my annual pilgrimage to Anfield on Saturday. It was absolutely freezing and I was with my dad so I didn't hang around for the protest afterwards. But I made sure not to spend any cash while I was inside. Better one DIC than two and all that.
Back to matters on the pitch. If I were Sven I would say "first half bad, second half better". Thankfully I'm not Sven and I still have my hair. But it was indeed a case of a poor 45 mins. We struggled to create a genuine chance. While we had the vast majority of possession, we didn't do much with it. But it was a win, three points, three goals and a much needed shot in the arm ahead of the Chelsea.

In the second half, Finnan came on for Aurelio who wasn't good at all. Even though Finnan was playing left back, he added a different dimension to our attacking play. But it was Carra, rampaging forward from the right back bearth who set up the first goal. He's played there in the past but not much since Rafa arrived. Rafa said that he wanted to have some good height at the back to counter Jones and co. It seemed to work as they didn't get too many headed chances.

Skrtel impressed me on his first league start. I know that he was a bit shaky in the cup but that was his first game in a few months since the Russian league needed. He looked a lot fitter and composed on Saturday. He looks to be quite fast and is a big lad. His passing was good but he did put a few astray in the second half. We've lacked good passers from defence so I'm hoping that he can help us in bringing the ball out of defence, like Agger does.

Lucas started on the left side of midfield, tucking in to support Javier and Gerrard. I think that Aurelio was supposed to provide the width, coming forward from fullback. But it didn't work for either player. Lucas has looked great in recent matches but looked out of place on Sat. We tried it, but it didn't work so I'm hoping that we don't see him there again. Yossi did well when he came on there in the second half.

Mascherano was superb yet again. I would go as far to say that he's been our best midfielder this season. He's a winner and a leader. If Gerrard or Carra aren't playing then he should be our captain. He's hoping to have a permanent deal sealed this week. I hope so too.
Crouch had a good match. He linked well with El Nino. He scored the first with a header and flicked on for Torres goal. He nearly scored with a scissors kick. I think that he did more than enough to warrant a start on Sunday. Torres did well with his finish. He now has 12 in the league. It would be great if he could get 20 for the season but he's done really well regardless. He wasn't at his best on Sat, or in recent games for that matter. But he still was sharp enough to take on his man and beat the keeper. Pennant had a decent match and put the left back under pressure. Gerrard struck a peno for the third to wrap it up. Could have been more but 3-0 is acceptable given how badly we've been doing recently.

Keane was pissed off with Rob Styles and felt they should have had a peno with the scores are 2-0. Style robbed us of 2 points against Chelsea earlier in the season with an imaginary penalty so maybe Keane has a point and Styles was trying to even things up. Rafa, unlike Keane, was happy with the result. Boss.

We face a daunting trip to Stamford Bridge this weekend. Finnan says he's ready. Chelsea haven't lost at home since Ranieri was the manager. The fact that Lampard, Drogba, Terry and Essien are out or away is good news. Given that, we should be able to get something from this but we're not in great form so I reckon the best we can get is a draw. I fear Joe Cole and his fluky deflected goals. They got the rub of the green with their Ref invented goal earlier in the season. Maybe we are due some of that back. I would gladly take an imaginary peno if it gave us the three points.

Lucas and co visit Dublin this week to play in Croker. I would have liked to have gone to this one but my bank manager advised against it what with my visit to Anfield for the Sunderland match last weekend and a trip to Paris for the Rugby this weekend. Two sporting trips per week is my limit now.

There was a hint of some good news on the investment front over the weekend. The Echo had a story saying that DIC could join up with Gillett to buy out Hicks. Wait and see. I don't expect anything to happen soon with this.

Let's give Chelsea the blues.

Crouch runs wild on Mikel. Peter Crouch was sent off for a two footed challenge on Mikel. He said that he had no excuses. It was very unlike him but he got a bit frustrated with Mikel and the Ref. I hope that he's learned his lesson and we won't see it from him again. He made a very difficult match even harder by seeing red.

It wasn't a great display as we were beaten 2-0 but there were a few positives to be taken form the match. Babel was fairly good and caused Chelsea some problems. Itandje made a couple of great saves and it could have been worse if he hadn't of been in form. He might have doen better with the second goal though. Momo had a much improved here as he's been largely rubbish this season. I've no problem with him being sold as long as we're getting Mascherano for good. Aurelio passed well and got through 90 mins. Xabi got through an hour before he was taken off. Lucas did ok in the middle and might have scored after a good move in the first half. Overall, we didn't put out a first strength team so no big swing. As Rafa said before, "I didn't come here to win the Carling cup".

Next up is Portsmouth at Anfield at the weekend. I expect us to win this one on the back of two defeats. Gerrard should be fit again and I expect Torres will start. Portsmouth started very well but seem to have hit the skids somewhat recently. Good opportunity for us to get it back on track.

Could Tomas Ujfalusi be one of Rafa's Bosman signings in the summer? His agent says that we're interested. He's a good player and would provide much need cover and experience at the back.

Rafa says that he wants to stay and sign a new deal at the club. I'd be very happy if it happened but I don't think that it will. I still fear that Rafa will quit or will be pushed out in the summer. I hope that I'm wrong.

The boardroom situation is reaching boiling point. By all accounts, Rafa has had enough of Rick Parry and his incompitence and indecisiveness. It now looks like he wants someone else to come in and do Parrys job with more authority to make quick decisions and sign off on players. Foster Gillett seems to be the man that will take the job but he is having work permit issues at the moment. Where this leaves Parry, I don't know. Rafa is on holidays this week and seems to think that it should be sorted out to some degree by the time he gets back. I hope he's right. He has said that we need to spend money now or else we'll only ever be contenders for third/fourth spot in the league. It seems that he has two deals lined up now that need signing off on to go through. These are rumoured to be Simao and Gabriel Milito. We've seen when Rafa was at Valencia that he walked when he didn't recieve the backing he needed. I fear that it might be the same situation here if he doesn't get what he wants. That would be an absolute disaster for the club.

In trasnfer news there's been a few bits and pieces. Bellamy wants his future sorted. I don't blame him but I do think he'll leave to go to one of Villa, Blackburn or West Ham. Marseille want to do a permenent deal on Cisse. I hope that we get a decent price for him. Momo isn't happy with his current status. As I've said before, I can see him being sold for the cash. Samuel Eto'o made some very positive comments about us over the weekend. If he does move, I can see us getting involved but I would imagine that he's more likely to stay at Barca and he'd be very expensive anyway. Finally, we've signed two Hungarian kids, called Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon from MTK Hungaria. Nemeth is highly rated and played well in teh uefa u-17 competition last year.