Exhibit A - Dirk Kuyt. Dirk had a terrible day at the office on Saturday. He is going through a crisis of confidence at the moment. He had a few chances but couldn't hit the target and when he did, Friedal was more than equal to it. Rafa is a big fan and seems to want to let him play through it. I don't think that he is clinical enough to play up front on his own, as he did on Sat. I like Dirk too but I don't think that he works well with Crouch or Voronin, only Torres.

Exhibit B - Peter Crouch. Crouch came on as as second half sub and almost changed the game. I don't know what he did to annoy Rafa, but he seems well out of favour at the minute. I would like to see him get more game time while Torres isn't ready because he looks like the striker who's most likely to score. I don't know if Crouch has a long term future at the club but I definitely think that he's the man for the moment.

Exhibit C - Fernando Torres. It sounds like the news might be better than had been previously hoped. He was back in training today after his muscle injury and faces a late fitness text for tomorrow. I can't imagine that he'll be risked after the last time but he might get a place on the bench for a last gasp throw of the dice if we need him. We're looking fairly blunt without him.

Harry Kewell was a welcome sight when he came on as a second half sub. If, and it's a big if, he can stay fit for a while, then he could do a huge job for us on the left and nail down that position. Despite his injuries, he's still the best winger that we have in my opinion. He did well in the 20 or so mins that he got on Saturday by stretching the play and taking his man on. I would imagine that he'll be an impact sub for the next few games while his builds up his fitness.

Babel started on the wing against Blackburn. Babel clearly has talent with his pace, power, control and shooting. But he hasn't really been able to put it all together so far. I feel that it might be after Christmas or next season before he beds in properly and makes a telling contribution. Here's what Wenger has to say on new signings.

"When I sign a player I don't judge him at all in the first six months. Never. I give him six months to adapt and don't put any pressure on him because I know what it takes. You have to settle and get the right level. You start to look at him really in January and February."

The draw for the Carling Cup quarter finals was made on Sat and we'll be heading to Stamford Bridge at the end of December. They have a superb home record so I'd be surprised if we get anything out of that one. It is only the Carling Cup though.

Oliver Kay has an article in the Times where he says that we're near an agreement for John Cofie From Burnley. United and Chelsea are after him too but it sounds like we're in the driving seat as he attended the Cardiff match last week. He's 15, plays up front and could cost anything between £250000 and £1m. Lauri Dalla Valle, a 16 year old Finn who I've mentioned before here, is also being tipped to arrive in Jan.

It's do or die against Besiktas tomorrow. It's time to stand up and spout cliches. Win and we have a chance, anything less and we're out. We should be more than capable but then again, I said the same about Porto, Marseille and the Turkish trip.

Here's hoping.

He has come again. God walks among us once more. But lucky for us, even God couldn't prevent Cardiff from going down 2-1 at Anfield last night with his heir delivering the fatal blow.



As expected, it was a fairly young team and we got to see some of the youngsters in action. Jack Hobbs, Charles Itandje, Nabil El Zhar, Seb Leto and Lucas all started. It was also notable in so far as two of our oft injured players got game time in Aurelio who started and Kewell who came on in the second half.

Hobbs did quite alright at the back and he did have Carra beside him, giving tips and bollickings if needed. Itandje made a couple of smart saves, notably from a Fowler free kick. Leto didn't have a great game. It's hard to know what to make of him. I've seem him play very well for the reserves on LFC TV but it doesn't look like he's ready for the step up to the first team yet, if ever. Lucas played very well in the middle beside Stevie but he did seem to tire towards the end and gave the ball away a few times. Up until then he had been superb. I think this lad can do a job for us in the Xabi role while we're waiting for the master to return from injury. El Zhar opened the scoring with a cracking strike from distance. It was a superb goal but again I don't think that he's ready for the step up to the first team. He still looks a bit lightweight.

Yossi cam on and did fantastically well to set up Stevie for the winner. I would like to see Yossi get more game time now that Pennant is out. He's an intelligent player who has pace, great control, good link up play and an eye for goal. He gives us something different to what we already have. I think that he's been underused so far but I'm hoping that will change now.

Blackburn away is going to be really tough. They are in great form at the moment having won their last few games. We have good domestic away form but this will be our toughest journey so far this season. The news that Bently and Mokoena should be out is good for us. It sounds like we won't have our spine of Agger, Xabi and Torres back for this one, in fact, it could be another two weeks before we see any of them. I wouldn't be surprised to see Momo start this game if he's recovered from his illness as Rafa likes him for these kind of games. I predict an away draw. A win would be great but I think Blackburn have enough to take 2 points from us.

Fordies had an interesting post last month saying that we are going to try and bring in three players next month. He reckons these are James McCarthy from Hamilton Academicals who we've been linked to before, John Cofie a young midfielder from Burnley and Samir Nasri from Marseille. He reckon that we've built up a good relationship with them after doing business over Cisse and Zenden. Nasri would be expensive, around £11m according to Fordies. I haven't seen much of this lad but he's destined for great things by all accounts.

Let's make Ewood park threewood park tomorrow. Sorry, that was terrible.