It's time to take stock, a stock take if you will. It was a mixed season. In one way we made progress in the league by finishing with a points total of 76, just 11 points behind the winners. This is well up on what we had last year and but for a bit of luck, some bad decisions and results like the brum draw where we didn't care, we could have been a lot closer to Utd. Utd won the league with 75 points in 1997. On the downside, we dropped a league placing from third to fourth, with Arsenal overtaking us. We had a good run in Europe and could have made the final. But injuries cost us domestically and in the champions league. As usual we had a bad spell, this time it was in Jan rather than our traditional November slump.

The defence performed well in Dagger's absence. Sami rolled back the years and Carra was great in Europe but not as good overall as he has been. Skrtel came in and did superbly. Insua made another impressive end of season cameo. More of that kind of thing.

In midfield the Monster Masch was monstrous. I wouldn't swap him for any midfielder. He is the best in the business at what he does. The solidity of our spine owes a lot to Javier. Himself and Xabi formed a solid base for Stevie to break from. This worked superbly well in the second half of the season and I expect us to continue in this formation next year.

The forwards were a mixed bunch. Babel was superb at times, like his Arsenal cameo, but looked a bit lost at others. A good debut season to build on but I would expect him to deliver on a more consistent basis next year. Kuyt started really badly after the death of his father in the summer. But since Christmas he improved playing the right sided role and scored crucial goals against Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Everton. I love Kuyt but I fear we need somebody better in that role if we want to challenge for the title. When he's good, he's great but when he's bad, he's shocking.

Last summer we were blessed with the arrival of El Nino. He came to us form sunny Spain, he got the ball and scored again. And again and again and again. For a fee of £20m he proved an absolute bargain. He broke Ruud Van Nistelroy's record at Utd of scoring the most goals in a debut season with 24 league goals. Amazing. He went onto score 33 goals in all comps. Phenomenal. Give that the kid has just turned 24, there are many years left for him to improve. I think that the stability of coaching under Rafa has helped him improve his game. At Atleti he had a different coach every few months or every season which can't have been fun.

Where do we go from here? With a couple of decent buys this summer we might be able to put a title challenge together. But as long as the boardroom farce continues, I can't see us being focused on getting the right investment in the squad together. Utd and Chelsea have invested massively and we need to do likewise to get our first team and squad up to their level. So if Hicks is still with us in August, which looks likely, it'll probably be another season of third/fourth.

Player of the year: Torres, without doubt. The kid has been astounding. He's changed Liverpool, as you can see here.

Young player of the year: Babel did well for the first team but I'm going to go for Nemeth for the contribution he made to the reserves winning the league. I hope to see him getting a run out for the first team next season. This kid is going to be a star.

Game of the year: The champions league quarter final 4-2 win over Arsenal at Anfield. As dramatic as it gets.

Goal of the year: Fernando v Marseille. Watch and learn.

Best moment of the year: The comeback v Arsenal at Anfield. The ability of the youngsters and reserves to get a draw at the Emirates in the league was impressive. Beating Everton twice was good too.

Worst moment of the year: The Riise o.g. against Chelsea. Other than that I think we'd have made the final for the third time in four years. Thanks for the memories John. The "penalty" that Rob Styles awarded against us in the Chelsea match at Anfield in August was a sickener. The 3-0 loss to Utd at Old Toilet was terrible as was the 1-0 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park.

Signing of the year: Again with the Torres. The future's bright with the kid on board.

Our summer signings have begun and Phillip Degen, a 25 year old swiss right back, will be signing for free on the first of July.

Andreas Dossena of Udinese is being linked with filling the other full back birth. Apparently Capello rates him highly. The fee being talked about is somewhere between £6m-£8m.

Sammy Lee is thrilled to back working at Melwood. I think that he could be one of the most important signings we'll make this summer. Some of the older players were at the club when Sammy left in 2004 and he seems to be well respected. There is no doubt that Pako's departure last autumn cost us in terms of stability and planning.

Tom Hicks has been hit by the credit crunch. Does that mean that he'll be more likely to sell to DIC? Maybe not. I fear that we'll be stuck with this fool for sometime yet.

I used this post title after the final in Athens but I think that it's more appropriate now after losing at Stamford Bridge. We gave it everything but came up short. We were rubbish in the first half but better in the second. Chelsea deserved it over 120 mins but over the two legs we were probably the better team but that's football. Fair play to Chelsea, they took their chances last night and made us pay, which we didn't in the first leg. I hope they go on and beat Utd in the final.

Injuries cost us badly in both legs. Aurelio's led to Riise coming on last week and we all know what happened there. This time Skrtel took a knock after 20 mins and had to make way for Sami. This was a huge blow as Skrtel did an amazing job on Drogba last week and looked to be doing the same this time. He was able to match Didier for pace and power, not something many defenders can say. Carragher performed his usual heroics at the back. Sami has been superb for us this year and did his best last night. But he was caught out for the peno he conceded. At the other end he should have had a penalty himself when he was tackled as he slalomed his way though the Chelsea box, like a Finnish downhill skier. Maybe he should have gone down ala Drogba when he felt the contact. The ref seemed to be about to give the penalty as he stepped forward and put his whistle to his lips but then he changed his mind for some reason. Bizarre.

Yossi did really well to set up El Nino's goal. He was quiet for most of the match and struggled a bit being up against the amazing Essien. But that one run justified his inclusion. He's a handy squad player but I doubt that he'll ever be first choice. It was unfortunate that Torres picked up a hamstring strain and had to come off for Babel towards the end. Babel showed what he's capable of with a great strike from distance which even Cech couldn't save. It was 3-2 at that stage and we gave it our all but it wasn't enough, despite Babel's goal. I expect him to come on next season and deliver on a more consistent basis. He has the talent.

Lampard really impressed me last night. I wouldn't be his biggest fan but to take the responsibility and step up to deliver like he did last night was incredible. As anyone who's suffered a personal loss like that will know, it's hard to keep your mind on the job. I wouldn't begrudge him the win.

We were told beforehand that Liverpool under Rafa were incapable of scoring at Stamford Bridge. Despite that we got two goals. Unfortunately we conceded three. Many in the press predicted a boring game. It was anything but and 5 goals on the night and seven in the tie showed that both teams were committed to attacking. Stevie is proud of the way we played, as am I. So is Rafa.

Our remaining league games seem like an after thought and an irrelevance. Man City visit Anfield this weekend. The only notable aspect is that we may see the likes of Insua, Plessis and Nemeth getting game time. Other than that I can see it being dull. Both teams have nothing to play for and will be more or less on holidays. It could be Sven's second last game in charge so they may be more up for it than usual.

Rafa is looking to the future. It's clear that we need to make a few signings during the close season and I'm sure that we'll be linked to every player under the sun. I would imagine that Rafa will want to get some of his business done now, before the euro championships, when prices can get inflated.

No doubt we'll have to put up with the ownership soap opera over the summer. There are some reports in the Liverpool press that The Dubai investment could be by the Sheikh himself, rather than DIC. That could be good news as it would mean there was less emphasis on making a profit in the short term.

It's been described as a modern day classic and it's hard to argue with that. 6 goals and some incredible football from both teams, along with a cracking atmosphere gave us a night to remember in Anfield. This is going to go down in the history books alongside the victories over Chelsea, Olympiakos and Juventus. Thanks Rafa.

It's one of those ones where it seems churlish to talk about individuals. There were many star performers. Torres scored an incredible goal after a flick on by Crouchie. I hope that he got his nachos after that. The of Carra, Sami Skrtel and Aurelio all made telling contributions. Sami trumped the others by scoring our first goal with a towering header when he lost his marker, Senderos. The midfield, and indeed the whole team struggled initially but started to assert themselves after the Sami header. Mascherano was immense and tackled anything that moved. He still had the energy to make bursting runs late on in the second half. Alonso was only ok as was Gerrard but he did show balls with a great peno. Kuyt was a colossus. He passed the ball forward for Babels goal but his contribution over the course of the game was huge. It was one of those nights where his touch was good and that makes a big difference. This allied to his movement and game intelligence makes him a very useful player. When his touch is off, he's not half as effective. Babel was a match winner when he came on. He wasn't fit enough to start but won the peno and scored the winner with a superb breakaway goal. Fantastic cameo. He needs to build on this in starts over the next few games and moving into next season. This boy is going to be a star when he puts it all together on a consistent basis.

The belief and character that this team has is amazing. To come back from being behind in the tie twice, against a team we're told is superior to us, is a superb feat. But it's nothing new. We've seen these kinds of displays numerous times since Rafa's arrived. So while the character of the team is nothing new, the skill and verve on display is something new. The likes of Torres and Babel have given us an extra dimension this year to hit teams with pace and flair. Add this to the talents of Gerrard and Alonso and we're a match for anyone. We've been inconsistent, but when it's worked, like it did in the second half last night, it looks pretty good.
Rafa was impressed with the crowd at Anfield. I know that it's become something of a clice about Anfield on the big European nights but they were in fine voice again last night. Souness was talking about it on RTE beforehand saying that nowhere in Britain compares, with the possible exception of Parkhead and Ibrox. I know it can be a bit flat for run of the mill league games, but the fans, like the team, seem to be able to raise their game in Europe.

As John Nicolson said in his fantastic piece on football 365

Liverpool winning a big European game with the crowd singing at 130 decibels and the yellow glow of the floodlights illuminating an ink-black, rain-strewn, north-western sky, means all's right with the world, somehow.
While I can't buy into his urging for us to support all English teams winning in Europe, there are some great memories and sentiments in the piece.
Away from the first team, there was mixed news this week. Sean Highdale, a 17 year old at the Academy was involved in a car crash which killed two other passengers in the car. He is expected to make a full recovery which we can be thankful for. On a more positive note, the reserve team beat Blackburn with a goal from Nemeth, to win the reserve league North. It's mainly composed of young imports and academy graduates rather than mature has beens who're no longer able to get a first team place. The likes of Nemeth and Insua are very highly thought of and will hope to follow Pelssis into the first team sooner rather than later.

The BBC have an interesting interview with Rogan Taylor on Share Liverpool. It sounds like a great idea but I don't know if it will ever happen. I would love to get involved but I doubt that I'll have a spare £5000 for a few years. Maybe they will be able to sort out a minority shareholder system with one of the Americans or preferably DIC.

Ballague suggested in the times podcast that we have deals lined up for one senior player for the first team and two youngsters from South America lined up. This had led posters on the forums to speculate on who the youngsters might be. Two names being put forward are Diego Buonanotte from River Plate and Pablo Piatti from Estudiantes. This report from goal suggests De La Red is heading back to Real in the summer. There was a lot of speculation linking us to him in the past and he would be an obvious candidate to replace Xabi if he does move back to Spain this summer.

We can look forward to Blackburn match on Sunday with slightly less pressure on us. They've given us problems in the past but we should be able to beat them at Anfield considering that they don't have much to play for. We can't really afford too many slip ups with Everton breathing down our necks. In the longer term it's going to be two more games in Chelsea to look forward to or not. These games are not in any way enjoyable and have to be endured. It's going to be really tense.

Until next time.

What odds on Tuesday night being another 1-1 to complete the hat trick of score draw score lines? This one started slowly. We played well enough in the first half and created some good chances. Crouch made a few for himself and others before putting away just before half time. We had to soak up some pressure in the second half but Bendtner was able to rise above the defence and head home from a free just before the hour mark. Pennant had stupidly given away a needless free and was subbed soon after. I think that he's been fairly poor this year and I wouldn't be surprised or sad to see him leave in the summer. Finnan came back in defence and did well as did Arbeloa on the other side.

Rafa's got to be the happier manager after that. He made 8 changes beforehand, with only Pepe, Carra and Skrtel surviving the cull and we still managed to get a draw away from home. Wenger made less changes so won't have as fresh a team on Tuesday night. Some of the players, like Fabregas looked tired both midweek and in this match. This should help us on Tue, especially were it to go to extra time. Wenger didn't look happy at all on the sidelines.At one point, it looked like he was so frustrated that his head might explode. I hope it's the same situation at Anfield.

Rafa and I agree that it was an impressive debut from the boy Plessis. The Guardian match report gave him the mana of the match award. Maybe Plessis is why Rafa was willing to let Momo leave at Christmas.

Souness was full of praise for Crouch after the match. Eamonn Dunphy interviewed Souness on his RTE Radio 1 programme last week. I have more time for him after hearing it.

In our defensive foursome, he's absolutely awesome. Sami signed a new deal this week which is good news. I think that his displays this season have merited his one year extension. At times he was our best defender despite his advancing years. I hope that he joins the coaching staff when he hangs up his boots. He has a lot of knowledge that he could pass onto the kids. Red legend.

David Fairclough was on Today FM radio here in Ireland confirming what I'd heard before about the Mascherano deal. He said that the £17m transfer fee quoted is a red herring as deal includes wages over the duration of the contract. This tallies with info I've read on forums. Good news.

This report says that Arsenal and us are battling it out again but the target this time is Ricardo Quaresma of Porto. He may be available to £5m if they are convicted of match fixing. Could be what we need for the right sided attacking role.

Various papers are saying that we have a deal agreed to buy Rafinha from Shalke for £6m. I think that this has a good chance of going through. He looked good form what little I saw of the barca champions league match last week.