Red in Dublin

And so another season draws to a close. A 2-0 win away from home has to be taken in the context of the fact that neither team had anything to play for. Voronin got a rare goal. Torres scored again to make it 24 goals in the league. Other than that there wasn't too much to mention. It was good to see Insua make another start. I'm hoping that he is going to get a go next season what with Riise heading off in the summer.

Torres goal haul deserves some praise. In scoring 24 league goals in his debut season, he's surpassed the previous record held by none other than Ruud Van Nistelroy. Let's hope that he can improve on it next season. You can see all 33 of his goals scored in all competitions here. Torres says that the fans and the players have helped him to adapt to life in England. The Echo confirms what we already knew, that the Chelsea bid is bullshit. Never believe a story that originates in Marca.


Sammy Lee is in talks to take over as Assistant Manager.

Gerrard wants a title challenge. He's not alone there.

Lawro thinks that it's about time that we sorted out the ownership saga. It's not often that I agree with him but I'm going to change the habit of a lifetime here.

I'm going to do a season review post sometime soon but I won't be doing many post for the next while. If there are major transfers then I'll have a look then but I'm going to try and avoid doing the transfer roundups every five minutes.

Enjoy the good weather.

I'm very late with my post this week. The weather in Dublin has been great and I got a bit distracted by the sunshine and sights of the city. Maybe my passion for football was drained somewhat by the champions league exit. This is the first time that our season has been effectively over by the end of April under Rafa. Hopefully it won't happen again.

The city match was our last game at Anfield this season. As is the case on these days, the players take their families with them on a lap of the pitch. The funniest part of the day was seeing the two young Carraghers chase each other from end to end. With that kind of work rate and courage, I say stick them in the first team next season, alongside their Dad. The team of Carraghers that we all dream of may not be that far away. The game itself was nothing spectacular. We played some nice football in the second half and could have scored a couple more. Kuyt was unlucky to hit the bar. Babel could have helped himself to a few. Hart made a great save from a Gerrard strike. When it did come it was courtesy of Torres. He latched onto Dirks flick and beat the defender before slipping it between the keepers legs. Another Fernando classic. That makes it 23 in the league now. Not bad for a player who was said to be unprolific. It was good to see Insua get his chance at left back. It's Spurs at White Heart Lane this Sunday. Niether team have anything much to play for so I expect it to be fairly drab, as the city game was. We may get to see some more of the youngsters which might make it worth watching. It would be great to see Nemeth get a few mins after the class he's shown with the reserves this season. Gary Ablett's reserve side won the league final 3-0 against Villa. It's a great result for them and is even more pleasing given the fact that they are such a young team. We've seen Insua, Lucas and Plessis make first team appearances this year and maybe we'll see Nemeth We've launched a £10m bid for Gareth Barry according to to the liverpool post, but we're facing competition from Arsenal who're trying to replace Flamini. Crouch may go the other way but wages are an issue. Does Barry mean that Xabi is on his way back to eSpain, or maybe Italy? One website has him linked with a move to Juve. But Rafa says that Xabi's going nowhere. Rafa's going to have to add to the back room staff as Alex Miller is off to Japan. Sammy Lee is the front runner at the moment. We are being linked with a move for Aaron Ramsey of Cardiff. Steve Claridge is a fan but he's an idiot so I wouldn't take much notice of that. Spurs and Utd are after him too apparently. We tried to sign him for £1m last summer but no dice. A young Polish defender called Lukasz Kominiak has been on trial with the club for the last few days. Rafa does love to sign a few 18 year old centre halves every summer. This is a fairly shameful story, but it's hardly surprising at this stage. I always liked Pongolle and I think that he could have been a good squad player and impact sub for us. But he wanted to play every week and has done really well for Recreativo Huelva over the past two years and is linked to a move to Valencia and Atletico. On this evidence, I doubt he'll be choosing Atletico.

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.

I think that we are getting over the Euro hangovers, at last. This game was the equivalent of two solphadine and a glass of water. Did the job but you wouldn't be over the moon about it. 3-1 is about as good as we could ask for, given the exertions during the week and the fact that Blackburn usually make it hard on us, as they did for 45 mins here. We would have lost or drawn this game a few years back.

Gerrard was probably the best player on the day. He caused the defence no end of problems and scored a lovely goal to make it 20 for him this years. He looked for a few penos in the first half but the ref gave him nothing. I don't think that they were dives, as there was contact. But he did go down easier than he might have, especially for the first shout. I'm not mad on seeing our players do that but it's common practice in the league now from all of the top players like Ronaldo, Rooney, Drogba etc. Doesn't make it right but some call it streetwise.

Torres had a quiet match and looked a big tired but he still managed to score his 30th of the season and 20th in the league. An amazing achievement in his first season. Andre Voronin came on and managed to nick one at the death. He's been poor enough after a bright start this year and I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave this summer. We did concede in time added on which didn't matter but I'm sure that it pissed Rafa off. He does like the clean sheets.

Lucas did well, slotting in for the suspended Mascherano, especially in the second half. I'm hoping that he gets some more exposure over the last few league matches so that he has a solid base to build on next year. Xabi had a much better game than his recent form had suggested was possible. If Xabi does leave this summer, which looks likely in my opinion, Then we might see Lucas coming in as the regular partner for Mascherano in the middle. Rafa may also bring in somebody like De La Red or Martinez and rotate them with Lucas. I'll be sad to see Xabi go, if he does, but he hasn't been as good over the past 18mths. Sure he still has time and games to make a contribution between now and the summer.

There was a minutes silence for the 96 as the Hillsbourgh anniversary is on this Tuesday. The players stood and presented a united front in the centre circle. If only the board could do the same.

This is great news. Modric is only 22 and was awesome against England a few months back. I think that he could be incredible in our current system, with Gerrard dropping back or moving to the right.

This is also great news. Hopefully Highdale can make a full recovery ad go on to play for the academy team again.

Henry Winter has a great article on Parry v Hicks, the latest boardroom PR disaster. It's as disappointing as it is tedious. Even the normally silent David Moores has been chipping in with his two cents. It's a shambles. But it's a credit to Rafa and the team that they've managed to get to a euro semi final without letting it bother them, as this article by Brian Reade attests. I'm a big fan of Wenger but his whinging since Tuesday is unedifying.

I saw this on the bbc rumour page and I have to say that it would cheer me up no end if true.

After Diego Maradona has been handing out lavish praise to fellow countryman Javier Mascherano, the Liverpool midfielder is set to invite the Argentine hero to watch him play at troubled Anfield. (Mail on Sunday)

Maradona at Anfield, imagine that. He's a big fan of Monster Masch.

Next up is Fulham away on Sat. I can see Rafa rotating the fuck out of the team for this one. Fulham are fighting for their lives but are shit. Even our B team should be able to win. We only need around 2 more wins to be sure of fourth. If and when that happens, Rafa will rest all his big players and give the kids a run out, as he did last year. While I want us to get as many points as possible and finish as near to the top as possible, I suppose we should look at the bigger picture and focus on the champs league semis and a possible final where we might have an edge if our players are fresher.

I wonder if we can make it to Saturday without any more shots across the boardroom? Somehow I doubt it. Talk then.

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.

I don't know about you, but I had a great time last night. There is something about midweek champions league matches that gets the adrenaline going. And what a match it was? It was standing room only in my local and there was a superb atmosphere. I'm glad the match didn't go on another 5 mins as I don't think that my nerves could have taken it.

It finished 1-1 and we've got to be happy with that. The guardian say that it was an occasion that the premier league could be proud of. While we rode our luck at times, we played with the experience we've built up over the last few ties. Rafa knows how to win these games. I hope he can finish the job next Wed night.


Kuyt gets loads of stick, from reds as well as opposition fans. I have to say that I love him. I know that he's limited and isn't really good enough to be starting every match for us. He will more than likely lose his first team place this summer when a quality replacement is brought in. But last night he was a hero. Put your hands up for Dirk Kuyt. He was my man of the match and Rafa agrees. He played a clever game and knew when to go forward and support the attack and when to track back and help Carra. He was immense. He hasn't scored many this year but I doubt he'll ever score a more vital goal than he did last night. He did superbly well to ghost in from the right and get in front of the defender to knock it home. He was lucky not to concede a penalty but he's had poor luck most of this season so maybe it's evening itself out now. Red legend.

Sami and Skrtel did well by and large but had a few hairy moments like when Van Persie got between them. There was a bit of a mix up for the goal as both seemed to leave it for the other. They, and Rafa, won't be happy with that. Carra was great as we expect him to be in Europe. One of his best games of an inconsistent season so far. He may not offer a huge amount on the attack from full back, but he's worth his weight in gold for his goals saving tackles, blocks and interceptions.

Monster Masch was awesome, as we've come to expect. He was everywhere and Fabregas didn't exert the kind of influence that he usually does. It's such a pity that he won't be able to play the league match on Sat. Gerrard was fantastic too. His run for the goal was inspired. He surged from deep and exchanged passes with Torres before attacking the defence and slaloming past first Eboue and then Kolo Toure. He made it look so easy that the defenders must have felt foolish. His cross was perfect for Kuyt to muscle in and prod home. A strikers goal from somebody who's rarely a striker these days.

Martin Samuel had a good piece in the Times ahead of the champions league match. It goes into how close the team is to mounting a sustained challenge on both fronts. Well worth a read. Richard Williams in the Guardian has an article on the contrasting performances on Fabregas and Gerrard.

Saturday is going to be like "deja vu all over again". I think that Rafa will rest and rotate a few of the players. I wouldn't be surprised to see Crouch start and Torres rested. He looked knackered towards the end last night. I predicted a league loss and a euro win over two legs. I'd take that now. We are good enough to get a result on Saturday but I feel Arsenal are going to want it more given they're still after the league. I'd be happy with another draw.

If you're feeling down after the Utd defeat then have a look at this. It tells the real story of what happened at Old Trafford. I wasn't too confident going into this unlike previous years, and thought that a draw was the best that we might have gotten. I thought that we looked nervous and a lot of our big players didn't perform. We probably would have been beaten anyway as Utd were the better team on the day but once we had 10 men it was a question of by how many.

My feelings on the sending off are that Bennett was a disgrace all match and was as blatant a homer as you're likely to see. That said, Javier should have stayed away from him after he had received the first booking and not risked getting a second. I can understand his fury as Torres booking was a disgrace given the kicking he was receiving. But Mascherano should have been mature, calm and professional enough to know that by getting involved and getting a second yellow he let the team down. Whatever slim chance we had went at that point. Rafa says that Masch knows he made a mistake. By not leaving the field he faces the prospect of an extended ban. But I think that if it had been Rooney, Terry, Neville or Ferdinand in the same situation they wouldn't have been sent off. How often have we seen them crowd and abuse the ref? Terry even stopped the ref from taking out his yellow card this season. Ferdinand was trying to talk the ref into booking our players on Sunday. Rooney berates refs every match he plays. How come they don't get sent off? There is an an awful lot of leverage allowed for England players. Gerrard can be guilty of it too, especially at Anfield but by and large I don't think that we crowd and abuse the ref en mass like some of our rivals. Maybe we should as it didn't seem to do Keane at Utd any harm.

David Pleat makes the point that it was long balls over the top which caused us problems. Rooney targeted Carragher knowing that he had the beating of him with pace and trickery. Carragher was poor and could have given away a peno for a challenge on Rooney. The ease at which the defence was being torn apart had a knock on effect on Pepe who missed some punches which was costly. His distribution, which is normally superb was poor on Sunday too. But I can't remember the last time he's had a poor game for us and he did make some super saves which prevented us from losing 5 or 6 nil.

According to Sky Sports Torres is unlikely to play for Spain tomorrow which is great news. Unfortunately, it means that he's a doubt for the derby. We're definitely going to need him against a very up for it Everton. They are in poor enough form having taken 1 point from 6 but they always raise their game for the derby. Given we've a superior goal difference and 2 more points, a draw mightn't be too bad a result. But if Torres is fit and the fact that they're missing a few players, we really should be able to win at home.

The BBC gossip page yesterday said that we will bid £12m for David Bentley in the summer. I think that it's a position that we have to look at in the summer as Dirk is only a stop gap there. Bentley is decent but I think that we can do better for a £12-15m winger. He'd give us a lot in terms of set pieces, crossing and goals but he doesn't have the pace that we need out wide. Another player linked to us on the forums is Gareth Barry of Aston Villa. I think that he's another good player but again we can do better. If we're buying him for left back then I think that he'd be an improvement. I hope that he's not being bought because Xabi wants to go back to Spain. It looks like David Villa wants to leave Valencia in the summer and we're one of the clubs being linked with him. I know that Rafa tried to sign him when he was still at Zaragosa and he is a top quality player. But I don't know if he would fit into our current 4-2-3-1 system. I think that we could spend the large amount of money that he would cost, on more pressing needs.

Everyone's favourite saga continues to rumble on and on and on. This article suggests Hicks is in financial trouble and DIC could reap the rewards. Let's hope it's accurate.