TLW

1) Dave U 2) Cris 3) Dave W 4) paddy (returning from a spell in OZ) 5) C Muller 6) Rob 7) Graeme H Malarkey (Rob says he can give you a lift if you can get to the Oak Tree?) 9) John G 10) Ged 11) Richie

1) Dave U 2) Cris 3) Dave W 4) paddy (returning from a spell in OZ) 5) C Muller 6) Rob 7) Graeme H 8) Malarkey (Rob says he can give you a lift if you can get to the Oak Tree?) 9) John G

1) Dave U

Wig's ignoring me (or hasn't checked his phone). Al defo can't play though.

These days Ballack is just a poor man's Tim Cahill.

Doing a database back up, usually takes about half an hour or so. The site will be down from around 12.15am.

Match Report

LIVERPOOL 0 Chelsea 2 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 2 May 2010 Star Man – Dirk Kuyt I went into this telling myself I wanted us to lose. I didn't like that I felt that way, but it made sense given what the repercussions a Liverpool win would probably bring. And yet when the game kicked off, I changed my mind. The head may have been telling me we needed to lose this game, but when push came to shove the heart just wouldn't go along with. When we had the ball anywhere near their goal, instinctively I was willing us to score. Then I'd imagine Ferguson, Rooney, Neville & co all willing the same thing, and I didn't know how to feel. I'd forgotten how I'd felt back in 94 when we faced Kenny's Blackburn, but it all came flooding back to me yesterday. Back then, I'd gone into the game convinced I wanted us to lose, but couldn't actively root against us and in the end I just wanted us to win and then leave the title outcome in the lap of the Gods. Same thing happened yesterday, although it was made easier this time because Kenny wasn't in the opposing dug out, and Rovers had nobody of the ilk of Mongo and Drogba in their ranks. All it took to completely sway me yesterday was Drogba rolling around the floor feigning injury after only three minutes. "Fuck this, there's no way I can want these horrible bastards coming to Anfield and winning, no matter what the consequences are." As it turned out, it was inconsequential what I or anyone else wanted, as we were comprehensively outplayed, outclassed and completely over-matched. We had no chance of winning this game, the gulf between the sides was far more depressing than the actual result. They won at a canter, it was men against boys. 12 months ago we finished 3 points above Chelsea, a year later we're 21 points behind them. How did that happen? Did they go on a spending spree? No. Money is the excuse usually trotted out for our failings, but it doesn't really wash. Last summer we replaced two players the manager wanted to sell with two he wanted to sign. Unfortunately, that was all we were able to do as no more money was made available, but still, it's not as though Chelsea, United or Arsenal went out and splashed the cash on their team is it? The only significant signing Chelsea made was Zhirkov, who's been little more than a bench player for most of the year. Yet we've seen a 24 point swing. We were four points behind the mancs a year ago, they then lost Tevez and Ronaldo and replaced them with Owen and Valencia, and yet they've increased the gap between them and us to 20 points. How about Arsenal? 14 points behind us last season, 10 points ahead of us this. Just like Chelsea, a 24 point swing. They sold Adebayor and Toure, and only bought Vermailen. We've had one summer where money wasn't made available. The lack of spending last summer justifies the lack of a title, it doesn't even come close to excusing what seems likely to be a 7th place finish. We were just completely under-manned against Chelsea. With Johnson, Torres, Aurelio, Insua and Skrtel unavailable, and legs extremely weary after thursday night's exertions, we just couldn't compete and (Maxi apart) didn't have any quality to bring in and freshen the side up. It was ridiculously easy for Chelsea, and 2-0 flattered us. We competed quite well up until the first goal went in, but then we just fell apart and could have been battered had Chelsea stepped up a gear. The opening goal was pitiful, and summed up our - and Steven Gerrard's - season. You don't play backpasses from that far out when there are a number of people between you and the keeper. It's schoolboy stuff, and Gerrard knows better than that. Still, in a perverse way there is something amusing about it given how much it will have pissed off the United fans who have been giving him shit for so long. The flip side is that it has more or less handed to the title to the chav cunts who spent most of this game taunting him about the bullshit rumours that have plagued him and his wife in recent weeks. Admittedly, we gave John Terry the usual treatment, and it's difficult to take the moral high ground whilst singing about someone's mother. That being said, the stick aimed at Terry ended as soon as the game did, and the Liverpool fans who stayed behind at the end applauded Chelsea off the pitch. They played well, they are worthy champions (assuming they don't blow it next week) and the Anfield crowd acknowledged them, just as they did in 89 when Arsenal clinched the title and in 95 when Blackburn did it. What did Chelsea fans do? Well they stayed behind too, and chanted 'paedo' at Gerrard as he embarked on the lap of honour. They'd just all but sewn up the title, but they were more concerned with abusing a player who'd (albeit accidentally) just given them a big helping hand in doing it. Classless bunch aren't they? Three things to consider here. 1) It isn't true. 2) Even if it were, 16 is legal, and 3) Graeme Rix. Gerrard held his head in his hands as Drogba celebrated, whilst there was a strange feeling around the ground. I didn't see any Liverpool fan who was happy about it, but there wasn't the sense of anger and hurt that there'd normally be either. We'd been doing alright up to that moment, but heads went down and Chelsea could and should have added a couple more before the break. Lampard shot wide from a position he is usually lethal from, and it needed a last ditch challenge from Kyrgiakos to take the ball off Anelka's toes after Lampard had broke into the box again. We were being taken apart, and Mascherano in particular was really having a bad time of it. Chelsea should have had a penalty too when Lucas collided with Kalou. The contact was completely unintentional as Kalou ran across Lucas, but that's a penalty every day of the week, and usually it would also be a red card for Lucas. Alan Wiley initially looked like he was about to give it, but then waved play on. Ancelotti flipped his lid, as did the majority of the Chelsea team. This is a group of players who'll get in a referee's face when they don't win the opening coin toss to decide which way they're kicking, so when they actually do have cause for complaint all hell breaks loose. I just found it funny, I like seeing them get screwed over by refs, as it doesn't happen too often. Still, it was only going to be a temporary reprieve as they were looking dangerous every time they came forward. Things got worse for us when Maxi was forced off through injury just before half time. He'll have been the freshest player in the side having sat out the Atletico game, and he's been playing very well in recent weeks. Babel came on for him, but he barely got a kick against a Chelsea backline that grew more and more comfortable as the game wore on. We just didn't have the firepower to hurt them. Aquilani had gone close early on when his long range effort skimmed the bar, but aside from that he was very quiet, and also produced a contender for the worst shot of the season in the second half. It was no great surprise when he was substituted for Ngog. Chelsea had numerous opportunities to increase their lead in the 2nd half, but had to settle for just one more goal. The reds backline appealed for an offside against Anelka that wasn't given (Mascherano played him on), the former Liverpool striker crossed from the right and Lampard got there ahead of Benayoun to turn the ball past Reina. Carragher had been injured in the build up to it, and wasn't able to track the run of Lampard. Yossi tried, but he reacted a little too late and couldn't get goal side in time. There was no way we were coming back from that, and I just hoped it didn't get any worse. Ayala replaced Carragher, and some of our players looked to have thrown in the towel. This was especially noticeable than when Chelsea launched a counter attack, and five of their players charged forward whilst none of ours attempted to get back. We had three players back when they got the ball, and they had five running at us with no-one bothering to track them. In the end, Lucas and Kuyt both belatedly tried to get back, but no-one else did. That's not something you ever see from us, but it was indicative of the apathy that surrounded the entire day, and perhaps the tiredness in the legs and minds after the Atletico game. Whilst the scores were level, we gave it a go, but when we fell behind heads went down and the fight just wasn't there. Thankfully the scoreline didn't get any worse, and in the last minute we actually forced Cech into a save when Kuyt cut in from the left and had a shot. He more than anyone else continued to give his all, and even spilt blood for the cause when his head was split open after a collision with Terry's gargantuan fod. Being hit with that thing must be like being run over by a truck, and credit to Dirk for coming back from it. The final whistle ended the torture, and for those who stayed behind the big question was would Rafa give any kind of tell tale sign that he was off? He didn't, which is hardly surprising. Having spent all week sidestepping questions about his future, he's hardly going to give anything away by waving goodbye to the fans is he? It was business as usual, he walked around with everyone else, clapped the fans and then left. I didn't see anything unusual from anyone, although Carra and Stevie were way out in front and looked like they just wanted to get it over with and seemed embarrassed about it all. What now? Who knows, Rafa says he expects to have a meeting with new chairman Martin Broughton this week. Quite what will come out of that is anyone's guess. The Chelsea fans chanted "Rafa Benitez, we want you to stay" A sentiment shared at Old Trafford and Goodison Park. The question is whether Chelsea season ticket holder Broughton was singing along with them. Team: Reina; Mascherano, Carragher (Ayala), Kyrgiakos, Agger; Lucas, Gerrard; Maxi (Babel), Aquilani (Ngog), Benayoun; Kuyt:

LIVERPOOL 2 Atletico Madrid 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Alberto Aquilani, Yossi BenayounHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Thur 29 April 2010 Star Man – Yossi Benayoun Well that's that then. Season over. No complaints, over the two games Atletico deserved to go through. We played very well for an hour, and although we faded in the 2nd half it was looking good when Benayoun put us in the driving seat in extra time. Then bogey man Diego Forlan once again popped up to do a number on us and sent us crashing out of Europe for a second time this season. The biggest problem we had was not having any quality on the bench to bring on to regain the momentum we'd built up with our starting eleven. Replacing three of our best players with El Zhar, Degen and Pacheco is not going to do anything other than considerably weaken us, and weaken us it did. Big time. Rafa had gambled on putting all his best attacking options on the field from the start. Kyrgiakos was left out, meaning Mascherano dropped into the back four to allow both Gerrard and Aquilani to feature. I had reservations about it, I didn't like the idea of weakening three positions when we could have just played 'the Greek'. We not only lost Mascherano's bite in midfield, we lost the attacking thrust of Johnson down the right, and the balance of having Agger on the left. I didn't like it, but to be fair it worked pretty well, and Mascherano in particular was immense until he was controversially substituted. We started the game like a freight train, and almost scored in the opening seconds right from the kick off. Agger played a long ball to Kuyt who flicked it on into the path of Benayoun, but his shot was saved by the keeper's feet and went behind for a corner. It was a typical start to a high profile European night at Anfield. We played at a blistering tempo, the crowd were well up for it and everything was going to plan. Kuyt was winning every header and they looked shaky. But despite the pressure on Atletico's backline, the goal didn't arrive. They eventually began to settle down and see some of the ball, but we were still playing well. There was one move during the 1st half that may well be the best we've put together all season. It was stunning, Aquilani and Gerrard were heavily involved, and it ended with Mascherano (I think) crossing for Kuyt who couldn't keep his shot down on the stretch and the ball sailed into the Kop. It was great football though and deserved a goal. Aquilani and Gerrard were prominent in all the good things we did in the 1st half, and it was fitting that the Italian was the one who opened the scoring just before the break, as I thought he was excellent. It was a cracking finish too, as the ball was a little behind him but he did well to wrap his foot round it and find the bottom corner. It was just what we needed, and arrived at the perfect time too. If we could have started the 2nd half the way we'd begun the 1st, we could have won this tie there and then, as the goal gave us a lift and rocked them. I don't really know what happened in the second half though, we just seemed to go flat. Gerrard and Carragher appeared on the pitch before anyone else, and the players seemed to arrive in dribs and drabs. Sammy Lee even had to get the fourth official to delay the start of the half as Johnson hadn't emerged from the dressing room. I just found it all very peculiar, and wondered if something had gone down at half time. Gerrard's disappearance for the remainder of the game merely added to my suspicions. He'd been brilliant in the first half, but went missing for the rest of the game. Not so much that he played noticeably poorly, but he seemed to just vanish to the point where it was easy to forget he was even on the field. That's not something I can remember seeing before. He's had bad games, sure, plenty of them in fact, but he was always there in the thick of things. I barely saw him in the second half and in extra time. And yet I wasn't especially concerned that Atletico were going to do anything. They seemed to have much more of the ball after the break than they'd had before it, but they were more threatening in the 1st half, when they could have scored twice on counter attacks. The first occasion Simao took too long to get a shot away, and the second one Aguero was well closed down by Reina and didn't have an angle for a shot. Aside from that, they didn't do much and in the second half they kept trying hopeful shots from 30 yards that were never going to beat Reina. Unfortunately they were as comfortable at the back as we were, and their young keeper rarely looked troubled. As full time approached though, I did start to feel nervous for the first time as even though neither side looked like they would score, had they managed to nick something we wouldn't have had time to get the two goals we'd have needed. As stoppage time approached, Rafa made his first move, sending on El Zhar for Aquilani. I didn't get it, it seemed a bit bizarre. IF Aquilani had to come off, then either do a straight swap for Pacheco, or get Kyrgiakos on and put everyone back in their natural positions. I just didn't see the point in El Zhar. He's not good enough, never will be, and better players than him have left the club without getting a sniff. Once again though, I have to re-iterate the point that this lad was not given a chance against West Ham when we were 3-0 up, and yet he's sent on to try and help us win a European semi final. He's had virtually NO match practice for months, as he has hardly played for the reserves all season and has had next to no first team games. He's not good enough anyway, but he's hardly been given the ideal preparation to play to the best of his albeit limited ability either. I can't make any sense of it, how have we arrived at a situation where we need to call on Nabil El Zhar in a European semi final??? I suppose the Riera situation is the main reason for it. I've got little time for him, but he's clearly a better option than El Zhar and we could have done with him last night. Having said that, I do understand the reason he's been bombed, as you simply can't go public to complain on the eve of a big game about a lack of feedback and reassurance from your boss, whilst your agent is planning your escape route by talking to another club. I mean that's completely unacceptable, self serving behaviour, and it's no wonder Rafa was livid with him. :whistle: But even with El Zhar on the pitch, we still managed to get ourselves in front through Benayoun. I don't remember too much about it, and I haven't seen any TV replays of it. I think Lucas may have played the pass, and I remember thinking it was a good finish from Yossi but that their keeper shouldn't be getting beat from that angle. Had we kept attacking, we might have been able to kill the tie by adding another, or of course we could have left ourselves exposed at the back, we'll never know because as usual we got scared and went onto the back foot. We invited them on, and they began to turn the screw a little. Their substitute made a big difference. Attacker Jurardo replaced a holding midfielder, and his pace and direct running through the centre gave us real problems. He flashed a shot inches wide after coming on, and I thought his arrival turned the game as they began to look much more threatening. Then came the moment we had been dreading all night. An away goal. It seemed to come out of nothing. Again, I haven't seen any replays so you'll have to forgive me if I've got this wrong. There didn't seem to be any danger as Johnson challenged Reyes for a high ball, but I think Johnson's header struck the former Arsenal man on the back of the head and fell nicely into his path in the penalty area. The cross with the outside of the left foot was class to be fair, and it was matched by the finish of Forlan. Taking his shirt off in front of the Kop and celebrating excessively wasn't too clever, but given how much the game meant to Ateltico it's understandable I suppose. I don't mind Forlan, I think he's a really good player who bounced back from the ridicule he was subjected to after his unsuccessful spell with the mancs. I secretly thought he was a pretty good player even back then, but he was an easy target and I took the piss out of him the same as everyone else. Since going to Spain though he's shown himself to be top class, and credit to him as well for the way he quickly picked himself and shook Mascherano's hand when many would have milked it and tried to get him booked. Speaking of Masch, he was caught out a little bit on the goal I thought, as even without having seen it again it was clear that Forlan was in an area that you'd expect the right back to be covering. If he was partly culpable, it was just about the only blemish on an otherwise inspirational display. It was therefore a surprise to see him brought off. Seeing his number go up as Degen prepared to come on, I just assumed he must have been injured. Then I saw his arms outstretched in a 'what the fuck?' gesture to Rafa on his way off, and then he sidestepped the manager as he went to offer a handshake. I then figured he wasn't injured after all, as he was clearly not happy about it. Degen did what Degen does. He charged about like the road runner, took some throw ins really quickly, played everywhere except right back, and contributed virtually nothing. Dani Pacheco had been waiting to come on for ages, and almost had on a couple of occasions only to then be told to warm up for a bit longer. He eventually got on, but ridiculously it was Benayoun who went off. Yossi had been our biggest threat in extra time, he was really good and seemed to have stepped up his game a notch. We needed a goal, any other manager would have taken off a defender or a defensive midfielder. That's what Atletico did when they sent on Jerardo. Not Rafa though, it's like for like all the time. I like Pacheco, but it was asking a lot of him to come on and turn that game on it's head for us. Go back two or three years and we'd be bringing on a Bellamy, Pennant or Crouch (even Fowler) in that situation. You look at what we had on the bench in this game and it's utterly demoralising. Three years of poor wheeling and dealing have put us in this predicament. Argue about a lack of funds all you like, but it was only last summer that adequate money wasn't made available. This malaise started way before then. We never looked remotely like getting a third goal. We became desperate, we hit too many long balls and there was just a total lack of quality in our play. Atletico were comfortable, and had they been more clinical they'd have added a couple more as they squandered a couple of fantastic breakaway opportunities as we committed people forward in desperation. Fair play to them, they got the result they needed and it's difficult to say they didn't deserve it. Credit to our players too though, I thought everyone put in a shift and for a while we played some good stuff. We just didn't have enough in reserve to be able to compete the longer the game went on. Carragher and Agger played well at the back and kept Aguero very quiet, Mascherano did a great job on Simao and I thought Lucas was steady in the middle. Aquilani had a very good game, and Gerrard had a great first half. I can't fault Dirk or Babel for the effort they put in, but there wasn't enough quality, particularly from Babel. So I'm going for Yossi as the star man I think, although if the game had ended on 90 minutes I'd have given it to Aquilani or Mascherano. Team: Reina; Mascherano (Degen), Carragher, Agger, Johnson; Lucas, Gerrard; Benayoun (Pacheco), Aquilani (El Zhar), Babel; Kuyt:

LIVERPOOL U18 3 Middlesbrough u18 0 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) - Michael Ngoo, Tom Ince, Krizstian AdorjanHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 24 April 2010 Star Man - Tom Ince Liverpool's u18 side continued their recent good form with an impressive 3-0 defeat of Middlesbrough at the Academy yesterday afternoon. Rodolfo Borrell's side enjoyed themselves in the Kirkby sunshine, as excellent goals from Michael Ngoo, Tom Ince and Krizstian Adorjan saw off the Teessiders in an entertaining contest. The reds lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation, with Ngoo the lone frontman supported by Ince, Adorjan and Tony Silva. Craig Roddan partnered skipper Connor Coady in midfield, with a back four of John Flanagan, Andre Wisdom, Stephen Sama and Jack Robinson. Chris Oldfield was between the sticks. Recent signing from QPR Raheem Sterling was on the bench. Unbeaten in their last seven games, Liverpool began the game in confident fashion and could have scored in the opening few minutes when Adorjan's shot from the edge of the box was well saved by the Boro keeper. Coady was very unlucky to go into the book in the opening minutes, the referee getting it badly wrong as the Liverpool skipper went into a 50-50 and won the ball. Midfield partner Craig Roddan followed him into the refs notebook a little later, but he could have no complaints about the decision. Ngoo was looking dangerous, and he shot into the side netting after getting clear in the inside right channel. He should have crossed to the unmarked Ince, and in his defence he may have even been trying to do that, as I'm not entirely sure it was a shot. There was no such confusion about the shot he hit shortly afterwards however, as he turned nicely and created room for himself, before leathering the ball into the top corner from just inside the box. He's had an up and down season, but seems to be ending it on a high and has been amongst the goals lately. The lead was almost doubled less than a minute later, but Ince's low shot from the edge of the box rolled inches wide of the post. Ince then turned provider, escaping down the right and clipping a cross in towards Ngoo. It seemed like a certain goal, but just as Ngoo was setting himself to plant a header goalwards, a Boro defender got the faintest of touches to divert it away from him. Boro had not threatened Oldfield's goal much, but they had looked quite lively in attack. The right winger and the centre forward both looked quite useful, and they had some promising situations that didn't really come to anything as generally there was always a covering Liverpool defender to snuff out any danger. The one time they did manage to carve out a clear opening, Oldfield made a stunning save to turn away a powerful blast that was headed for the top corner. The save was a pivotal moment in the game, as had that gone in it would have levelled the scores. Oldfield ensured the advantage remained with the reds, and two minutes later Tom Ince doubled it with a superb strike after being released by Adorjan. Ince was impressive and was a danger throughout, he fully deserved his goal and he almost added another with a fine lob from just inside the Boro half that had the keeper beaten but drifted just wide. There was a funny incident immediately after the goal, as Boro's keeper picked the ball from the net and attempted to smash it downfield in frustration. It smacked against the back of Portuguese winger Tony Silva, who was none too impressed. "Eh, what are you doing, lad?" he snarled. The words were scouse, the accent most definitely not and it was very funny. The referee intervened and calm was restored. Silva was replaced not long afterwards, but it was certainly not a reflection of his performance as he did well and only a fingertip save by the keeper had kept him off the scoresheet. The change was just about giving another talented 16 year, Raheem Sterling, old a run out. Silva and Sterling are both still eligible for the u16 side, which means they'll be a part of the u18s for a couple more years yet unless they are fast-tracked through to the reserves. Both are very exciting, skillful, pacy players who can play in a number of forward positions, and the 'Sterling Silva' combination will have headline writers everywhere salivating! Raheem wasted little time making his mark on this game, fooling a defender to create space for himself before whipping in a perfect cross that was neatly passed into the net by the unmarked Adorjan. The goal made the scoreline look a bit more realistic, as the reds were by far the better side on the day and played some nice football. It could have been more than three, but that would have been harsh on Boro as they weren't that bad. Their frustration boiled over right at the end though, as their right back was given a straight red for going right through Ince and then appearing to stamp on him. Ince's team-mates weren't impressed, heckling the Boro player as he left the field. "Gerroff you, yer cunt" yelled one of the back four, who's identity shall remain protected in case his parents are reading! Star man could have been any one of a number of players. Andre Wisdom was the pick of a defence who all played well, Coady kept things ticking over in the middle and Ince was a constant danger. Everyone played well in fairness, but I'll go for Ince I think, just edging out Wisdom. The lads play again this Thursday when they entertain Leeds at the Academy. All being well, I'll have a report from that game too. Team: Oldfield; Flanagan, Wisdom, Sama, Robinson (Ihiekwe); Coady, Roddan; Silva (Sterling), Adorjan, Ince; Ngoo (Emilsson):

LIVERPOOL 3 West Ham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Yossi Benayoun, David Ngog, Robert Green O.G.Half Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Mon 19 April 2010 Star Man – Maxi Rodriguez Goals from Benayoun, Ngog and a Robert Green oggy ensured that West Ham's mini-revival came to a grinding halt at Anfield last night, as the reds made short work of Gianfranco Zola's side and showed that they can score goals even without Fernando Torres. Whether they can do it against sterner opposition than the hapless Hammers is something we'll find out in the weeks ahead, but this was pretty comfortable from the moment we went in front. West Ham had started the game with a spring in their step, they were trying to attack and saw plenty of the ball in our half. Pepe was untested though aside from one Carlton Cole snapshot from a tight angle. At the back West Ham were all over the place, especially whenever any kind of cross came in. We took the lead when Gerrard whipped in a free kick and Yossi diverted it in via his chest and the post. The second goal came from another cross, Maxi picking out Ngog, who made good contact with it to beat Robert Green. The keeper needs to look at himself there though, as there's no way a shot like that is beating Reina for instance. Robert Green is no Pepe Reina though, but then who is? Even in this game when we were cruising and very comfortable, Reina still made an important contribution. Early in the 2nd half the Hammers sliced through our defence and Cole went through. He couldn't beat Pepe though, and we ended up running out comfortable 3-0 winners. If Pepe doesn't make that save, who knows what happens? He made it look easy too, he's just fucking class. The third goal came from another Gerrard free-kick. The Greek got a toe on it, the ball hit the post before hitting Green's shin and going in. Another scrappy goal, but it was a scrappy performance and for long spells it was dull as fuck. West Ham were absolutely abysmal. The Kop entertained themselves for a long period in the 2nd half by airing their new Maxi Rodriguez song. There wasnt really much else to get excited about, and the song took off quite well. I couldn't be arsed with this game at all if I'm honest, I don't think I've been less interested in a game since the final throws of Houllier's tenure. The most worked up I got was when Rafa decided to send on Mascherano for Gerrard. Erm, Aquilani????? 3-0 up against shite opposition, and yet Rafa puts on a defensive midfielder and risks him picking up an injury ahead of the Atletico game. I'd love to know what he was thinking, because for the life of me I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't put the Italian on in that situation. It got worse for Alberto, he then had to suffer the indignity of Philip fucking Degen being introduced ahead of him. Had he been replacing Glen Johnson it wouldn't have been an issue, it would have made perfect sense, but he came on for Benayoun. Aquilani, El Zhar and Babel were all warming up at that point and yet we got Degen? Yeah, we won 3-0 so it hardly matters, but still, it was fucking bizarre and irritating. I'm not El Zhar's biggest fan by a long way, but at least when he comes on he lifts the tempo of a game and things tend to happen. Instead of bringing him on in pressure situations when we're desperate for a goal, why not let him have a run around in a more relaxed atmosphere with the game won, and let him enjoy himself and gain some experience? I mean come on, what's Degen going to do, apart from regularly get knocked over? Babel eventually got on for Ngog, but Aquilani must seriously be pining for home right now, with Roma flying and looking like they may win Serie A, whilst he is Anfield's forgotten man. I feel sorry for him. When the Degen substitution was made, El Zhar looked at Aquilani and muttered something. The Italian just gave a wry smile and shrugged. I doubt he's even surprised by it anymore, and I don't know why I am. In between the long quiet spells we played some half decent stuff at times, and when we did Maxi was usually involved. He came close to scoring in the 2nd half, and his first goal will surely arrive soon as he's going close almost every game now. I thought he was the star man in this game, but he didn't have too much competition in truth. Carragher and the Greek both played well, Agger was ok and Johnson did some good things. Everyone else was a bit subdued I thought. Ngog wasn't bad and took his goal well, but he gave the ball away a lot. In fairness, so does Torres. Kuyt was alright, but Yossi was hit and miss (as he has been for most of the season) Gerrard was quiet and Lucas was sloppy at times. He did get stuck in and win the ball back quite a lot though. The win was important as it keeps Everton at bay for another week and edged us above Villa again (they have a game in hand though). If City and Spurs both lose at the weekend, there will be a slight glimmer of hope again, but we'll have to win every game to stand even the slightest chance. One of those games of course is Chelsea, and if we win that one we're probably handing the title to the mancs. That would be the bluebottle on the top of the shit sandwich that has been this season. Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger; Lucas, Gerrard (Mascherano); Maxi, Kuyt, Benayoun (Degen); Ngog (Babel):

If I had a pound for every time someone had called me Carlos Tevez, I'd have about 14 quid now, and counting.

LIVERPOOL 0 Fulham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 11 April 2010 Star Man – Javier Mascherano That's that then, bye bye Champions League spot. It wasn't in our hands anyway, but I did hope we'd at least make the other sides work for it. Dropping two points at home to a Fulham side who had nothing to play for is a bitterly disappointing way to surrender the top four place we've occupied since 2006. Mathematically we're still alive, but six points behind a rampant City (who also have a game in hand and superior goal difference) with only four games to go..... stick a fork in us, we're done. The writing was on the wall today as soon as the news filtered through that Torres wasn't involved. An average team becomes a good one when he is in it, we've seen that in recent weeks as his goals have helped us to some much improved results. Take him away, and there's not really that much left, especially with Gerrard not firing at full capacity. I don't have any complaints with the team selection or substitutions, and we've played worse than this and won this season. As a one off game, you can shrug it off as just 'one of those days', especially as Torres wasn't there. Unfortunately we've been so poor for most of the season - especially away from home - that we have put ourselves in a situation where we can't afford to have 'one of those days'. Fulham showed very little ambition. They may have lined up with two strikers (a rarity in opposing sides at Anfield these days), but their midfield four made little or no attempt to get up and support them. What they did do, and did it extremely well, is work hard and make things difficult for us. Roy Hodgson knew what he was doing, he had a gameplan and it worked. He did the same last season too, with the same result. Two banks of four, close us down in the middle but let us have it out wide. We had loads of possession, and got into plenty of decent positions around their box. But how many clear chances did we have? Not too many really. We're an easy side to stifle, particularly when Torres isn't there. When he's in the side, even the best laid plans can come undone because he's the best in the business. Take him away, and we're very easy to play against unfortunately. I'm not knocking Ngog, he did his best and I didn't think he had a bad game. The problem is the drop off from Torres to his understudy is just too big. Fulham's defenders won't have been having any sleepless nights about facing David Ngog. He had one snapshot in the first half that went high into the Kop. It wasn't an easy chance by any means, but that's the difference. Look at the opening goal Torres scored against Sunderland a couple of weeks ago. That wasn't even half a chance, he just made something out of nothing and suddenly we were in front. Ngog had another difficult chance when Gerrard's brilliant ball picked him out, but he couldn't quite direct his volley goalwards. He was close, and it was a pretty good attempt to be fair. But it didn't go in. That's not to say Torres would have put either chance away, he may not have done and it's all hypothetical anyway. But ten goals in his last ten games tells it's own story. It shouldn't all fall on Ngog's shoulders anyway. Unfortunately it does, because there's such a lack of goals in this team from other areas. With Kuyt and Benayoun also on the bench, who was going to score a goal? You've basically got Gerrard, Ngog and that's it. The rest of the side between them this season have just eight league goals, six of them shared between Johnson and Babel. We did have a few sights of goal in the 1st half, but couldn't find a breakthrough. Maxi had a brief opening after sneaking in behind their centre backs, but his shot was smothered by Schwarzer. Aquilani had an overhead kick kept out by the keeper, who also denied Mascherano with a fine save. Fulham never got anywhere near Reina's goal in the opening 45 minutes. By the way, Jonathon Greening. How the hell did he stay on? Scruffy manc twat. Ref completely bottled that second yellow card he should have given him. Glen Johnson was ruining him time and again, and after that lucky escape when he should have been off, Roy Hodgson sensibly switched him with Damien Duff. Had Greening stayed where he was, he was a certainty to get a red card. The second half continued in the same manner. The closest we came to a goal was a powerful drive from Babel that Schwarzer turned onto the post. It was a good effort from the winger, but overall he didn't do a great deal. His effort is much improved though, typified by one piece of tracking back that saw him make a vital interception in his own box to snuff out a very rare Fulham attack. Aquilani had a shot pushed over the bar, and miscued several other opportunities from distance, but that was typical of the game. Most of our openings were around the edge of the box, and very little happened closer to goal as Fulham's defenders got blocks and clearances in whenever the ball was in the danger area. Aquilani did some good things and some bad things, and it was no surprise that he was the first player subbed, when he was replaced by Kuyt. That meant Gerrard dropping back into midfield, with Kuyt playing just off Ngog. Benayoun then came on for Babel, and finally Pacheco got the nod to replace the tiring Ngog. It didn't change anything though, Fulham began to look more and more comfortable the longer it went on, and even the loss of skipper Danny Murphy (given a warm ovation as he left the field) phased them. In fact, they ended the game very well, forcing Reina into a save from Duff's snapshot. Had that gone in, it would have been too much to take. Fulham can argue that they were worth a goalless draw, but had they come away with a 1-0 that would have been the biggest crime since Udinese screwed us out of £8m for Dossena. It was a depressing day, despite the sunshine, and the atmosphere inside Anfield was arguably the worst it's been all season. Understandable really, people aren't 'up' for fighting a seemingly futile battle to claim fourth place, and maybe the latest shite surrounding Cancer and Aids and their continued attempts to cling onto a club they should never have been allowed within a million miles of also took a toll. I'm sure I'm not alone in just wanting this season over and done with. Not even 'success' in the European Carling Cup can make up for the seemingly endless stream of dross we've had to endure this season. There was one moment today that made me laugh though. Just after Riise's kid brother had been brought on for Fulham, a lone voice yelled out from the Kop "Fuck off Riise!" Been a couple of years since we've heard that at Anfield. Star man was Mascherano. Worked tirelessly, used the ball well and broke up virtually every counter Fulham tried to mount. Not that it was too difficult, I reckon I could have stopped some of those attempted 'attacks'. Some limited players on that pitch today, and for once I'm not talking about Insua, Kuyt and Babel. Etuhu is garbage, don't get me started on Greening, Nevland is a shit former manc reserve, and that big lad who replaced Zamora.... damn, what the hell was he? He was more like an NFL defensive lineman, and it looked like he was wearing tights on the hottest day of the year so far. What the fuck? Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger; Mascherano, Aquilani (Kuyt); Maxi, Gerrard, Babel (Benayoun); Ngog (Pacheco):

LIVERPOOL 4 Benfica 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Dirk Kuyt, Lucas, Fernando Torres (2)Half Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Thur 8 April 2010 Star Man – Dirk Kuyt Ruthlessly efficient. This performance put me in mind of the win at Old Trafford last season. Not just the scoreline, but the manner of victory. We didn't dominate possession and absolutely blow away the opposition, but we soaked up whatever they had to offer and we clinically despatched whatever chances came our way. We chased, we harried, we forced them into mistakes and we got the job done. Emphatically. Benfica will probably be wondering how they lost 4-1 given the amount of the ball they had, but Pepe had an easy night and was only beaten by a deflected free kick. In fact, the only other hairy moment he had also came from a deflected free kick too. In open play, our defence shut them down and their danger men were kept extremely quiet. Di Maria went missing, Aimar got nothing out of Carra and the Greek just bossed Cardozo. Benfica's best players were in midfield and defence (in particular Ruiz at left back), as their 'match winners' were superbly stifled by our backline. And when we did come under some pressure after they got it to 3-1, Torres did his thing to make it safe. The third goal in particular stands out, when do you ever see us counter attack that effectively? For the first time this season, we saw the kind of European performance we've become used to during Rafa's reign. Tactically we got it bang on. As has so often been the case in those performances, Kuyt played a crucial role. He can sometimes stink the place out domestically, but he usually turns up when it matters on these high tempo European nights. He opened the scoring against the run of play when he nodded in from a Gerrard corner. The goal was a carbon copy of the derby winner he scored a few weeks back, although it briefly looked as though it wouldn't count when the linesman's flag temporarily curtailed the celebrations. After a moment or two to think about it, the referee awarded the goal. Why had the linesman flagged anyway? It couldn't have been offside as it was a corner kick, and although the keeper appealed for a foul, having watched the replays it's clear Dirk did nothing wrong. He simply nipped in front of him and headed it in. I've no idea what the linesman thought he saw, but thankfully the referee was having none of it. It settled us down somewhat, as the opening exchanges of the game had not been good for us. We couldn't get out of our own half early on and struggled to put any passes together. I could be wrong, but I didn't see either Gerrard and Benayoun have a meaningful touch on the ball until 8 minutes in. They were knocking it around and looking very composed, but it was mostly in front of our defence and Reina was untroubled in the first half, the closest they came was a drilled cross that bounced off Lucas and Benayoun and almost sneaked in it at the far post. Within seven minutes of going in front, we'd doubled our lead. Benayoun did brilliantly in his own half, showing quick feet before feeding Gerrard who released Lucas through the centre. His run wasn't tracked and he showed good composure to go around the keeper to score only his 5th goal in over 100 games. Just shows what he can do when he's allowed to go forward. At 2-0 we were in good shape, but one goal from Benfica and the advantage would be back with them, as if they could grab a second we'd be in trouble. So we really needed another goal to be a little more comfortable (not completely safe though, just ask Ferguson). The second half saw us come under a lot of pressure early on, as we sat back in our own half and kept hitting it long for Torres to chase. It was looking like it could be a long second half, but then from a Benfica corner Mascherano picked the ball up and found Benayoun. He carried it forward and picked out Kuyt, who's perfect first time cross was turned in by Torres in front of a delirious Kop. It happened in the blink of an eye, and it was a brilliant goal. It was looking good for us, but even at 3-0 it wasn't over because we knew if they pulled one back it could get really nervy. And it did, briefly. Cardozo's low free kick went through our wall, and took a slight deflection on its way past Reina. Benfica's fans went nuts, and the rest of the ground braced itself for a tense finale. Cardozo had been absolutely fucking woeful I thought, he got no change out of Kyrgiakos all night, but the lad can take a set piece that's for sure. It looked for a horrible moment as though he'd repeated the feat minutes later, but thankfully the ball went just the wrong side of the post after nicking off the wall on it's way through. Gerrard almost scored direct from a corner, as it was missed by everybody and dropped inches wide of the far post. Benfica were then dealt a blow when their keeper had to go off injured, I didn't see what happened but I think the injury was picked up as they tried to deal with the Gerrard corner. His replacement had only been on the field a few minutes before he was picking the ball out of the net. Mascherano fed Torres, who had kept himself onside and found himself all alone bearing down on the Kop goal. The angle wasn't perfect, but this is Torres we're talking about here, a player who can conjure up a goal out of nothing and who rarely misses in this situation. The other night when Messi ran through the Arsenal defence and sealed his hat-trick with that cool dink over the keeper, I don't think there was anyone who ever felt there was a chance he'd miss. I had the same feeling when Torres ran through. He was never going to miss that. I heard on the radio afterwards that this is the fourth home game in a row he's scored at least two goals. I wouldn't bet against him making it five, or even six for that matter. It's a shame he didn't get the chance to go for his hat-trick, but he was replaced by Ngog not long after. This time there were no puzzled looks from the captain or dissent in the crowd. Gerrard went off shortly afterwards too, as Aquilani got a rare opportunity to play. Even Nabil El Zhar got on in the end. It wasn't a blistering performance like the Real Madrid demolition last season, but it was a clinical, efficient performance in which we nullified their dangerman and made the most of our opportunities. I was thinking afterwards that Johnson had been a little disappointing, but then I looked at how ineffective Di Maria was. Johnson has to take credit for that, even if I can't specifically remember too many occasions when the winger actually ran at him. We did a god job of preventing Di Maria from getting the ball in dangerous areas, and I guess that means Johnson did a good job of closing the space down. Everyone played well, but the players who stood out most for me were Kuyt, Mascherano, Benayoun, and both centre backs. Obviously Torres took his goals very well, but overall he was fairly quiet and didn't have much support or service for long periods. Gerrard was relatively quiet too, but still created the first two goals. Lucas chased and harried and of course got on the scoresheet, but I'm probably going to give Kuyt the star man, just edging out Carra and the Greek. Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Agger; Lucas, Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard (Aquilani), Benayoun (El Zhar); Torres (Ngog):

LIVERPOOL 3 Sunderland 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Fernando Torres (2), Glen JohnsonHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 28 March 2010 Star Man – Fernando Torres The first half of this game was probably the best 45 minutes of the season. The passing and movement, the flooding of the opposing penalty area, the chances created, this is what we've been calling for all season. We saw it in spells against Portsmouth the other week, but there was the nagging doubt that as well as we played that night, maybe it was partly due to the lack of interest from the visitors. You could probably say the same about Sunderland, who were much worse than Portsmouth and played like a team with nothing to play for. We were still excellent though, and some of the football was fantastic. It was a little disappointing not seeing Aquilani's name on the teamsheet, but at least Lucas wasn't in there either. Nothing against him personally, but as has been said on countless occasions by countless people, a pairing of Lucas and Mascherano is too negative, especially at home against shite. The Argentine was partnered in the centre by Gerrard, meaning Kuyt played just behind Torres. Gerrard spent the entire first half just bombing forward, and Sunderland struggled to contain him. Even his set piece delivery was excellent. The tone was set in the first minute, when Gerrard whipped in a dangerous free-kick and the ball fell to Agger on the back post. His stinging volley was palmed away by Craig Gordon. Unlike so many other games this season, we started this one with a really high tempo and got straight after the opposition. Of course it helps when you score after three minutes, and it helps even more when you have Fernando Torres in the form he's in right now. That opening goal was just breathtaking. When he cut in from the left flank, it never even entered my head that he was going to shoot from there. Next thing the ball is in the top corner. Genius. It was so good that my arl fella initially wouldn't have it that it was a shot, he was convinced it had to have been a mis-hit cross. He's just amazing, and he transforms an otherwise ordinary team into a very good one when he's at the top of his game. As good as he was though, I thought there was another player who was just as important to how we played in the first half, and I'm not talking about Gerrard (who was very good). The same player was a key part of what we did against Portsmouth too, and when he has movement around him you can really see what he is capable of. I'm talking about Maxi Rodriguez of course. I thought he was brilliant, not in the eye catching way of a Torres or Gerrard, but just with simple things that allowed others to do their thing. It's little things like the weight of his passing, and the timing of the pass. His link up with the likes of Gerrard and Johnson was superb, and you can see what a good player he is when he has players moving around him. The problem he's had in a lot of our games is that our approach has been so negative that he's been isolated in possession a lot of the time. Away at Manchester United there's no point picking him, as we are never going to get enough players around him and running ahead of him when he has the ball. When we play the way we have against Portsmouth and Sunderland though, he's an absolute pleasure to watch. A perfect example of what I'm referring to was when he played a one two with Gerrard, who cut the ball back for Torres to shoot inches wide. It was the weight of the pass that made the chance. Gerrard played the ball into him and then ran past him into the box, but there's such a fine line between being onside or offside, and an even finer line between playing the ball too far in front of him or not enough into his stride. The ball from Maxi to Gerrard looked simple, but it wasn't. It was pure class, and Torres should have scored. If he had done, we'd have been buzzing off that goal. It's the kind of football we've been craving, but have been starved of. It was there in abundance in this game though, as Sunderland were just completely over-run by a red tidal wave. Maxi and Gerrard combined again soon after. The skipper headed the ball to Maxi and immediately set off towards the box. An instant back heel fell perfectly into Gerrard's marauding path, he surged into the box but dragged his shot just wide. A corner was awarded, but if there was any touch from a defender it was a faint one and the ball was going wide anyway. From the corner, once again Sunderland struggled to deal with it and Agger miscued a shot from eight yards. He's had so many chances to score in recent weeks, but it's just not happened for him. Gerrard's corners were giving the Black Cats kittens, and it needed a stunning save from Gordon to deny Maxi as he stole in at the near post to meet another fine delivery from the captain. It was a top drawer save from the Scot. We were all over them though, and a second goal was inevitable. Yet again Sunderland didn't clear a Gerrard corner, and when the ball fell to Johnson on the edge of the box he cut back inside onto his left foot and drilled the ball goalwards. It flew past Gordon with the help of a deflection, but it was a crisp strike and may have been destined for the net anyway. Johnson enjoyed himself in this game, he had nothing to do defensively and spent the entire game piling forward in the knowledge that Sunderland were offering nothing in attack. Insua was getting forward too, and his cross should have led to another from Torres. The ball eluded everyone and was collected by Kuyt on the far post, he cut it back to Babel who totally missed his kick, but Torres was on hand to drill a low shot towards goal. It crashed against the foot of the post and rebounded back to Torres who then snatched at it and dragged it wide. It was exciting stuff though, and drew warm appreciative applause from all over the ground. In the past we'd have taken this kind of thing for granted, but we've seen so little goalmouth incident and quality football this season that there was a real sense of appreciation in the stands whenever we put some nice moves together. I didn't want the half time whistle to come, as we were playing so well and you just knew it wouldn't continue after the break. It rarely does. A combination of us easing off and Sunderland reacting to what will have been a feisty team talk from Bruce, ensured the second half was nowhere near as entertaining as the first. There was still some nice football in parts, but it wasn't as sustained as it had been before the break. Sunderland were more competitive and kept the ball a bit better than they had previously, but they were seriously shite and even Portsmouth had posed more of a threat than they had. Bent was anonymous, which can partly be explained by the total lack of service and support he had, but if you take away the goals (most of which are scruffy as fuck!) there's not a great deal left. To be fair to him though, he's paid to score goals and he does. It matters not how they go in, just that they do, and he gets more than his fair share. Apart from him, they had nothing. They were a bit better when Jones came on, but Pepe had nothing to do until he dived full length to turn away a nice low shot from sub Bolo Zenden (given a warm round of applause when he came on). By then we were 3-0 up, as Johnson feigned to shoot then found Torres with a clever little ball, and he controlled before deftly lifting the ball over a prone defender and the keeper. The split second's hesitation before he took the shot made the goal, it was pure class. The closing 20 minutes or so were a bit of a non event. Aquilani came on for Kuyt, Torres was replaced by Ngog and Gerrard made way for El Zhar. With Gerrard and Torres no longer on the field, we didn't do much and the game petered out a bit. Aquilani was disappointing when he came on, and looked like he was trying too hard to impress. It must be difficult for him, it's blatantly obvious that the manager doesn't trust him and probably knows he made a mistake bringing him here. The fitness excuse isn't there any more, he isn't playing because Rafa prefers other options, it's as simple as that. He may go on to be a good player for us in the years ahead (although the odds are against it like), but in terms of this season he has been an absolutely horrendous signing. He is either not as good as we were led to believe, or the manager doesn't have a clue how to incorporate him into the side. It's Robbie Keane all over again, except there's no Rick Parry to try and pin this one on. The win keeps us in the hunt for fourth place, but we are relying on Spurs not being able to get anything from their games with the big three. Villa look like their legs have gone (not to mention their arse), City are really unpredictable, and Spurs appear to be the main ones we have to worry about. A look at their fixture list provides some hope, but it won't matter what they do if we slip up again. The good thing is that our fixtures are fairly easy, and we're winning all of our home games now. The worry is that we're fucking shit away from home and I could easily see us fucking up at somewhere like Birmingham or even Burnley for that matter. Star man has to be Torres, with honourable mentions to Gerrard, Maxi and Johnson. No-one played badly though, even Babel did alright I thought and he was even making an effort to track back and get stuck in. Probably more to do with trying to impress the Holland boss than anything else, but it's good to see him putting a shift in now. Final word goes to Steve Bruce. He took some stick (as he always does) about his big fat head, and a new song was even coined as the Kop taunted him with 'he's got a head like a beach ball'. He took it in good humour, and after the game said: "I had to laugh. I'll take my medicine and come back here... with a smaller head." It might not be the done thing to say this as a Liverpool fan, but I reckon Steve Bruce is ok you know. For a manc. Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua; Mascherano, Gerrard (El Zhar); Maxi, Kuyt (Aquilani), Babel; Torres (Ngog):

LIVERPOOL U18 2 Derby u18 1 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) - Tony Silva (2)Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 20 March 2010 Star Man - Tony Silva Portuguese youngster Tony Silva struck twice for the second week in succession, as the reds came from behind to beat Derby County at the Academy this morning. Last week Silva starred for the u16 side as they defeated Leeds, but today he moved up a level to the 18s and came off the subs bench to turn the game on its head after the Rams had taken an early lead. Rodolfo Borrell's side have now won four of their five games, and they did this without star striker Laurie Dalla Valle, who has now been moved up to the reserve team squad full time and was training with John McMahon's squad on another pitch whilst this game was taking place. The reds lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Chris Oldfield in goal behind a back four of John Flanagan, Steven Sama, Matty McGiveron and Jack Robinson. Skipper Connor Coady partnered Michael Roberts in midfield, with Andre Wisdom and Tom Ince on the flanks and Krisztian Adorjan playing behind lone frontman Michael Ngoo. With no Dalla Valle in the side I was more than a little concerned about where the goals would come from. Ngoo is one of those tall, rangy frontmen who generally manage about five goals a season. He's a good team player, but he's never going to be prolific and looking at the rest of the side there aren't too many regular scorers in there either. Wisdom and Ince were lively in the early exchanges, with Wisdom showing exceptionally quick feet and no little amount of skill for someone who is generally regarded as a centre back. The two combined well on ten minutes when Wisdom broke down the right and cut the ball back, but Ince's shot was well blocked by a defender. Ince took the resulting corner and Sama's header was hacked away off the goal line by a defender. Two minutes later Derby had the lead. A ball through the defence caused problems, and McGiveron was adjudged to have brought the striker down. I thought he got some of the ball, but the reds defender didn't complain too much about the decision so maybe he didn't. It presented Derby with a free-kick 25 yards out in a central position, and the number seven curled a low shot around the wall into the bottom corner. The reds were almost level eight minutes later, and again it was from a right wing Ince corner. This time it was Robinson who met it and sent a header goalwards, but once more a defender was on hand to clear the ball off the line. Ince was looking the most likely source of a breakthrough for Liverpool, and two minutes later he stung the palms of the keeper with a low shot from just outside the box. Another weaving run from the winger saw him get to the byline and float over a good cross, but there was no-one attacking it and Derby half cleared the danger. The ball was worked back out to the left to Robinson, who drove past the full back and delivered a perfect cut back to Ince, but his goalbound shot was yet again cleared off the line by a defender. Aside from the goal, Derby had barely mustered an attack, but five minutes before the break they managed to spring the reds offside trap and the centre forward went clean through. He took too long to get the ball out of his feet however, and McGiveron got back to pressure him and the striker could only hit a low shot straight at Oldfield. Some really good play from Ngoo saw him hold the ball up, create space for himself and then spread the play to Wisdom on the right wing. He played it to the overlapping Flanagan but he was closed down quickly and his cross was deflected behind for a corner. A pity, as it was a terrific bit of play by the reds and there were men in the box waiting for the cross. Liverpool had been well on top for the entire half, but predictably there was a lack of a cutting edge (set pieces apart, where we looked quite threatening) and clearly a change needed to be made. None were made at the break though, and Liverpool were almost level immediately after the restart but Wisdom was denied by a stunning save from the keeper. Ten minutes into the half, Borrell did make a change. Off went McGiveron, and on came Silva, meaning Wisdom reverted back into his more natural role in defence and the Portuguese youngster went to the right wing. Silva's arrival gave the team a much better balance, and they began to look much more threatening. The impressive Flanagan had a shot saved after he won the ball out wide and advanced into the box. He had options for the cross, but tried to loft the ball into the far corner. He didn't get enough on it and it was an easy save for the keeper. A minute later Silva headed wide after a brilliant run and cross by Ngoo down the left. The pressure was mounting on Derby now though, and on 65 minutes the reds drew level. Adorjan did well on the left and dug out a cross that was flicked on by Ngoo and finished by Silva on the back post. The goal spurred the visitors into life and within seconds of the restart they broke clear only for the centre forward to blaze the ball wide when he should have done better. The winning goal came on 79 minutes, when Ince floated a ball over to the right wing where Silva took it on his chest and cut inside onto his favoured left foot. His shot clipped the foot of a defender and spun off into the far corner leaving the keeper helpless. Slightly fortunate, but it was Silva's directness and willingness to go for goal that the side had been lacking prior to his introduction. Last week he'd been a class above everyone on the pitch. He was bigger, stronger, faster and that coupled with his talent made him virtually unplayable for Leeds. That was u16 level though, this was a step up and he didn't have any physical advantages over the opposition. He wasn't as spectacular as he'd been at times last week, but he's playing against lads two years older than him so that's to be expected. He still grabbed two goals though and effectively won the match for his side. Hopefully he'll be involved with the u18 squad on a more permanent basis now, as clearly he's too good for the u16s and this will be a tougher test for him. Liverpool continued to look for goals, with Ince involved in most things as he'd been throughout the game. Ngoo flicked on a long clearance by Oldfield, Ince latched onto it and hit an instant shot on the turn from 25 yards that was flying into the bottom corner until it was turned around the post by the keeper. Derby's keeper looked useful to be fair. Ngoo had a headed goal ruled out for offside from a Flanagan cross, and Ngoo and Silva both just failed to connect with a teasing cross from Ince as the reds tried to make the game safe with a third goal. Ngoo had worked hard and deserved a goal for his efforts, and it looked like he would get it in the closing stages when Silva drove into the box and cut the ball back to him, but the rangy frontman's left foot shot was somewhat tame and was stopped by the keeper. It didn't matter, as Derby never really looked like getting back into the game and the reds held on comfortably. Star man was difficult, most of the side played well but no-one truly stood out. I'm tempted to give it Ince, he was probably the most impressive performer over the 90 minutes, but it was Silva who proved to be the difference between winning and losing, and that coupled with the fact he had moved up into the older age group means I can't look past him. Team: Oldfield; Flanagan, Sama, McGiveron (Silva), Robinson; Coady, Roberts; Wisdom, Adorjan, Ince; Ngoo:

LIVERPOOL 3 Lille 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (pen), Fernando Torres (2)Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Thu 18 March 2010 Star Man – Fernando Torres In terms of the great European nights it was nearer to Auxerre than St Ettienne. French sides tend not to fare too well in second legs at Anfield, and Lille became the latest side from across the channel to be turned over by a reds side that is starting to show flickers of life when it was beginning to look like there weren't any. The improved display against Portsmouth on Monday night coupled with a three goal victory against a decent European side should give us something of a confidence boost ahead of the weekend's trip to Old Trafford, but the biggest thing for us is that Torres looks to be running into top form after his injury problems. I don't expect Nemanja Vidic will be getting much sleep this week that's for sure. Aquilani's illness robbed us of the opportunity to find out whether he would have kept his place after his impressive showing on Monday night, whilst we already knew Maxi would be unavailable having already played in Europe for Atletico this season. Predictably, Lucas and Kuyt came back in, and the Brazilian more than justified his selection with a lively first half display in which he won a penalty and was a key figure in most of our attacks. The second half saw him revert back to the bits and pieces defensive role he's been playing for most of the season, which was a pity as Lille looked vulnerable every time Lucas had gone forward in the first 45 minutes. They weren't picking up his runs at all (in fairness I doubt this will have been something they planned for) and in addition to winning the penalty he also had a low shot saved after surging through a huge hole in the middle of the park. "I think Lucas is wearing Aquilani's boots" quipped the fella behind me. The penalty gave us the perfect start, as an early goal always helps in this kind of situation. Immediately it put us back on level terms in the tie, and put Lille on the back foot and under pressure. The crowd had been noisy from the start, and the early goal helped keep that momentum. It was an obvious penalty, the French side could have no complaints about it as Lucas was clearly tripped as he ran into the box past a couple of defenders. Mr Reliable Steven Gerrard converted the penalty, and Lille were wobbling. I thought they were shite in the opening half hour, but we've seen this so often in this kind of game. We seem to play at a higher tempo in these high stakes Eurpean games, and Lille didn't cope with it too well. Not many do, and better sides than them have wilted under the pressure. Unfortunately, we didn't maintain the tempo past the opening half hour and the longer the first half went the more they got themselves into it. For all their possession though, they didn't create too much apart from one glorious opening when the spritely Belgian Eden Hazard burst through the middle and found himself one on one with Reina. I expected him to try and take the ball around the keeper, but he opted to take the shot early and tried to lift it over Pepe. I'm not sure what part of Reina made the save, it looked like his hand to me but it may even have been his head. Either way, it was a brilliant stop, and arguably the decisive moment in the tie. The mistake that led to the second goal was probably just as decisive actually. Lille had regrouped after the early setback, and they were looking fairly comfortable until their centre half ridiculously misjudged a bouncing ball and allowed it to go over his head into the path of Torres. You simply don't do that, as there's only ever going to be one outcome. The finish was sublime, as you'd expect. That goal put us in command of the tie, but it also presented us with a bit of a dilemma. Keep what we have and risk conceding late on, or go for the killer third goal. I don't think we did either we seemed to caught between the two. It wasn't all out defence, but we did drop deeper and we began to get jittery. We constantly gave the ball away cheaply and invited pressure onto ourselves. Lille were all over us, but they had nothing up front and didn't really threaten Reina's goal much at all. But you can never be comfortable when you know that conceding a late away goal basically kills the tie as you won't have time to score twice. It wasn't pretty, the crowd were getting edgy and the players were making silly mistakes. Given the amount of late goals we've conceded this season, especially in Europe, it's understandable that nerves came into it, both on the field and in the stands. Thankfully Lille had very little up front and we got away with it. We even added a third, albeit in fortunate circumstances as it looked to me like a clear foul by Kuyt in the build up. Gerrard's shot was saved, Torres buried the rebound, game over and we were into the next round. It wasn't a great performance, and it was probably the most unrealistic 3-0 scoreline I can remember since the blues beat us by that scoreline at the Pit a few years back. For long spells we were on the back foot, but when you have Fernando Torres you can win any game. He is the key to any hopes we have of doing anything. He's simply phenomenal. He was the undoubted star man, but the backline deserve credit too with Carragher the pick of the four. Mascherano was his usual self and Lucas's first half display was excellent. Babel and Kuyt were both disappointing overall for me, although both worked hard and Kuyt did well late on when he had a couple of powerful shots saved by the keeper. And of course there's Reina. He rarely features in the man of the match voting as keepers generally don't. But he's been far and away our best player this season and he's always been there when we've needed him. This shit season would have been a lot shitter without him, that's for sure. And with him at one end, and Torres at the other, we might just go all the way in this competition. Admittedly, it would be like losing a winning lottery ticket but winning on a scratch card, but it'd be better than nothing. Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger (Kyrgiakos), Insua; Lucas, Mascherano; Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel (Benayoun); Torres (Ngog):

It's been a long time coming. About six months in fact. Not since the demolition of Hull in September have we seen the reds take a team apart the way they did last night. The football was good, we scored four goals and but for the woodwork we'd have matched the scoreline from the Hull game. Granted, it was only Portsmouth, but fairs fair we played well in this game and it was good to see. To read the full report, click here

LIVERPOOL 4 Portsmouth 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Fernando Torres (2), Ryan Babel, Alberto AquilaniHalf Time - 3-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Mon 15 March 2010 Star Man – Alberto Aquilani It's been a long time coming. About six months in fact. Not since the demolition of Hull in September have we seen the reds take a team apart the way they did last night. The football was good, we scored four goals and but for the woodwork we'd have matched the scoreline from the Hull game. Granted, it was only Portsmouth, but fairs fair we played well in this game and it was good to see. There could be any number of reasons for the free flowing attacking approach we saw in this game. Maybe it was the absence of Lucas and Kuyt from the side, or key players suddenly recapturing their form at the same time, or maybe Portsmouth were just so bad that even we managed to look good against them. We were definitely much more attack minded in this game than we have been for months, that's for sure. Anyone would think Real Madrid were in the hunt for a new manager or something.... Of course I'm being mischievous there, I'm not seriously suggesting that Rafa removed the shackles just to show Madrid he can play attacking football, that would be ridiculous. Personally, I think the biggest difference between this game and the likes of the Wigan or Wolves games was the inclusion of Aquilani ahead of Lucas, coupled with Torres being on his game and Portsmouth's defence being shite. Had we taken this approach against Wigan last week, no way would we have seen such an insipid display as their defence isn't much better than Pompey's. After 15 minutes of this game I turned to my arl fella and said "Aquilani has spent more time on the opposition's box in this game than Lucas has all season." I don't specifically blame Lucas for that as I'm fairly sure he's playing to orders, but watching Aquilani in this game it was clear what we'd been missing all season. I don't think he was brilliant, but he was very good and he made it easier for the other attacking players just by being up there in support with them and using the ball intelligently. It was a pleasure watching him, and I was delighted for him when he scored. As pleasing as this display was though, we have to remember that it was only Portsmouth, and that one swallow doesn't make a summer etc. But that's for another day, and credit is deserved for this display. Had we approached this game the way we did the Wigan game, or the second half of the Blackburn game for that matter, we could have suffered a major embarrassment. Portsmouth can attack, they have some useful players going forward, but just like Wigan they are absolutely abysmal at the back. Thankfully, this time we chose to attack their weakness instead of playing to their strengths. The inclusion of Aquilani and Babel sent out a positive message, and the performances of the pair were a major reason for the improved display. The absence of Kuyt and Lucas was also significant in my opinion. So many attacks lose momentum when the ball is at the feet of those two, especially Dirk who has been in wretched form for some time. Babel was still very much hit and miss, and he often lost possession when trying to beat two defenders, but I can live with that as long as occasionally he's going past them, which he was. We just looked more balanced, and Torres looked a lot happier now that he wasn't completely isolated and lacking in support. Maxi's clever passing and movement was a real feature of the game, especially in the first half, and I'd say this was his best performance since coming to the club. I said on the last TLW podcast that Maxi is a pass and move player in a team that doesn't move. Well in this game there was movement, plenty of it, and we looked so much better for it. Having said all of this, we still needed a huge helping hand to open the scoring, and if their keeper hadn't made that cock up maybe this would have turned into a huge struggle just like so many other games since that hammering of Hull. But we'll never know as he did make that error. Gerrard closed him down and blocked his clearance, Maxi fed Torres and just like that we were in front. The second arrived soon after, Torres jinking into the box and cutting the ball back to Babel, who composed himself and poked the ball into the bottom corner. We made it three before half time when a brilliant passing move ended with Gerrard leaving Torres' back heel to Aquilani who drilled a low shot into the Kop net. He was clearly delighted, it's been a nightmare time for him since he came here and hopefully this will be the first of many goals he scores in front of the Kop. The lack of action for Aquilani has been unforgivable in my opinion, there's no excuse for it and had we been playing anyone other than Portsmouth he might not have even started this game. Still, he's made it virtually impossible for Benitez to leave him out now after this showing. Hasn't he? Pompey were all at sea in defence, but they were carrying a threat at the other end with the pace they have in the wide areas. The best chance they had fell to Piquionne but he dragged his shot wide. For us, in addition to the three goals we scored, Torres also struck the post with a terrific effort and Gerrard missed two fine chances that came about following some nice build up down the right. That flank was particularly productive for us, and Maxi and Johnson combined well on numerous occasions. I didn't want the first half to end, as we've seen so often that when we come back out for the second half and we have a lead we can be guilty of sitting back and keeping what we have. That was my biggest concern, but even though we only added one more goal I wouldn't say that we sat back. There were periods where not much happened, but not because we were defensive. It didn't help that our flow was disrupted by substitutions and key players going off, but with the Lille game coming up on Thursday it would have been daft to make Gerrard, Torres and Johnson play for the full ninety minutes with the game won. We could have scored more than the one, and Babel was desperately unlucky to see a brilliant shot strike the bar after a lovely move involving Gerrard and Aquilani. Those two really seemed to hit it off in this game, it was encouraging to see and hopefully bodes well for the future. Pompey thought they'd pulled one back when Belhadj cut the ball back to Brown, who struck it well only to see it somehow tipped over by Reina. A brilliant stop, but what we've come to expect from him. If he doesn't win our player of the year award then something is seriously wrong, as no-one has even come close to matching him. It wasn't a good night for Brown, as shortly afterwards he got his clock cleaned by Gerrard in an off the ball incident that the referee saw but felt was only worthy of a free-kick. Initially I just thought Brown had tried to get in Gerrard's way and block his run, and that Steven had just brushed him out of the way. Having seen the replays, it was definitely more than that and Gerrard just decked him with an elbow to the head. Two things worth mentioning in mitigation here, firstly Brown initially put his own arm out to try and catch Gerrard, but the skipper saw it coming and landed one of his own. Secondly, it's Michael Brown, one of the nastiest little cunts ever to lace up a pair of boots. I'd argue that elbowing this turd should be encouraged, not punished. That was Gerrard's last involvement, he was soon replaced by Benayoun. Torres then made it 4-0 with a typically clinical strike, before he too made way for Ngog. Johnson had earlier given way to Martin Kelly, as Rafa began to look to the Europa League tie with Lille. Portsmouth got a late consolation when Belhadj crossed for Piquionne, and when the striker drilled the ball across the face of goal Belhadj was there to provide a neat finish. He's scored in both games against us this season, and I really like this lad. He's direct, fast and the ball looks like it's glued to his foot at times. I'd defo like to see him in red if he was available on the cheap. They probably deserved that goal, as they were much better in attack than they were in defence. That centre back pairing has to be the worst in the division, they were completely out of their depth trying to handle Torres, but a lot of that was down to the support play of the likes of Maxi and Aquilani. As good as Torres is, we've seen him shackled by some really shit defences this season, largely because he's had no support and no service. Nando was electric in this game though, and there were signs that Gerrard is coming back into some form too. We need both of them firing from now until the end of the season, and especially in the next couple of games. Hopefully Aquilani will be allowed to build on this as on this form he can be a big help to both Torres and Gerrard. He was the star man, just shading it from Torres. Maxi and Babel are both worthy of a mention too. Team: Reina; Johnson (Kelly), Carragher, Agger, Insua; Aquilani, Mascherano; Maxi, Gerrard (Benayoun), Babel; Torres (Ngog):

If there was one team I wouldn’t want to play right now, it’s Portsmouth. Yeah, they’re bottom of the table and relegation certainties, but all the troubles they’ve had seems to have galvanised them as a group, and they are playing with no fear at the moment as they literally no longer have anything to lose. They’re the worst side we could come up against, because all the pressure is on us. We wont get any plaudits if we win, as let’s face it we should be beating them. If we don’t win though, all hell will break loose. To read the full article, click here

atk's match report http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/news/89444-liverpool-res-3-tranmere-res-0-match-report.html

LIVERPOOL RES 3 Tranmere Res 0 Report by Alan Kayll at the Academy Scorer(s) - Lauri Dalla Valle, David Amoo, O.G.Half Time – 1-0 Venue – The Academy Date - Wed Mar 10 2010 Star Man – Jay Spearing Liverpool Reserves finally got some playing time under their belt on a cold but sunny afternoon at the Academy. Ressies boss John McMahon was forced into a late change today with the news that Stephen Darby had agreed a loan move to Swindon Town until May. The deal is expected to be concluded on Friday barring no major injuries to the first team tomorrow night, a delighted Darby left this game midway through the 2nd half to travel down to Swindon to conclude the formalities. The Liverpool squad were also buoyed by the news that Brazilian flop Vita Flora had returned to Brazil after an easily forgettable two year stint at the club. Liverpool were up against a former player in Charlie Barnett who was back in familiar surroundings having grown up at Liverpool's Academy and won two FA Youth cups with the club. It looks as though first team action for Tranmere has boosted his physique. Rovers had intended to field a very strong side for this game, but those plans were dashed by a bug that has hit their camp the last few days. Just before kick off the arrival of a relaxed and smiling Rafael Benitez was a boost for the young lads, who will have been eager to impress the boss. The game was evenly matched early on with both sides looking to get the ball down and play football. The talented Jay Spearing was pulling most of the strings for the reds, and there was a significant moment in the game after 23 minutes when a weak Nikola Saric effort was easily saved by the Rovers keeper on his line. It must have been a huge relief to Rafael Benitez to finally see a Liverpool side have a shot on target after 130 minutes of football. Liverpool were spreading some good balls from right to left with Ayala finding Mavinga on more than one occasion, Mavinga looks a promising player, he has the same build and look of Djimi Traore but thankfully he does not have the same touch as the former European Cup winner. Unlike Djimi, his second touch isn't a tackle. Liverpool deservedly took the lead after 42 mins when good work by Kacaniklic found Amoo. His shot was saved but Della Valle squeezed it in from a very tight angle. The Finn may not be blessed with the greatest pace, but he certainly makes up for it with an eye for a goal and great intelligence. Very good prospect is Dalla Valle. The 2nd half brought a change for Liverpool, as on came Gerardo Bruna for Saric. Bruna has been out for several months through injury, but is back to full fitness now. Within 3 minutes Tranmere were reduced to 10 men when Creswell was sent off for an over the top tackle on the hairband wearing Steven Irwin. David Amoo was pushed into an attacking midfield role behind Dalla Valle, whilst Bruna moved to the right. Amoo was starting to cause Tranmere problems with a series of strong attacking runs into the Rovers box. He got his reward after 70 mins when he struck a side footed shot past the keeper. It was a competitive fixture with plenty of strong challenges going in. A few tough but fair Charlie Barnett tackles left the Mohican sporting Damian Plessis rolling around the surface. As if he hasn't been standing out enough for his stinking performances, he's now drawing more attention to himself with a daft haircut. Liverpool made their second change when Francisco Duran replaced the impressive Mavinga after 73 mins, this prompted Rafael Benitez and backroom staff to leave the Academy for the short journey to Liverpool airport to catch their flight to Lille. The third and final change came in the 77th minute when Nikolaj Kohlert replaced David Amoo. The final goal came courtesy of a Tranmere og when a Dalla Valle snap shot was turned into his own net by the centre half. With three minutes remaining Liverpool should have made it 4-0 when Ayala headed back to Dalla Valle, but he missed from 5 yards out with an open goal in front of him. 3ulWPEZB6Y8 Team: Gulacsi; Irwin,Ayala, Palsson, Mavinga (Duran); Amoo (Kholert), Spearing, Plessis, Kacaniklic; Saric (Bruna), Dalla Valle:

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/news/89387-weekend-round-up.html

Next one will be out in the week leading up to the manc game.

Seraf, get Emilio down for a game before he heads back home. And has Carlo recovered yet?