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For the first time in years Ive just had a bowl of sugar puffs. And now I know why, their fucking awful once theyve been in milk for over 30 seconds. They are a pretty shitty cereal. Anyway, whats your favourite cereal? For me you cant beat clusters. They are by far the best cereal out there. Expensive like, but its worth it, and I dont buy them so I dont care really. Honourable mentions to coco pops and cheerios, but you can never match the clusters. Thoughts?

LIVERPOOL RES 2 Chelsea Res 0 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) Vincent Weijl, Jordy BrouwerHalf Time – 2-0 Venue – The Academy, Kirkby Date - Fri 26 Sep 2008 Star Man – Stephen Darby After a week in which the club’s policy towards it’s youngsters had come under the spotlight, Gary Ablett’s young reserve side produced the perfect response to criticism from some quarters by producing a fine performance to see off an expensively assembled Chelsea side at the Academy. Eyebrows had been raised in some quarters that the likes of Jay Spearing, Stephen Darby and Dani Pacheco had not been included in the 18 man squad that faced Crewe at Anfield last Tuesday. Some felt Rafa was wrong not to give them a chance, others used their exclusion as evidence that our kids just aren’t good enough. A game against Chelsea’s expensively assembled side would be a good test for them, and they passed with flying colours. Chelsea didn’t give their kids a game in the League Cup either despite them boasting a number of very highly rated young players from around the globe. Mind you, it has to be said that it’s a lot more difficult throwing youngsters in when you’re away at Portsmouth than it is at home to Crewe. There were no team sheets, so I don’t have the full Chelsea line up, but I do know that the likes of Sergio Tajera, Miroslav Stoch, Michael Woods, Morten Nielson, Michael Mancienne, Fabio Paim and Franco Di Santo were all involved. That’s a who’s who of Football Manager ‘Wondekids’ right there, but the reds were more than a match for them. Ablett took the opportunity to give his entire squad a run out. At least all of those he had available for selection. With people like Putterill, Nemeth and Mendy ruled out by injury, Ablett took the opportunity to give rare call ups to two Academy players, Nathan Eccleston and Laurie Dalla Valle. A third, Alex Kacaniklic, would have been involved but for a slight injury that the coaches didn't want to risk. The reds began the game with Martin Hansen in goal, a back four of Martin Kelly at right back, Darby at left back and Ronald Huth and Mikel San Jose in the centre. The midfield saw Ryan Flynn and Vincent Weijl on the flanks, with Spearing and Gerardo Bruna in the centre. Up front Jordy Brouwer was partnered by Brazilian Vitor Flora, a Brazilian who arrived on transfer deadline day. Chelsea started the game very well, and bossed the opening 15 minutes. They created a couple of very good opportunities, one of which was brilliantly saved by Hansen. Liverpool weren’t able to keep the ball well enough and were second best in the opening exchanged. But gradually they began to get into the game, with widemen Flynn and Weijl becoming more of an influence as the half wore on. It was from a Flynn cross that Dutch youngster Weijl opened the scoring on 19 minutes. The Chelsea defence didn’t deal with the cross well enough, and Weijl smashed home a powerful volley that went in via the underside of the crossbar. It was a tidy finish, and he’d been Liverpool’s most impressive performer up to that point, getting in a couple of very good crosses and showing some nice touches. Flora had not been in the game at all, and I heard Ablett having a go at him a couple of times for not being strong enough. The reports I’ve heard on the Brazilian haven’t been good, and it’s seen as a bit of a mystery why he has been signed as he’s no better than any of the strikers already at the club. This was my first opportunity to see him, and although I’m not going to write him off after 45 minutes football, I saw nothing to suggest that I’d been misinformed about his capabilities. The one contribution he did make was to close down a Chelsea defender who was far too casual, allowing Flora to block his clearance. The loose ball fell perfectly to Brouwer smack bang in the middle of the goal, unmarked with just the keeper to beat. Jordy has his faults, but he can certainly finish and there was no way Chelsea were getting off the hook here. A well taken side foot shot put the reds 2-0 up and with just under a half an hour gone a rout was now looking like a possibility. Three minutes after his goal, Brouwer almost had a second. Flynn did well again on the right and delivered a cross into the centre that the big Dutch forward met with a scissor kick that was deflected inches wide off a defender. From the ensuing corner, Kelly had a free-header at the back post but didn’t get enough on it as he stretched to direct it goalwards. Chelsea had looked lively in flashes and clearly had some talented players. The two wingers – Stoch and Paim - looked to be very skilful, but for all his pace and trickery Portuguese starlet Paim was finding it tough against Darby, who played him very well. At half time Ablett made several changes. At the back Ayala came on to partner Huth, with San Jose moving into midfield to replace Spearing. Steve Irwin came on for Bruna, Andras Simon replaced Flynn and Eccleston came on for Weijl on the left. Dani Pacheco and Laurie Dalla Valle were introduced up front to form what looked like a mouth watering partnership between two very highly rated 17 year olds. The changes didn’t upset Liverpool’s rhythm, in fact the second half display was better than the first, even though there were no goals to show for it. Eccleston wasted no time getting involved, he’d been on the field just two minutes when he collected a pass on the left touchline and ran clear before sending a disappointing shot straight at the keeper. Two minutes after that another quick break from the reds saw Pacheco find Dalla Valle, who in turn laid the ball off to Simon who’s shot was saved by the keeper. A couple of minutes later another incisive break saw San ose win the ball in his own half before playing a raking long pass to Dalla Valle. His first touch was brilliant, allowing him to advance goalwards without having to check his stride. A defender got back to cover and it looked as though the Finn would be muscled off the ball, but he showed good pace and strength to hold off his marker, and then slipped the ball past the keeper towards the goal. It grazed the outside of the post and hit the side netting, which was a shame as it would have been a great goal. You could see just in that one attack why Dalla Valle has such a big reputation, which again makes the decision to bring in Flora and promote him straight into the reserves even more baffling. Martin Hansen had been very impressive, making a few excellent saves and showing very good handling on crosses, but midway through the second half Ablett brought him off to give Peter Gulacsi a run out. The Hungarian was called into action very quickly, and wasn’t found wanting as he made a cracking save to deny Stoch. The little winger had three or four chances in this game but either Hansen or Gulacsi were always equal to him. The impressive Darby almost capped his performance with a wonderful goal, when he rampaged forward from left back and laid the ball off to Pacheco on the right. The little Spaniard held on to the ball long enough to allow Darby to continue his run into the box, and then slipped a perfectly weighted pass into his path. ‘Darbs’ doesn’t get many goals, and has admitted that the attacking side of his game is something he needs to work on. Well he didn’t do too much wrong here, sliding the ball past the keeper only to see it strike the foot of the post and rebound to safety. It was desperately unlucky, but it’s more evidence of his improvement in going forward. He produced a similar run in the reserves opening game of the season against Boro when he exchanged passes with Brouwer and ran through to score, only for it to be wrongly ruled out by a linesman’s flag. A few minutes later more good attacking play from Darby saw him lay Pacheco in down the left. He crossed looking for Kelly, but his header was deflected over by a defender. Pacheco was now really beginning to enjoy himself, and at times he led the Chelsea defence a merry dance. He almost scored one of the goals of the season when he collected a high pass with ease, brought the ball down, beat four players in a mazy run through the penalty area and then smashed a shot against the crossbar. Pacheco was involved again shortly after when he collected a pass from Eccleston and then slipped the ball to Simon, but his first time shot from 20 yards sailed over. Chelsea created a few good chances of their own in the last fifteen minutes, but each time they were thwarted either by good defending – usually from Huth – or by Gulacsi. It was a good win for the reds, especially given the amount of changes made by Ablett throughout the game. One change was especially notable, as San Jose made way for his compatriot Francisco Duran for the final twenty minutes or so. Duran did his cruciate in only his second game here, and was out for a year. He then returned and made a few sub appearances, before he did his knee again in a friendly at Spurs last season. After another nine months or so on the sidelines he’s back, and it’s great to see him involved again. The lad has had horrendous luck and hopefully now he can have an injury free career. He was very impressive when he came on, but there was a horrible moment when he was the victim of a nasty little kick from a John Terry wannabe in the Chelsea defence. When he did his cruciate for the second time against Spurs it had been as a result of an innocuous little kick, so a few hearts were in mouths when the Chelsea player lashed out at him. Thankfully he was unhurt and he completed the game. Hopefully we’ll see a lot more of him over the coming months, as his career hasn’t really got started here yet even though he’s been since January 2007. Selecting a star man was made difficult due to a number of players only getting a half. Had Pacheco been on for the full game he’d have been a very strong contender, and Flynn and Weijl were very good in the half they played. Both keepers did well, as did Kelly, but the two players who stood out for me were Huth and Darby. Either one could have been star man, but Darby gets it for the brilliant run that ended with him hitting the post. To see exclusive photo's from this game, click here Team: Hansen (Gulacsi); Kelly, San Jose (Duran), Huth, Darby; Flynn (Simon), Spearing (Ayala), Bruna (Irwin), Weijl (Eccleston); Flora (Pacheco), Brouwer (Dalla Valle):