Everton 0 Liverpool 2

Apart from the final 10 minutes, when the result was beyond reasonable doubt, I did not enjoy this Merseyside derby.

Everton played well and would have been worthy winners on the day but for a combination of Reina's brilliance, some top notch defending by the likes of Johnson and Carragher and their own players' profligacy when presented with clear goal-scoring chances.

I feel a tinge of sympathy for Everton over the result but also empathy because we have experienced the sensation of failing to win despite being the better team on too many occasions of late. We dominated our games at Sunderland and Fulham only to lose; we were worthy of a point at Stamford Bridge but came away with none, and in Lyon we were robbed blind by fate when they scored the late equaliser which ultimately knocked us out of the Champions League.

I also recall a derby at Goodison just three seasons ago when we lost 3-0 despite playing far better than our opponents on the day. Embarrassingly, Everton FC immediately released the DVD of the game - as if any true Blue would want to see anything but their goals replayed (which stemmed from a foul on Alonso that the referee missed, a mistake by Carragher on his return from injury and an uncharacteristic mistake by Pepe Reina).

So yes, we were slightly fortunate to win the 3 points today but given the chronically rotten luck we have endured of late, it was long overdue.

I should also point out that Reina's performance was no fluke and it is for games like today's that Rafa procured the services of one of the best goalkeepers currently playing.

Talking of luck, this weekend has seen Villa, Tottenham, Man City and Arsenal all drop points which has helped us close the gap between us and 3rd place to just 3 points. The top two will undoubtedly be Chelsea and Man Ure - probably in that order - but third and fourth place are very much up for grabs.

The key for us is getting Gerrard and Torres fit and in the team; hopefully getting Aquilani into the team and playing well, and getting no more injuries to key players. Game on!

Debrecen 0 Liverpool 1

The worst thing about following Liverpool this season has been the shite talked about us on TV. Tonight was more of the same. First we had to hear the man with real expertise on how to manage Liverpool Football Club, Graeme Souness, talking about how it is a disgrace that Liverpool were in the situation they faced going into their game against Debrecen. Ignoring the fact that Souness was the worst Liverpool manager in the last 50 years, the fool’s view is consistent with those I hear from the ill-informed and downright morons (e.g. Paul Merson) all the time. It’s as though people expect the name of Liverpool Football Club to win games on its own.

Fact: Football Clubs do not win matches; players do. The problems Liverpool have had this season have been (a) an inability to field it’s best players at the same time on a regular basis, and (b) a lack of strength in depth brought about by two sets of owners lacking the financial clout to make our club competitive.

We had to hear the moronic SKY commentator telling us that lowly Debrecen can only spend £1.5m per season on players. Hang on! What did Liverpool spend this summer? We bought Johnson for £17m of which £11m was already owed for the Crouch transfer and Pennant loan; Aquilani for £20m and Kyrgiakos for £1.5m. We recouped £30m for Alonso, £3.5m for Arbeloa, £3m for Leto and £0.5m for Anderson and Hamill on top of the unspent £16.4m we got for Keane and Hobbs in January. That’s £27.5m spent and £53.4m recouped and a net spend of -£25.9m. What would we give to be able to spend £1.5m like our rich Hungarian opponents!

Tonight I’ve had to listen to SKY’s dickhead commentator (sorry, I’m not sure which one it was) and Gary McAllister (who should know a damned-sight better!) questioning whether Liverpool really need both Mascherano and Lucas in the team. Of course they fucking don’t but who are the players who should be playing instead? Alonso? Oh yes, he’s fucked off to Madrid for a 300% profit. Gerrard? In case, you haven’t noticed, Torres is injured and we have a kid up front (a very effective kid, I might add) and no one else who can play a forward role effectively so our versatile Captain Fantastic is needed elsewhere. Aquilani? Nearing fitness after a long lay-off; unproven in the Liverpool team and therefore a gamble in a game of this importance, and it’s questionable how fit he actually is. Anyone else? No.

Rafa has come in for some stick in the past – at times deservedly – for rotating players, but this season his selections have largely been restricted to picking whoever was fit. As it turned out, he could have gambled on starting Torres, Benayoun and Aquilani but with Fiorentina winning, we would still be out.

In the end, you have to say Rafa got it right. At least we have a rare clean sheet and a rare win to take into next weekend’s Merseyside derby.

To hear SKY’s commentator saying we can’t claim hard luck in this group is a fucking joke too far. Hard luck? Is it not hard luck to have a wafer thin squad decimated by injury? Having to play in Fiorentina with a midfield pairing of Aurelio (just back from injury) and Lucas? How about losing a late goal at home to Lyon when we at least deserved a draw or losing another late goal away to Lyon when we thoroughly deserved a win? And how about the simultaneous dips in form of some of the few players who have avoided injury such as Kuyt, Skrtel and even Carragher?

Last season we finished strongly with a fairly settled side consisting of Reina, Arbeloa, Carra, Skrtel or Agger, Aurelio or Insua, two from Mascherano, Alonso or Lucas, Kuyt, Riera, Gerrard or Benayoun and Torres. During this God-awful run of disappointing results the only players from those listed who have been consistently available for selection were Reina, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas and Kuyt. Everyone else has missed games through injuries, suspensions or delays in returning from internationals.

Ngog is proving to be a decent player but replacing Torres with Ngog is not the same as being able to replace Drogba with Anelka or Kalou. It is not the same as being able to replace Adebayor or Bellamy with Tevez or Santa Cruz or Robinho. It is not the same as being able to replace Defoe with Crouch or Pavlychenko. It is not the same as being able to replace Rooney or Berbatov with Michael Shithead or their youngster Danny Welbeck. We simply don't have the strength in depth that rival clubs have.

I’ve heard a few criticisms from Liverpool fans of late with some suggesting that Kuyt should be able to stand in for Torres. Kuyt can do a job both up front and on the right but he is neither a world class striker or winger. He was a £9m signing and good value for that fee. He cost less than a third of what Man Ure paid for Berbatov or City paid for Robinho and less than half what Chelsea paid for Drogba or what City paid for Tevez or Adebayor. There are bargains to be had in football but more often than not, you get what you pay for. Kuyt has been a good player for Liverpool despite his latest lapse in form but he will never lead a title charge and you can't expect him to replace Torres and for the team to be as effective.

I’ve heard people saying Rafa should have signed Michael Shithead. After what that Manc bastard did, I wouldn’t have him within spitting distance of our football club but, yes, I concede his is a better player than Voronin. However, who is to say Rafa was even in a position to offer the twat a pay-as-you-play contract? Even if we could afford his wages, would Shithead have accepted a place on the bench?

Look at City this summer and you can see why Tevez, Santa-Cruz and Adebayor might each have believed they had the chance of nailing down the position of first choice striker. At Liverpool, if Gerrard and Torres are fit, no one else has a sniff. Simple as that. You would hope in the future, potential signings would look at their recent appearance records and think it worth joining our club but in this summer, Shithead would have thought he had a better chance of ousting the lumbering Berbatov to partner Rooney than shifting either Torres or Gerrard. As it happens, he hasn’t even shifted Berbatov yet! For all his 98th-minute winners, Shithead hasn’t exactly set the Premiership alight just yet.

Let’s view this season for what it is. It is a season of transition in which we are giving some young players some valuable experience in the great white hope that they develop into cheap world class players capable of delivering success against the odds to our miserly football club. Lucas, Insua and Ngog would never have been afforded a run of games at Man Ure or Chelsea. Let’s hope they can develop, just as some of Arsenal’s kids have, despite the stick they’ve received from impatient supporters, and let’s hope for one perfect season where Gerrard, Torres, Johnson, Reina and Agger all stay fit and in form... One shot at the title before the spending clubs pass us by.

Liverpool 2 Man Shitty & Phil Dowd 2

(Some quick thoughts immediately after the game)

What can Rafa do? He picks his strongest XI and loses two players to injury in the first half. Neither team could get any rhythym going in the first half because of the constant stoppages. Then we took the lead and sat back. Skrtel was at fault for City's soft equaliser and then their second was offside. Great character to get back level and we should have won it. How Lucas didn't score I'll never know.

It was the right decision not to use Aquilani. It would have been too big a gamble to start him with so many other enforced changes and the injuries left Rafa with just one sub to make. Too big a gamble to throw the Italian on.

What I resent is Andy Gray banging on about a point not being enough for us in terms of the title race. As usual, he isn't looking at the bigger picture. We have been absolutely decimated by injuries whilst having no luck whatsoever at the same time. Two more injuries and conceding an offside goal was just more of the same for us. Right now, our priority is to get players fit; get a settled XI, and pick up as many points as we can to try to finish in the top four.
Although disappointed that we didn't win, the important thing was not to lose. Hopefully, next time we play City we will have something like our strongest XI available and a bit of form going into the game.

If they carry on failing to win, they'll have a new manager by then.

Statto

With City becoming the first team to fail to beat Burnley at their home ground this season I wondered how Mark Hughes isn’t being tipped for the sack while first class idiots like Paul Merson and Graeme Souness are calling for Rafa’s head simply because his decimated team have had some disappointing results in some tough fixtures.

Liverpool have taken 6 points from their last 5 games (Man Ure have only taken 7!). City have taken 5 points from theirs. Liverpool’s last five opponents were Hull (h), Chelsea (a), Sunderland (a), Man Ure (h) and Fulham (a). City’s were Villa (a), Wigan (a), Fulham (h), Birmingham (a) and Burnley (h).

In two years at City Mark Hughes has spent £241.5m, recouped £33.3m and has a net spend of £208.2m. During the same period, Rafa Benitez has spent £77.5m, recouped £73.9m and has a net spend of £3.6m. In six seasons (including this) at Liverpool, Rafa Benitez has spent £228.5m. During the same period, Man City (under four different managers) have spent £304.1m. City’s current squad cost £269.6m. Liverpool’s cost £158.7m.

The spend figures are taken from the website www. soccerbase. com while the current squad costs are quoted from Paul Tomkins website.

If Rafa’s preferred forwards are injured or absent, he has David Ngog, Andrily Voronin and Nathan Ecclestone in reserve. Mark Hughes’ preferred forwards are unknown but he can choose from Emmanuel Adebayor, Robinho, Roque Santa-Cruz, Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy. Liverpool’s entire back four in their last league match cost £7.1m. Mark Hughes has a pair of centre halves who cost £38m between them.

For some reason, Rafa is expected to win the title whereas Hughes would be applauded if his side managed to finish in the top four. For some reason, Rafa’s position at Liverpool has been widely questioned by numerous people in the media while Hughes’ has not.

Here’s a few other stats that I found quite interesting. In their last 10 games, Liverpool have fielded 10 different combinations of defenders in their starting XIs. In the whole season (16 games), only one combination of defenders has been used more than once. Johnson, Carra, Skrtel and Insua have started as a unit on 8 occasions. 8 other combinations have been used once each. In 16 games, 11 different players have started at the back for Liverpool: Johnson, Degen, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Ayala, Insua, Dossena and Aurelio.

With that in mind, is it any wonder we have conceded so many goals this season? With Torres and Gerrard being hampered by injuries and with Aquilani taking longer than expected to recover from injury, we have been unable to consistently field our strongest or a settled defence, midfield or attack this campaign. Is it any wonder we have had so many disappointing results?

Here’s some more stats: Liverpool have never beaten Birmingham in the Premiership under Rafa Benitez. Liverpool have not won when playing on a Monday night for over four seasons. Therefore, I consider it a nailed on certainty that we will beat Birmingham on Monday night as both those records are ridiculous!

Lift us up where we belong

It was 28th February 2008. I stood at the bar of the Thatch and Thistle watching the emaciated chav in the Everton shirt leaping around the bar area swinging his arm round as though it were limp. Minutes earlier he had been sitting next to his wife – who looked and dressed like his doppleganger except that she sported a classic 1980’s perm – complaining about the lack of passion he perceived was being shown by David Moyes’ team. Now he was charging around like a maniac screaming “We’re going back to fourth place where we belong!”

On noticing that I had barely flinched in reaction to Yakubu’s scruffy tap-in, he asked in a gloating manner whether I was a supporter of Man City – the team now 1-0 down at home to Everton.

“No I support Liverpool” I told him.

“Ee-ar! Ee-ar! There’s a red spy ‘ere.” He spat through rotten teeth. “Come to spy on the enemy ‘ave yer?”

Debating whether responding would simply encourage this village idiot to give me his unwanted attention, I told him: “Yes, I’ll be on the phone to Rafa later with a full match report.”

“Come in ‘ere for the derby, lad. Come in ‘ere and look fer me!”

I didn’t go in there for the derby. Largely because I wanted to watch it and it wasn’t being shown in the Thatch and Thistle. I watched the game in the Arion. Liverpool won 1-0 and went on to finish fourth where Everton apparently belonged. Everton finished fifth, 11 points behind us.

What struck me was that for us, finishing fourth represented failure. It was a backwards step when we were desperate to improve. Had Everton finished fourth, to that numpty and thousands of other Bluenoses it would have been considered a massive achievement worthy of celebration.

Who aspires to “belong” in fourth place? With eighteen first place finishes recorded before my eleventh birthday, I had followed my team for a decade and a half believing we belonged in first place. However, 20 years on from the last time we finished first, I have to question whether that belief is as out of touch with reality as that moron’s assertion that Everton belong in fourth place.

Just as I can point out that Everton have finished fourth only once and never higher in seventeen Premiership seasons - indisputable evidence that they do not ‘belong’ in fourth place – it is also true that Liverpool have never finished first in the Premiership and have only finished second twice. Based on performance over seventeen years, we probably belong in third or fourth place. Based on squad cost, wage bills, stadium size, income and disposable spending money we perhaps don’t even belong that highly anymore.

The truth is there is a big difference between where we aspire to be and where we ‘belong’. First is still where we aspire to be just as bitter Blues with all the intelligence of a retarded gnat aspire to finish above Liverpool, whether that be in fourth place or seventeenth, but neither we nor they can truly say we belong to be there.

There will never be a season in which every single team finishes where they ‘belong’ and of course, the criteria that dictates why one team should by rights finish above another is highly debatable. It would be clear cut to say that Chelsea should finish above Hull City but whether Chelsea should finish above Manchester United is a matter of opinion. One might argue that as Chelsea’s squad cost more and their wage bill is higher, they should finish above the Mancs. It might be counter-argued that because Man Ure have finished above Chelsea for the last three years and thus have more recent experience of winning titles, they should finish higher. If it were a simple mathematical equation involving the cost of squad, wage bill and perhaps form over the last three seasons, there would be no need for football managers. In reality, there are many factors which also impact on where a side ultimately finishes including form, fitness of key players, refereeing decisions, luck and varying levels of performance and overall ability of football managers and backroom staff. Every season, some teams will over-achieve while others will under-perform.

When Steven Gerrard lifted the European Cup in Istanbul, were we the best team in Europe? Was our squad containing Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Josemi and Antonio Nunez stronger than those of AC Milan, Chelsea or Juventus? Of course not. We miraculously and gloriously over-achieved in beating those teams to win the competition while similarly they under-achieved in losing to us. The chances of that happening are greater in a cup competition than in a League campaign which tests a squad far more and over more games. While teams can still over and under achieve over a League season, the odds on a team that ‘belongs’ outside the top three based on an assessment of its resources, profiting from the under-performance of its rivals to win the title, are longer than your average Newcastle trophy drought.

Liverpool’s inability to mount a title challenge this season is disappointing but rather than point fingers at a manager who has undoubtedly over-achieved in taking this Liverpool team to two Champions League Finals, winning one, and in challenging for the title right to the death last season; rather than questioning transfers, tactics, team selection and marking strategies, maybe we should simply be asking where should we expect to finish in this League table? Where do we belong?

As much as it pains me to say it, I think we belong pretty much where we are now, battling the likes of Aston Villa and Tottenham. History suggests we’re bigger than both but current resources suggest otherwise. Like us, Villa have a strong first team but little strength in depth beyond it. Tottenham have arguably the strongest squad (certainly the most expensive one) but in Gerrard and Torres we have two players better than anyone in their entire squad. Chelsea should finish above us. They can match Lampard and Drogba against Gerrard and Torres (who you think is the better pair is irrelevant – they’re both world class pairs) but can also throw in a further 15 or so other players whose quality we can’t trump. Man Ure should finish above us. They can hold up Rooney to our Torres and while they have no equal to Gerrard, they can offer up the sumtotal of Carrick, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Anderson, Scholes and Giggs, plus a further 10 or so other players whose quality we can’t trump.

Man City’s squad is strong. Right now, they are underachieving – not that anyone is putting Mark Hughes under pressure or saying they should be winning the title this season.

If Rafa was to win the League with this Liverpool squad, it would rank as a miracle to rival Istanbul. If we were to finish lower than sixth, undoubtedly he would be underachieving and questions regarding his position would be justifiable. So far he has kept pace with teams of greater resources and last season he finished above teams who ‘belong’ above us. Clearly he is an excellent manager and crucially, no other manager could be expected to achieve more.

We can’t say we ‘belong’ in first place and won’t be able to again until we are given significant funds to make our squad stronger than those of Man Ure, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham or until those teams go bust and have to sell all their best players.

For now, I hope that soon we can put a few wins together and go back to fourth place where we belong. Then we can dream of over-achieving again.