So its Round Two against the Manchester clubs this Saturday afternoon.
We face the Old Enemy Utd at Anfield in an early kick-off 12:45pm.
Liverpool have everything to play for and have home advantage in the highest profile game of the FA Cup 4th round.
Following the great performance and result against Man City on Wednesday to reach the Carling Cup Final next month, Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool now have the chance to dump Man Utd out of the FA Cup at Anfield.
Will Kenny Dalglish risk playing Craig Bellamy again? After his man of the match performance against City, is Bellamy's knee up to starting a game again, so soon after Wednesday's performance. I think Kenny will play him again for an hour or so in the hope of establishing a lead against Ferguson's team who may be missing Rio Ferdinand, Nani and possibly Wayne Rooney to injury.
Jay Spearing is back in contention following his hamstring strain but it may be a game too soon for the tough-tackling midfield dynamo.
The game is shrouded by the eight game suspension to Liverpool's Luis Suarez thanks to Patrice Evra's complaints to the FA. The fact that the FA chose to accept Evra's comments, even though he had no evidence to back it up is a major source of annoyance at Liverpool FC and Suarez himself who is nearing the completion of the harsh ban.
If Liverpool play with the application and intensity they showed against Man City then I fancy them to win 2-1 at Anfield.
After Liverpool's fantastic achievement in beating Man City over two legs to reach the Carling Cup Final last Wednesday night, thanks to Craig Bellamy's goal.
It is now time to look towards beating the other half of Manchester in the form of the Red side of the City.
Our arch-rivals come to Anfield on Saturday afternoon in the fourth round of the FA Cup with it all to play for.
Man Utd will not be at full-strength, with Rio Ferdinand, Vidic and possibly, Rooney all ruled out through injury. Good news for Liverpool. If we can possibly reproduce the performance in the Carling Cup versus City then we stand a great chance of beating Utd again. Will current hero Craig Bellamy be rested, owing to his dodgy knee or will he be playing from the start? Kenny may chose to mix it up a little for Saturday's game against the old enemy, but expect him to put out a very strong line-up again as he seeks to progress to the FA Cup last sixteen.
After Saturday's capitulation to lowly Bolton at the Reebok 3-1, Kenny Dalglish openly criticised his players for their attitude and performance in the defeat, even claiming that heads will roll after that display.
Well Kenny, it was an abject display by the team, a team you largely assembled yourself.
SIGNINGS
PLAYER
FROM
COST
RATING
1
CARROLL
NEWCASTLE
35 MILLION
FAILURE
2
ADAM
BLACKPOOL
8 MILLION
FAILURE
3
HENDERSON
SUNDERLAND
20 MILLION
FAILURE
4
DOWNING
ASTON VILLA
20 MILLION
FAILURE
5
ENRIQUE
NEWCASTLE
6 MILLION
SUCCESS
6
BELLAMY
MAN CITY
FREE
SUCCESS
With the exception of Craig Bellamy in attack & Enrique at full-back, £90 million has been wasted on very average players who would not get into any of the current top four teams in the Premier League. (Luis Suarez was brought in by the previous regime).
We were over-ran in midfield without the injured Lucas as Charlie Adam couldn't make a legal tackle to save his own backside, Henderson had one shot on goal and zero tackles. Andy Carroll did provide the assist for Bellamy's goal but that was about all the big geordie did all day. Stuart Downing has been a total flop since arriving from Aston Villa in the Summer, an England international, he has been dismal at Liverpool, God knows why, he has the ability.
So Kenny, go out and buy a quality striker and a proper midfielder before our Season is over by February, please.
I did a check on the respective results of Liverpool under Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson before him from August to January in 2010 for Hodgson and in 2011 for Dalglish.
After our stalemate against Stoke last weekend, I felt it was time to step back and see the improvements in results at Liverpool since Kenny took over from the disasterous days under Roy Hodgson.
We are 11 points better off than this time last year and are in 7th place in the League compared to 13th and only having 26 points under Hodgson.
So while things are not ideal, we have made a major improvement with Dalglish back at the helm, despite not having Steven Gerrard for most of the Season so far and without the departed Torres, we are in contention for fourth place and one game away from the Carling Cup Final.
Lets hope for a much-needed win at the Reebok Arena versus Bolton.
We need a new striker..We need a new striker...We need a new striker...We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker..We need a new striker.
Thanks to Jack Nicholson in The Shining for this inspired piece of work. Kenny and Damien, we are now 7th! We need a new striker.
