A woeful Liverpool lost to struggling Middlesborough at the Riverside stadium today to end their dreams of a Premiership trophy for yet another season. An Alonso own goal set the tone for a disastrous display by the reds and when Tuncay scored a second, the dream was over. After the magnificence of the Bernabeau, this was an inept performance against a poor team. The only positive thing to take from it is that it is only Liverpool's second defeat in the league this season.
What a fantastic result and performance by Liverpool last night. Good marking and closing down of the Madrid team, excellent shape and discipline and the all important away goal to get a famous victory in Spain. If only we could do this in the League all the time then we would be sitting pretty top of the table. Far too many draws, as we all know, have cost us dear as we sit seven points behind Utd. However, I am still hopeful we can make up the lost ground starting with a two nil away victory at Middlesborough on Saturday. Come on ye reds
Liverpool dropped two more valuable points at Anfield by Mark Hughes' Manchester City. Without injured captain Steve Gerrard and suspended linchpin, Xabi Alonso, this was always going to be a difficult match to win. So it proved with Dirk Kuyt coming to the rescue after Liverpool fell behind to an Arbeloa own goal. So the gap to Utd is now seven points. It is now vital that we beat them at Old Trafford on March 15th to have any chance of winning the League.
A game I was hoping Fulham would draw but they seem to have slipped away from their early season form. So now we are five points behind the scum as we enter the crux part of the season. I have always said we needed to beat the Mancs at their own ground to stay in the hunt and now it looks like a must-win, just to stay in touch. Come on Big Sam, do Little Sam a favour and beat Utd this weekend to give us a chance of catching up with red nose Ferguson. Come on the real Reds!
So with the midweek Internationals and the weekend FA Cup ties, which, sadly, we are not involved in, its an enforced break of two weeks for Liverpool.
We don't play Manchester City until the following weekend.
This gives captain Steve Gerrard a chance to recover from his hamstring injury, although he won't be ready again until the Champions League tie away to Real Madrid.
It looks like our Spanish quintet will be playing against England on Wednesday, lets hope they all come through that match unscathed.
The break should give the club the chance to assess the good start to the season so far, second in the table,behind the dreaded Man Utd.
We are going well so far despite some disappointing draws here and there.
I believe we can beat United in march to set up a grandstand finish to the season and I hope we can reclaim the league again at long last.
Sorry Stephen, of course I was deeply disappointed to lose to Everton.
The FA Cup is an important competition and one we should be hoping to win, it just didn't happen for us on the night.
Its back to the league against struggling Portsmouth at Fratton Park today.
We will be up against ex-reds Peter Crouch, Jermaine Pennant and David James, without Steven Gerrard, I hope Torres starts up front even if he still isn't fully fit, he is still a lethal weapon for us
Ok, we are out of the FA cup to our arch rivals Everton, but its the Premiership we really want this year so I am not too worried about going out at this stage. Once Steve Gerrard went off with a hamstring, I knew we were up against it and when that amateur Lucas got sent off for yet another clumsy tackle, I felt Everton had the upper hand. Still as the clock ticked down in extra time, I hoped we would take it to penalties, however, a tired pass by Alonso gave possession to Everton and poor marking from Arbeloa led to the winner by a young Gosling for Everton. Not to worry, its the Premiership we all want.
Ah bliss! Torres came to the rescue today when I was beginning to feel we were heading for another dreaded draw. Liverpool were the better team throughout having eighteen shots on goal in total, Chelsea had only two. In the first half, chances were at a premium as Chelsea packed men behind the ball. When that man Lampard got sent-off for yet another lunge on Xabi Alonso, it was the right decision. It might have given Liverpool the numerical advantage but Chelsea defended everything the reds could throw at them. With the clock ticking down, I feared the worst until El Nino headed in a Fabio Aurelio cross to send the kop into raptures. The second goal by Torres made the game safe. I thought Benyoun made a big impact when he came on as a sub, however I counted nine mistakes by Dirk Kuyt, he works hard but that just isn't enough for me. Now we are back on the heels of Man Utd, who lead us by two points and have a game in hand again, so we are well in touch with them.