Oh You Beauty match preview: As with most of his stuff, a thorough and in-depth preview for tomorrow by nate, who is apparently allergic to starting proper nouns with a capital letter.

Torres Yes? Torres No?: Of course he’s tired, but at this point he’s our best option up top. Unless the Robbie Keane thing was a big hoax. You know how funny Rafa is and the British media always makes everything so dramatic…who’s with me?

Jilted former attacker #1 watch: The accountant, likely stressed for the upcoming tax season, takes the time to single out Crouch as the one to stop. So hopefully he’ll shut him down before he files his P50.

Jilted former attacker (that’s not so former considering he’s on loan but still has the stones to speak freely) #2 watch: Oldish link but still fun to read considering it ends with “They can’t say anything to me really.” Any bets on his sneaking into the baggage compartment for the return trip to Liverpool?

Jilted former attacker #3 watch: Okay we get it, he wasn’t exactly the apple of Rafa’s eye, Harry liked him all along, shock and surprise for all, blah blah blah. Good luck, hope you find your goal-scoring touch the rest of the year except 24 May.

Irrelevant link for the day: At this point you’ve probably seen this, but some classic lines from this poor kid. Reveling in the misery of a stoned 7 year-old, what a life I lead.

And finally, my hopes for the squad tomorrow?
Reina
Arbeloa-Carragher-Hyypia-Aurelio
Benayoun-Alonso-Mascherano-Riera
Babel
Torres

Largely normal back line, Hyypia to deal with Crouch, wouldn’t mind seeing Babel in support of Torres to create some space and see what he’s got. Will this happen? No. But what a wild idea. I need to calm down.

Lastly, congrats to our Utes’ squad, who beat Chelsea 1-0 last night and booked their place in the quarterfinals of the FA Youth Cup, where they’ll meet Bolton.

Be back later today or tomorrow, maybe a live blog for a game that probably doesn’t deserve it.

1) Was he a pawn in a power struggle between Rafa, Parry & the Owners?
2) He wasn’t performing well enough to fit his 20-million-pound price tag?
3) Insert your own ridiculous reason here

It is a known fact that Rafa’s 1st choice target during the summer was Barry. That boy will probably be counting his lucky stars it’s not him being pushed around like an unwanted baby.

Regardless of all the conspiracy theories, I am beginning to have certain concerns.

1) With Robbo gone, we have only Kuyt as a proper striker in the event that El Nino gets injured/suspended/overworked. Egg Nog just don’t cut it. Even then, Kuyt will never be as prolific as Nando, I feel.
2) We just lost about £5m on this deal.
3) What’s with Benitez saying things to the effect of Keane’s value will drop to about £10m at the end of the season when he just signed Keane for £20m at the start of the season? Doesn’t seem exactly like a great deal to have your purchase depreciate by half after just a year! (Someone please enlighten me on this!) Is this just some excuse cooked up when he was taking a crap that morning?
4) Benching Robbo after he scored 2 in a match just isn’t giving the boy a sporting chance, I feel.

All things said and done, somehow I feel relieved that Keane has moved back to a club where he is treated as he deserves. A class act and a hero. I haven’t heard any whining or complaints about the way he was treated by the Club. A true professional.

I trust I speak for most of us when we wish Robbie all the best in White Hart Lane.

Cheers, mate!

While one Rafa bagged the Australian Open title, the other Rafa scored a league double against Chel$ki, a feat last achieved in 1990. After drawing way too many games, dropping points unnecessarily and culpable of not finishing off weaker opponents, the Reds finally conjured their first win in 2009 and as blasphemous as this might sound, we have that bald, yellow-card lovin’ prick Mike Riley to thank, after he sent off Frank Lampard, whom in my opinion, had an anonymous game, up till that dubious “tackle” against Xabi Alonso at the hour mark. In all honesty, Lamps doesn’t deserve the card, not that I’ve suddenly become a Chel$ki lover overnight. Instead, he could have shown it to Unabrow Bosingwa for that harsh kick to Benayoun’s lower back near the corner post, in front of the Kop and the linesman!?! Fact?

Remember August 2007? The day El-Nino opened his goal-scoring account in a Liverpool jersey, and what better way to haunt Chel$ki than to end his 8-month goal drought at Anfield with a brace in the 2nd half. Though Alex, arguably Chel$ki’s best player yesterday, managed to stop several goal attempts when all Petr Cech could do is spill the ball, Liverpool’s number 9 superbly headed in the ball from a Fabio Aurelio cross on the 89th minute. His second in the match came during injury time when Benayoun was dispossessed by Cashley, giving Torres the opportunity to slot in a rebound. Seems like all those Japanese cooking lessons are paying off.

Now before we could go on gloating about this lucky win (yes Liverpool did play well, but c’mon who are we kidding), let’s not forget we are still trailing Manures by 2 points and the Red Devils still have a game in hand. Things are still pretty much unsettled in the dressing room. Rafa has yet not signed his new contract; Agger is not being offered any. Keane, after being repeatedly snubbed, is probably in London waiting for medical examination at the Spurs training ground, as I’m typing this. We have to face our Blueshite neighbours (AGAIN) for a FA Cup 4th round replay…please, not another draw :\

On the bright side, Chickendinner thinks Liverpool will do just fine from now on. Comments?

Gerrard was played following his little run-in with the law and produced yet another composed display.

Keane wasted another hatfull of chances as usual and was replaced by Torres after 73 minutes. Nando showed Keane how it’s done here in Anfield after linking up with Gerrard in injury time after Riera put The Reds up after 24 minutes.

Preston put up a good fight but in the end, Liverpool managed to secure passage into the next round, where we will meet our Mersyside rivals, Everton on the weekend of January 24/25 at Anfield. This match comes a week after a similar fixture in the League.

Personally, I’m wondering if Rafa will put as much emphasis on the FA Cup as he does in the League. Would that be spreading our team too thin? What do you think?

Rafa finally learns how to pronounce ‘dilemma’, some Marseille fans are morons and clearly, we have a goal-scoring crisis

CSD was spot-on when he predicted a narrow score-line for Wednesday’s Matchday 5 encounter with French side, Olympique de Marseille. Nevertheless, this “scary” win qualifies the Reds to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League tournament for the 5th successive year – a perfect record for Benitez. Back from groin injury, Captain Fantastic showed us why he hearts scoring against Marseille with a 23rd minute emphatic header from a Xabi Alonso cross, making him joint top scorer with Barca’s Lionel Messi. Though seriously we should all give thanks to Bakari Koné for hesitating to man-mark Steven Gerrard in the penalty area.

Erik Gerets’ men won at Anfield the last time they visited, so they were probably confident of stealing a victory at our fortress again. Niang, Zubar, Taiwo and pink-lovin’ Ben Arfa came close, but all failed to beat the awesomeness, that is, Pepe Reina.

2nd half was a one-sided affair with the Ligue 1 team surging forward, hoping to level the game to at least guarantee them a UEFA cup placing, ahead of PSV Eindhoven. The introduction of Andrea Dossena to replace injured Fabio Aurelio, exposed the left flank, and the Italian proved he lacks the pace to keep up with feisty Ben Arfa, and was even guilty of making foolish tackles, that could have resulted in a penalty, if not for Portugese ref’s leniency.

Milestones

This game was Benitez’s 66th European game in charge of Liverpool and the win marks his 39th victory, equaling Bob Paisley’s record. Steven Gerrard’s cracker was his 30th goal in Europe.

Marseille fans

So some charitable Marseille fan decided to throw a lighter at Stevie G, while he was about to take a corner kick during the 1st half. That’s not cool. I don’t think Stevie was going for a smoke break either, but anyways, unlike Drogba, MBE was professional about it and chose not to retaliate.

And what’s with that poof holding up an Everton scarf?!?

Again?

News has it that Torres might be suffering from a relapse of the hamstring injury that has been plaguing him. Just when the Gernando partnership was about to take off…*sigh

Other news:
Inter lost to Panathinaikos (imagines puppet Jose going “shuttup Panathinaikos”)
Chelsea’s latest achievement: Frank Lampard sent off for 2 bookable offence. Keep it up people!

It was business as usual for our men in Red, as they wrapped up this late-kickoff match with a 3-nil victory over newly-promoted, West Brom Albion. Now unlike Stoke, West Brom actually took the game to Liverpool, and looked like the more promising side in the first 20 minutes.

However they lost confidence after Robbie Keane broke his league duck when he drove home a slick through-ball from Captain Fantastic in the 34th minute. The last time the Irishman scored in the Premier League was against Reading last season.

And the Liverpool no 7 didn’t just stop there. 3 minutes from half-time, Fabio Aurelio sends a long pass to Keane who smashes it past former Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson.

While the 1st half was a one-sided affair, West Brom managed to stifle the Reds in the 2nd half, and we were unable to convert, even after the introduction of Fernando Torres (yay he’s back). It almost looked like a boring end to the 2nd half, until the most unlikeliest person added the icing on the cake in the 90th minute with a top-corner goal. Kudos to Alvaro Arbeloa…he deserves to score after all his hard work as a full-back.

This marks Rafael Benitez’s 150th triumph as a Liverpool boss, (and coincidentally Rafa is being offered a new contract). Because Pepe Reina kept a cleansheet, West Brom has not been able to score against us for the past 23 years, and additionally, they have not yet won at Anfield in 41 years.

MOTM: Keano! He actually looked like he’s enjoying himself. It’ll only be a matter of time before he starts becoming a goal scoring machine. Loved that no-look backpass in the 24th minute.

1. I do have a crystal ball =X
2. Daniel Agger would make a good winger or midfielder.
3. Our opponents should be careful the next time they score against us first.
4. Once again, we have won the hard way, but we have what it takes to be serious title contender.
5. Keane has yet to find the back of the net in the league. In fact, he was frustrating to watch today, always out of positions, had less goal attempts than Kuyt and did not convert the chances he had in front of goal.
6. Can’t quite discount CSD’s “favorite player”; he saved our arses today.
7. Stevie G did not have a good game. Jermaine Pennant and Nabil El Zhar should start more often.
8. Tackling our no 14, might get you a red card. (Valencia, Zabaleta Cahill, Vidic…and maybe Terry next week?)
9. Amr Zaki is a badass and he proved that he alone can get the job done up front. Says a lot about how unimportant Heskey can be…so please Rafa, don’t even think about it!
10. Yay I have 2 free lunches *hint hint

Man of the match: Fernando Torres for turning up to watch the game Yes he actually scores and is the inspiration behind today’s comeback, Dirk Kuyt *clap clap clap
This is the first time he has scored in three successive games for the Reds, and yay Riera scored too!

To my mate, Idz, hope you didn’t have a heart attack watching another 3-2 game. Peace

Liverpool showed glimpses of their resilient form, last seen during the 2006 FA cup finals against West Ham, when they came back from a 2-goal deficit, to beat Manchester City 2-3, both teams ending the game with 10-man.

Oasis’s favourite football team got off to a good start when they went ahead with a goal from Stephen Ireland ,as Alvaro Arbeloa failed to clear the ball around the penalty area. Javier Garrido’s curling free-kick to the top left-hand corner, gives the home team a 2 goal lead, 4 minutes from the half-time interval.

Perhaps complacency got the better of the men in Blue, as they allowed Fernando Torres to tap in a cross from Arbeloa, which coincidentally marks Liverpool’s 1000th goal since their inception to the Premier League in 1992. He then followed up with a header in the 73rd minute from a Stevie G’s left-wing corner, to tie him with Wigan’s Amr Zaki and Portsmouth’s Jermaine Defoe, as the league’s joint top scorers.

Of course, the match did not lack its share of drama, when referee Peter Walton, decided to show the red to Pablo Zabaleta for his two-footed lunge at scapegoat Xabi Alonso (remember Tim Cahill and Nemanja Vidic?)

Dirk Kuyt missed a couple of good chances during the first half, but managed to redeem himself when he scored the match winner on the 90th minute. I guess this is why Rafa hardly substitutes Kuyt…it’s for emergencies like this apparently, but I still don’t get it.

Bad news for Martin Skrtel fans: Seems like the vogue-faced central defender picked up an injury on his right knee, when he fell awkwardly trying to clear the ball from Chad Evans. He will be undergoing a scan soon. Guess, it’s time for Daniel Agger to step up to the plate.

Hopefully this away win gives LFC and fans belief, that we are serious title contenders in the Premier League. It has been a long time coming, and with a performance like this one at (middle) Eastlands, we will definitely give Chelski or anyone else a run for their money.

My MOTM: “Fernando Torres, Liverpool’s number 9…na na na na na na na na na na na”

Current table standing:
[1] Chelski *yawn
[2] Liverpool *weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
[3] Hull *whuutt….damn gatecrashers

Next game: Wigan Athletics at Anfield on 18th Oct. [Man, I hate international breaks]

In other LFC news: Gotta wait longer for the new stadium

From the start, Benitez and Moyes have identified talisman Stevie G as the key player that could potentially alter the outcome of this rivalry match. For me, I singled out Tim Cahill to be the danger man, and I predicted seeing that annoying boxing-the-corner-post celebration probably once in the match. Thank God I was wrong.

Instead, Liverpool faithful was treated to two 2nd-half textbook crowd-silencers from Kop darling, Fernando Torres, ending his 6-game goal drought. Though Robbie Keane and Dirk “the net doesn’t like me” Kuyt have yet to introduce themselves to the back of the net, they both played important roles in setting up the winners for our no 9.

Some of us may have been put off by the FA’s decision in allowing Mike “i like the colour yellow and red” Riley referee such a crucial game, but kudos to him for booking that dive from Yakubu (please ask for a refund from your coach, Ronaldo). And not forgetting, flashing the 17th red card to no 17, Tim Cahill for that horrendous 2-legged late challenge at Xabi Alsonso.

Unfortunately, Liverpool couldn’t get a 3rd against 10-men Blushites, but hey, can’t complaint about the 3 points we bagged from an away game. Perhaps the lads intended to toy around with Everton and give them the false hope that they can score 2 last minute goals. We’re charitable like that

MOTM: Fernando Torres…need I say more

So what’s next for the Reds…

Let’s see, beating Man Yoo’s whiny arses…checked
Shutting up the French at Stade Velodrome…checked
Stoke who?
Hammering our Blue neighbours into 4-5-1 oblivion…checked

Oh yeah…Dutch team, PSV Eindhoven in Champs League and Spurs for Carling Cup

Dressed to impress in those fashionable Red kit’s, Torres again proved why he’s one of the best (if not the best) striker on the planet right now with one of the most amazing goals I’ve seen in a long time. I’m pretty sure everyone has seen the goal, but I thought I’d link to it for those that need another look.

Torres’ ability to fight off the defender (who was attached to his hip) — and the keeper who was charging hard — and still manage to chip the ball into the bottom left corner of the net was nothing short of pure magic.

Spain looked the more deserved team for almost the entire match, and for Torres to be a part of the squad that ended the 44-year drought makes it that much sweeter. With the season less than two weeks out, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I can’t wait to see Nando back in OUR Red kit soon!

¡Las felicitaciones, Fernando!