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.

Pepe Reina is away with Spain, and after last month’s appearance in the friendly with Greece, there is a possibility he may start for the Spaniards. Spain are away to Iceland today and host Latvia on Wednesday. Those two games should bring Spain six points, but you never know, as they have messed it up in the past. I hope they do, as my very own Northern Ireland sit a point ahead of the Spanish today, and any slip-ups would be very helpful.
Our back-up goalkeepers, Charles Itandje and David Martin, were either too old for the U-21s (Itandje) or out of contention for now (Martin). Scott Carson (loaned out to Aston Villa) is however in the England squad for the home games against Israel and Russia. He was a dark horse to take the jersey for the matches, until McLaren restored his blind faith in Paul Robinson.

Steve Finnan was to be on duty with Ireland until he got injured. Jamie Carragher is injured, but Steve McLaren appears to have recognised his decision to quit international football. Daniel Agger’s talent has not gone unnoticed (ed-uhuh, naturally), and he is set to be the Danes’ number one defender for the match away to Sweden today. However, confidence is low in the Danish camp, after the 4-0 loss to Ireland last month. John Arne Riise, as usual, is in the Norwegian squad and should play for them today in Chisinau and next week against Greece in Oslo. Four points from those games against Moldova and Greece would do the Norwegians nicely. Alvaro Arbeloa has been left out of the Spain squad, good news for us, I can’t see why with the form he’s in. Sami Hyypia is also a certain starter for Finland’s matches against Serbia and Poland.

Harry Kewell still ain’t fit enough for the Aussie squad. Steven Gerrard is going to threaten serious harm to his toe by playing Israel today. This could put him out of the Liverpool side for weeks. However, we can always hope that this story is true and that he won’t need painkillers. Yossi Benayoun will play against England for Israel today. Xabi Alonso has been called up for Spain, and Aragones has stated he may be in line for a rare start against Iceland. Jermaine Pennant, whilst he should be in the England squad (albeit not playing as I have said), he isn’t and so gains valuable resting time. Ryan Babel may well start Holland’s vital games at home to Bulgaria and away to Albania on the back of his excellent form. Unfortunately, Javier Mascherano has had to travel thousands of miles for a friendly against Australia. This ludicrous match means that he is unlikely to play next weekend for the Reds, even if the Tuesday kick-off is slightly more advantageous for the European players. Sebastien Leto has thankfully been left out. Lucas Leiva has also been left out of the Brazil squad, despite his appearance in the squad for last month’s Algeria friendly. This is good for us, as we don’t really want him to suffer jetlag as a result of the trip to the USA.

Fernando Torres has shook off a knee problem and should play for Spain. Peter Crouch is banned for the Israel game, but should start against Russia on Wednesday in place of former Red Emile Heskey. Dirk Kuyt may play for Holland, but with the return of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Babel’s fine form and some fitness concerns, that is not definite. Andriy Voronin is likely to start up front for Ukraine against Scotland and the Faroe Islands as their top striker.

Let’s see, Beckham? Check. Terry? Check. Lampard? Check, and might I add that his goal was impressive yet he seemed to relatively disappear after that. I guess Fatty Frank also heard that the food at the New Wembley is pretty good and seeing how overpaid he is, in his price range. It was quite evident that this team lacked the kind of world class ability that scousers Gerrard and Rooney would have provided. At times it seemed they couldn’t put a meat pie in Fat Frank’s mouth using their hands, yet alone put the ball in the back of the net.

In other Liverpool players International action, despite praise from the official site, Riise did not have a great game for Norway against Javier Mascherano and the Albicelestes. In fact, Riise won a very questionable penalty from his fellow teammate by basically diving in the box after Javi kicked the ball away from him and he had no chance of making a play. Mascherano, on the other hand, was quite impressive at times, including a lot of fancy footwork against the Norwegians.

The only Liverpool player to score on the day was Dirk Kuyt, who came on for Holland in the second half and scored the only goal for his country in their 1-2 loss at Switzerland. Ryan Babel also played in this match.

All 15 called-up except Scott Carson (how ironic is that?) LFC players played some minutes for his country with Pepe Reina, Sammi Hyypia, and Daniel Agger playing full matches. Why Daniel Agger played the full 90 is a mystery to me, his team lost at home 4-0 to Steve Finnan and the Irish. Seems to me a manager would take out his star players as not to risk injury, especially after his side went down 3-0 in the 54th minute. With Agger and Hyypia now fatigued, who are we going to start alongside Jamie Carragher at centre back on Saturday at Sunderland? Arbeloa?

Anyhow, overall not a good day for our internationals and a boring day at that. Hopefully the boys will take out their frustrations on the Black Cats. Cheers.

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* With Finnan being called up for Ireland and Agger always a mainstay with Denmark, it looks as if the right side of our backline will be facing off next week when their two countries play a friendly on Wednesday. As much as I loathe international play, I’ll probably make an effort to catch this match.

* It sounds as if McClown is suggesting Crouch go elsewhere if he wants a regular spot on the England squad. Not that I wouldn’t mind seeing el giraffe leave, but the England skipper has a lot of nerve threatening a player who has been an epiphany for his country for the past year and a half. Especially when you consider the options McClown has up front. Should Dean Ashton leave West Ham with Bellamy and Zamora there? What a moron. If anything McClown should embrace Rafa’s not-so-extraordinary rotation policy, as it will keep Crouch fresh whenever he may need him. Muppet.

* Finally, Rafa has added 17-year-old Bulgarian keeper Peter Gulacsi from MTK to his ever growing collection of net-minders. Okay, time to flush that name down the memory hole. I wonder what the odds are for who will be are regular keeper five years from now. Here’s my guess: Reina 3/2, Carson 5/1, Bouzanis 8/1, Martin 10/1, Mihaylov 10/1, Hansen 25/1, Itandje 50/1, Mimms 100/1, & Oldfield 125/1. Is Carson a sucker bet?

In a not-so-big surprise, we’ve sent Scott Carson out on loan to Aston Villa for somewhere around £2m apparently with an option for them to buy him at the end of next season for an additional £10.5m. Rafa has stated on numerous occasions that Carson is not for sale and at a total of around £13m, I doubt Villa will be looking to keep him.

To replace our resident super model and future England numero uno, we’ve plucked Charles Itandje from Lens of Ligue 1. All I know about him is that he has funky little dance for penalties. If I can find a video I’ll post it, but my searches have come up futile to this point. I’m still not sure we needed him, but it’s always nice to have five or six decent keeps around. Expect him to get a start as early as next week in the first leg of our Champions’ League qualifying ties with Toulouse.

Finally, Sebastian Leto is now an official member of the club, though has yet to gain international clearance and therefore will be ineligible to play in any official matches until then. I personally think he’s a very promising prospect and our future left winger. The fact that this deal has been officially completed and that he’s been given a number, 33, makes me believe that it’ll only be a matter of time before he’s approved. Cheers.

* Speaking of keeps, our part-time super model/goaltender, none other than Scott Carson, threw such a hissy fit about playing second fiddle to the world’s greatest keep, a.k.a. Pepe Reina, that Rafa has decided to send him elsewhere. It looks as though he might be headed out on loan to Villa, but just in case Sven was wondering, he’s for sale at £12M. That sounds about right, especially if you consider former Hearts gk Craig Gordon is apparently worth £9M. I still can’t get over Roy Boy buying a keep for £9M!!! He’s lost his frickin’ mind… for the umpteenth time. Anyhow, I’m sure everybody’s favorite human rights activist, Thaksin Shinawatra, won’t mind getting out the checkbook for England’s finest.

* Finally, if you’re wondering who to bet on for first LFC player to be sent off in a match, look no further than Xabi Alonso, who’s a 9/1 favorite. Some of the other odds are Alvaro Arbeloa and Momo Sissoko both at 12/1, Daniel Agger at 14/1, Jamie Carragher is 16/1, and finally the skipper is 20/1. Personally, my money would be on Javier Mascherano and/or Harry Kewell, who are at 20/1 and 40/1 respectively. Javi tends to be a bit reckless at times and Harry’s got a well-needed attitude so far this year.

* And it looks like Roma fans won’t have to whine about Cicinho coming to us, because as it turns out, he prefers the weather in Italy over the competitiveness of the EPL. Sounds like a perfect fit for the prima donnas. So please, stop being such little bitches. We have cups to win, you have Totti’s hair to praise.