Liverpool FC

Before the introduction of the transfer window, the beginning of January was significant for one thing; the 3rd round of the FA Cup. The back pages would be focusing on which non-league club would be that season's giant killer/Cinderella story/big club scalpers rather than which player Man City would be paying over the odds for. Our former striker Neil Mellor; now at Preston, has already dipped his hand into the FA Cup cliche hat and pulled out "This is our cup final" and although the statement scores high on the cliche-o-meter; it certainly rings true. The 3rd round has seen us lose to lower league opposition both away from home and at Anfield. Djimi Traoe's nonsensical own goal gave Burnley their win in 2005 and in the early 90s Bolton and Bristol City knocked us out of the competition in replays at Anfield. It's not just about weathering the storm and getting Preston back to Anfield because teams can raise their game twice. I suppose it's their cup final replay.

News from Rafa's is that Gerrard will play, despite the high profile arrest, and Torres is back in the squad. Rafa will make changes but I don't think they'll be the wholesale ones that lead to the abomination that was the League Cup defeat at Tottenham. He mentioned that Dirk Kuyt has played in every game and therefore could be rested and we may see Cavalieri replace Reina in goal. Preston are just outside the playoff places in 7th at the moment and in the cup I'd rather play a team struggling in the Premiership than a Championship team who are playing well. Mellor is the Preston player that catches the eye. We all know he is a quality finisher from his record in our reserves and the amazing and important goals against Olympiakos and Arsenal in 2004/05. The FA Cup loves a story and Mellor scoring the winner to knock us out would certainly be a big headline. However, Liverpool love winning trophies and this match marks the start of our chance to win FA Cup number 8.

Our final match of 2008 sees us travel up to Newcastle for the early kick-off hoping to put pressure on the other title contenders playing after us. A much needed win was secured against Bolton and we really need to produce a similar result to last season's match up at St James Park and another goal like Steven Gerrard's (see vid) would be a welcome treat. Joe Kinnear has managed to get Newcastle away from the relegation zone and they have only suffered 2 defeats in the last 10 matches. Newcastle are one of only 2 teams to have drawn more matches than ourselves so the clever money may well be on the draw but hopefully we can take the performance and goals from the Bolton game into this one too. 

In terms of our probable line-up then it will depend on recovery of illness, fatigue and Benitez's outlook. If fit then I would expect Mascherano to come in to replace Benayoun as when playing away from home Rafa will want the insurance of the Argentine in the centre of midfield. If Arbeloa is fit then it would probably be Sami Hyypia or The DAgger to make way for the Spaniard. I'm hoping that Rafa doesn't throw one of his strange selection's into the pot and leave out Keane or something like that but it could come down to how Rafa sees the fitness of his charges. Having played a full strength line-up from those possible against Bolton; Rafa may have to rest some from that game but hopefully it will be Masch & Arbeloa coming in rather than the likes of Lucas or Dossena. As we have no game until the FA Cup game against Preston hopefully we'll have long enough for those who are tired to recover from fatigue and not have to miss tomorrows match.   

So, we finally face Real Madrid. Having played the other giants of European football in Champions League football we will head to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Los Meringues. I took a tour around the Bernabeu whilst visiting a mate in Madrid and it's a wonderful stadium and I'm really looking forward to February to see what our boys can achieve out there. Madrid aren't in too good shape at the minute but they have a new coach, OK, it's only Juande Ramos, but we all know that a new manager can breathe new life into a team. I'm even more looking forward for the 2nd leg at Anfield and the atmosphere when we take on the team that has won 9 European Cups. 2 great clubs going head to head. Our only competitive match against Madrid was in the final of this competition in Paris in 1981, 3 months before I was born!!! Our left back Alan Kennedy got the decisive goal that night, maybe our current left back will do the same almost 28 years later. Then again maybe Dossena won't!!!

This is a massive game for us. We've won once in the last 4 league games but somehow we're still top of the table. Benitez said if we're top of the league after Christmas we have an 80% chance of winning the league, where the hell did he pluck that figure from? I can't fathom how his brain works sometimes. I do know that a victory at The Emirates will be a massive boost for our title bid. To beat the other so-called "Big Four" will be a testament to our improvementfrom last year, still drawing to many games but able to beat the teams around us.We've only dropped points away from home to Spurs and Villa so far this season having won at Stamford Bridge and rolling over the bluenoses but we haven't got a good record at Highbury in recent years. No win since the 1999/00 season, when Titi Camara sealed a 1-0 win (see vid), and we've have been on the wrong end of some hammerings, a bit like their record at our place to be honest.

Arsenal have had a bit of a mental season; Gallas being stripped of the captaincy, losing 5 games already and being out of the top 4. Nevertheless they've beaten the Mancs and Chelsea so can still produce the magic. Adebayor stated in the press that they will be out for revenge for broking their hearts in the Champions League last season so they'll certainly be fired up.

There's little point in trying to guess who Rafa will play, he seems to go against populist thought and therefore he'll probably continue to have Kuyt up front on his own but hopefully Robbie Keane will start having not played 1 minute of the last 2 league games with Dirk making way for Babel on the right. I'm worried about Clichy getting forward and having a field day against Toss-ena and with any luck Agger will replace Hyypia, his pace could be important against Van Persie.

Here's to someone in grey brightening up my day like McManaman did 11 years ago.

I'm not going to the game on Saturday so I predict Goals, Goals, Goals. The last 3 performances have been dire and the 2 league points picked up from stalemates against Fulham & West Ham have stopped me from being ecstatic about being top of the league. The single points margin should be more but we can't win if we don't score and the old problem of not taking our chances has reared its ugly head again. Torres is likely to be out till New Year and we look short of firepower. Kuyt weighed in with a few earlier in the season but looked out of sorts in front of goal on Monday night. Keane really needs to start delivering and although Rafa keeps saying how much he believes in him, I think he needs to show it by keeping Keane on the pitch. What are the options on the bench? David Ngog; who is a rough diamond to put it nicely, and Ryan Babel; who seems to have lost interest these days as he's not happy to play substitute. Give Keane a full match, let him know that he's our main striker now that Torres is out and show belief in him on the pitch, not in the interviews.

I expect Keane to play as solitary striker with Gerrard just behind him with Dirk switching to the right, Xabi & Mascherano in the middle. Benayoun will make way and The Doorman will continue at left back. Monday night saw an average performance from Dossena... so a massive improvement.

Blackburn need a win after being unfortunate not to pick up points in the last few games and I'm expecting a very tough game. Ince has tried to create a siege mentality amongst his men by stating in interviews that "everyone" wants him and Blackburn to fail and go down. Don't include me in that Paul; I couldn't really give a shiny shite what happens to your lot. All I care about is us getting back to winning ways and a performance worthy of our current status as league leaders.

Don't you just love Sports Report on Radio Five Live? Firstly, there's the theme music (see here) which is legendary especially when interspersed with the right headlines:

Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Neville breaks leg as United lose to Hull" Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Cahill arrested for punching fan he mistakes for a corner flag" Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur "Liverpool smash 7 past Bolton at the Reebok"

Well, we can all dream can't we? Then it's over to James Alexander Gordon to read out the classified results and his inability to say the word "Wanderers", hence the title to this post.

Anyway onto tomorrows match. A home banker for Bolton seeing as Rafa has just been named "Manager of the Month" for October. Is the award still a curse? I can't remember if it's been banished by now. Well let's ignore superstition and fallacy and concentrate on the football. We need a serious improvement from Wednesday night but seeing as probably only Dan Agger will be starting on Saturday from the XI that started on Wednesday that seems a bit irrelevant. So the Spurs game is irrelevant, superstition is irrelevant, what is relevant? Will Torres start? That's relevant, I reckon he'll start on the bench with Mascherano replacing Benayoun from the last league game against West Brom. We have a problem at right back with Arbeloa suspended and Degan out injured... that goes without saying really. Carragher could shift over with Hyypia coming in or a league debut for Stephen Darby could be on the cards. I'd opt for the youngster after Sami's midweek performance.

Bolton have shot up the league after stringing a couple of results together and for us this would be a great opportunity to put Chelsea under pressure by winning before they play. It's nicely poised and on a personal level a Liverpool win is a necessity, I can't have Bolton Ed; Magic Mick, lording it over me in the World of Catflap!

All together now: "Dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur dur-dur-dur-dur-dur dur-duuuuuuuuuur, diddley-dur-dur-dur, diddley-dur-dur-dur..."

I'm glad this game has come around quickly after our defeat against Spurs the other week. This competition is our lowest priority but (adopt Kevin Keegan voice) I'd love it if we beat them. I've nothing against Spurs in particular but I just want us to beat 'Arry and burst his bubble. I want to knock Spurs out of the cup that has been the only silverware they've won, or been near to winning, since 1991. I want a deflected Jamie Carragher long range shot to squirm out of the finger tips of Gomez to seal the victory and I want Pavyluchenko to miss a dozen sitters. I don't know why I'm in such a vengeful mood, but I really want to stick it to Redknapp and his Romanticised Renaissance.

Rafa will no doubt field a second string side, the likes of Lucas, Plessis, El Zhar, Insua, Cavalieri & Ngog should all feature. I'd really like to see a couple of the English youngsters such as Stephen Darby & Jay Spearing get a bit of a run but this is unlikely. Phil Neal better hurry up and find the illusive Philipp Degan as with Arbeloa suspended for the next league game he could do with getting a game under his belt at right back, although wearing a belt would probably give him a hernia injury. Gerrard & Keane definitely don't play but Torres is going to be given a chance to improve his sharpness and will hopefully smash in a goal off Gomez's nose! WOW! I'm really not taking losing well at all am I?

Well, I could just copy the post I wrote for the Stoke game earlier in the season here to be honest. You'd have to ignore the bits about Rory Delap's long throw but seeing as every website and newspaper has mentioned "The Human Sling" this week I suppose it would fit in anyway. I do expect West Brom to adopt the same approach as Stoke, Pompey and even Atletico on Tuesday; 10 if not 11 men behind the ball, camped on the edge of their own area so we have no space behind the back. Fair enough, it's not rocket science and teams have been doing this at Anfield for years but year after year we struggle in these games. 0-0 against Stoke, 1-0 courtesy of a pen against Pompey and 1-1 courtesy of "that" spot kick against Atletico. We need to be more creative, especially in the wide areas, to ensure that our 2 game slump is ended.

To ensure this I hope that Rafa goes on the attack tomorrow tea-time. With any luck Torres will be fit to start and I'd play Keane just off him, in the role that I presume he was bought for. Keane has laboured a little as the lone front man and hopefully he'll be given a chance to show what he can do with a partner up top. This would leave Gerrard, Alonso & Masch vying for 2 positions and to keep Alonso's creativity i'd have Javier dropping to the bench. I'd give Kuyt a rest as well as despite his good goal scoring form he was rather wasteful in wide areas on Tuesday and we'll need more than aimless crosses into the keepers arms on Saturday. No matter what we throw at him I'm sure Scott Carson will have the best game of his short career whilst giving Rafa evil looks like an ex-girlfriend showing him what he's missing out on.

After our first defeat of the season it's time to see how the players can respond. There was a look of disbelief when Pavlyuchenko scored Tottenham's winner on Saturday evening and hopefully the lads have been able to get that soul-sapping defeat out of their system in time for tomorrow's key Champions League game. With both us and Atletico on 7 points, the winner of the match would have a great advantage in winning the group, not just on points but on the "Head-to-head" if it comes to it.

Benitez stated earlier today that he felt that Fernando Torres had a 70% chance of featuring in the match but has since said that he's going to be leaving it up to the player. Hmm, do you think Torres might say he's fit so he can play against his hometown club, the only other club he has played for, the club he captained as a teenager? Here's hoping he is fit to play and if so it will leave Rafa with a selection migraine. Gerrad has been playing off a loan front man recently so does he drop Keane, does he leave out Alonso or Masch and drop Gerrard back into midfield, does he disperse with Kuyt's services and play Gerrard on the right? We'll have to wait and see.

The biggest loss to injury so far doesn't appear to have Nando but Martin Skrtal. Since his Skrtal's against City, Daniel Agger has come in and hasn't particularly looked back to his best after his lengthy layout. He was remarkably slow off the mark to try and clear the cross for Spurs' winner on Saturday and Carragher seems a bit on edge, not because of hios OG on Saturday but certainly in the match against Atletico a fortnight ago. Hopefully the return of Torres will give the players a boost and we can get back on track straightaway.

Another day, another match against a team with a new manager. Having put 'Arry's former club to the sword on Wednesday night we now face his new charges at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Are they on a roll after a win and that comeback against The Arse? Will they be tired following their excursions on Wednesday night? Either way this game has become a bit trickier then it would have been a week ago. One plus point is that it's not Redknapp's first game in charge, Bolton were always gonna get beaten last Sunday so at least that one is out of the way. Another plus point is that Pavly-a-wots-his-name has got his first goal so the old tradition of non-scoring strikers bagging against us is out of the window; see: Casiraghi, Grabbi, Forlan et al.

The fitness of Fernando Torres will have been assessed earlier today but there has been no anouncement on his availability yet but I hope to Fowler that Rafa doesn't pull one of his odd selection tricks and leave Keane out against his old club. It's always likely that a player will score against his old club and it would be just perfect if Robbie scored his first league against his former employers, hopefullty to win us the game. It's a nice situation to be in sitting top of the league but 19 years of missed opportunities and downright failure means that I won't be getting too excited just yet, if we're still top when I'm eating Easter Eggs then I MIGHT start believing that we MIGHT win this darned league.

Sunday sees 2nd vs 1st, North vs South, Good vs Evil. Even the nationalities of the club's owners bring back memories of the Cold War. Fueled by recent controversial Champions League games and meetings in domestic cup competitions, this fixture has much more vitriol than in years gone by with a few red cards thrown in as well. Last year's fixture should have seen us ending Chelsea's unbeaten home record but despite dominating the game we couldn't find that all-important goal. Not since Bruno Cheyrou scored the winner in January 2004 (see vid) have we scored in a league game at Stamford Bridge, nevermind taken 3 points. Even before that our trips to the blue part of the capital were usually fruitless exercises.

With Torres missing once again it will be up to Keane & Kuyt to provide the firepower but Rafa may go with the same system used away at Atletico during the week with Gerrard playing behind a solitary striker. Chelsea are scoring for fun, they hit 5 against Boro away from hiome when we only just scraped past them at home. Despite us being level on points with them it would appear that there is still a bit of a gulf in the performances of the two teams. However we're winning the big games this year with victories against "The Scum" and the "Blue Noses" already this season. This is the biggest test for us so far and with Manchester United dropping 2 points away at Everton today, if there is a winner on Sunday they will put a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the title contenders.

This was the match I was looking forward most when the draw was made. Torres's return to the Vicente Calderon Stadium, where he was hero worshiped until he left last summer to become hero worshiped at Anfield. Unfortunately I didn't count on there being an International match so close to this one and therefore didn't count on Torres's obligatory injury on his return. On the other hand, Luis Garcia & Florent Sinama Pongolle may well be lining up against their former club and will be looking to put one over the manager who let them leave. I was a fan of Pongolle and thought that he was a good prospect and he will be fondly remembered for opening the scoring against Olympiakos on "that" night in 2005. I was an even bigger fan of Luis Garcia and when I look at the wide players we've brought in instead of keeping him I'm even more disappointed that he left. Benyaoun & Pennant have hardly set the Premiership alight and Gonzales was a massive flop, so to speak. No one will forget Luis's stunning goals against Juventus, Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final and of course his definitive goal against Chelsea in the Champions League Semi in 2005.

With Torres out hopefully Kuyt can continue his hot run of form but I think he'll be playing up front alone. I have a feeling that Mascherano will come in for Robbie Keane with Gerrard playing just behind Kuyt in the same style as the away game against Marseille. Atletico started the season in fine form but have fell away a little but their last 2 defeats were against Barca and the derby against Real. Our record in Spain over the last 10 years or so reads: Played 8, Won 3, Drawn 3, Lost 2 so, erm, not really much to take from that is there? Ah well, let's go with my gut and I'll sit on the hedge and say a draw setting up the home game on November 4th with both clubs still unbeaten at the top of the table.

It's the match all Reds fans have been dreading. Torres & Gerrard have the chance to put on a terrific performance in anticipation of their January transfer window moves to Manchester City. Hopefully Rafa has some sense and leaves them on the bench. Ha ha, I'm such a sarcastic bugger aren't I? In all seriousness after our recent results at Eastlands I'm not exactly overcome with confidence that we'll get the win we need to increase the pressure on Chelsea at the top of the league. The last 2 meetings away at City have been goalless and frustrating affairs so hopefully we can continue our form from the Everton & PSV games rather another champions league hangover like we had against Stoke.

Rafa has challenged Robbie Keane (not Keano) to score his first league goal on Sunday and has said that "Gold Medal Masch" didn't play as he was being saved for this game, so there's 2 of the probable starters. Albert Riera should be fired up to show the City fans what they didn't see whilst a City player and hopefully provide some chances for Keane & Nando and as he's playing against his old club he must be hot favourite to score, why does it always seem to happen; Didi Hamann hopefully won't be playing for the same reason!

Hellboy, as Bazinho our Man City editor refers to Mark Hughes, will be looking for a much better performance than he got from his stars against Brighton & Wigan and this will be the first chance since their match with Chelsea that they'll have to show that they can mix it with the so-called "big 4". Our defence will be truly tested against City's attacking options but as we've only let in 2 goals all season in the league I'm confident we'll stand up to that challenge. The bigger challenge will be for us to improve on the 7 goals we've scored this season in 6 league games. Hardly spectacular stuff but with Keane & Torres finding the back of the net here's to them continuing that trend.

A win against our bitter rivals from Manchester was followed by a win in the Champions League so I'm hoping lightning strikes twice and that a win against our bitter rivals from, well... soon to be Kirby, will be followed up with a win against PSV at Anfield tonight. In typical Rafa style I was expecting a multitude of changes but he's revealed in an interview today that now might not be the right time to rest players that are in good form. Hold the phone, is Rafa just beginning to belief what every man and his mutt has been telling him for the last 4 years? Apparently his thinking behind this is that we've had 4 days rather than 3 between the derby and tonight's game and there are another 4 days instead of 3 until we head to Eastlands to face the Man City Multi Millionaires; "What a difference a day makes" as the song says.

Whatever the motivation behind this new way of thinking I for one am hoping that this means that Keane, Alonso, Gerrard & Torres all start so they can continue to build on their understanding that paid off so handsomely last Saturday. One change that I would like to see is Aurelio to come in for Dossena. Aurelio may not be everyone's cup of tea at fullback but "Dossena the Doorman" has looked slow, sluggish and just hasn't really performed since we splashed out £7 million on him from Udinese. If Aurelio does come in then we can obviously expect him to leave the field after 60 minutes with a new injury. With his injury record, Degan seemingly even unluckier than him with injuries and Dossena's form, the sale of Steve Finnan looks even more like a mistake. (Call from Guillem Balague) "What's that you say Guillem? Finnan's injured too? Er... what's Josemi up to these days, actually forget I asked, we'll go without".

This match is just as important as playing Manchester United, but its a bit weird. Everton hate us more than we do them, I don't want to claim I'm speaking on behalf of Liverpool fans but i pity Everton more than I do dispise them...well that was until recently. With players like Hibbert, Cahill, Vaughn & Neville they are up there with Arsenal in having arrogant, horrible swine playing for them. Moyes is clerly taking lessons from Ferguson on how to be a hypocrite, and a ginger one too! I hope to high heaven that once again that quality outshines their effort and industry and that once agian we can leave Goodison with the 3 points.

The Carling Cup. It's a bit of a strange one isn't it? You get knocked out and it's a shrug of the shoulders and move on to the more important competitions, well that's the way we play it any way. In reality I don't want us to lose any game and we should be putting out a team that can win each match and in the long run the competition. I fully understand that this competition is quite rightly used to rest key players and to give fringe players and youngsters a chance to prove their worth, whether it be against a fired-up lower league team or other premiership youngsters trying to showcase there abilities to the manager, but I still want it to culminate in a trip to Wembley. We hold the record for the most League Cup wins and who can forget the last one against Manchester United at Cardiff (see below). Its games like that one that mean that I hope that Rafa plays a strong XI tonight with a few youngsters thrown in give them some experience.

I'm also pretty fed-up at struggling to turn over the plucky lower league teams, especially at Anfield. Traore's disco feet meant a defeat in the 3rd round at Burnley and from the outrage at his weakened team it seemed that Rafa gained some much needed respect for the FA Cup. But even with strong line-ups in last year's FA Cup we struggled to dispense with Luton, Havant & Waterlooville and of course Barnsley. In the Carling Cup Cardiff were finally put to bed but not without a big scare along the way. I don't think its down to the manager picking a weakened team that causes these scares or upsets but the mentality of the players. Instead of grasping the opportunity to show Benitez what they can do it seems that too many of them aren't up for a fight against the lower leaguers and don't give them the respect they deserve.

Let's hope we have a strong line-up and a stronger mentality against Crewe tonight.

A certain 3 points? Matches against the newly promoted teams always worry me a little. I can still remember the Watford and Barnsleys of recent years and dread a frustrated 90 minutes of us attacking to no avail and to concede a scrappy goal from their only corner of the game. Stoke's match against Everton was hilarious wasn't it? I was watching it in a pub surrounded by Evertonians but I couldn't stiffle the laugter as Tim Howard conitinued to panic when under attack from Rory Delap's ludicrous throw-ins. I am worried that the joy I took from Howard's misfortune will turn to tears as Reina comes to punch a "Delap Special" only for it to ricochet to a Stoke player to open the scoring.

On a much more positive note their defending against Everton was attrocious and we should be able to take advantage of this. Hopefully Torres, Gerrard & Keane will all start and if Alonso is restored to the starting line-up we should be able to create enough opportunites to have the game won regardless of Stoke's aerial bombardment.

And here we go again. In Rafa's 4 seasons we've had a Champions League Win, a Quarter Final place, Runners Up and a Semi Final place. That's a hell of an impressive record but for some reason we seem to have a struggle to get through the group stages. Gerrard's amazing "YOU BEAUTY!!!" goal against Olympiakos during our charge to Istanbul was only necessary because of defeats in Greece and away in Monaco. The dreadful start to last years campaign meant that realistically we had to win our last 3 matches which culminated in our 4-0 away win against tonight's opponents. They will no doubt be fired up to revenge that reverse but if we put in the same performance as we did that night then I don't care if they're covered in fire lighters and kindling because no matter how fired up they are we'll take the 3 points back to Liverpool.

Gerrard & Torres are favourites to start the game tonight after not being risked against United but it seems that Benitez has not been hammered by the media for resting his players for the Champions League this time!!! Maybe the press are coming round to the way he thinks? Mascherano is expected to play despite picking up a knock against United which signalled Benitez's wacky dancing on the sidelines when trying to stop Keane coming off for Ngog, the Irishman himself may be rested tonight.

This year all the Champions League roads lead to Rome, but first of all we want a win at Stade Velodrome.

So after all the worrying Gerrard & Torres are fit to play. Was this a ploy all along?  Was the plan to have them miss or come off early in the Villa game and settle for a draw to make sure they both missed their respective International games? Is Benitez being underhand? Did Gerrard come out early this week and say he's out of the game as a bit of skullduggery to confuse old Confused Ferguson? The answer to all this is pretty undoubtedly "No" but that doesn't stop me getting e-mails (1) from Manc fans (again just the 1) claiming otherwise. Will our 2 match winners actually start the game? I carried out a poll earlier today and the results are as follows;

49% of people asked think that both will start the match
50% of people asked think that Gerrard will start and Torres will be on the bench
and there is a 1% margin of error

Fine I only spoke to 2 people about it but at least it was a more accurate result than a Presidential vote count in Florida... allegedly.

I've always been of the opinion of "If they're fit for the bench then they're fit to start". Get them on and try and take the game to united. On the other hand do you keep them on the bench and use their limited fitness late on when the opposition are tiring. We'll have to wait until lunchtime, well breakfast depending on how may drinks are consumed this evening, to find out.

Elsewhere, Albert Riera could make his first start and the long awaited debut of Dimitar Berbatov for Satan's Army is likely. Robbie Keane is still yet to get on the score sheet and hopefully he can push Ferguson's jibs right down his throat.

The butterflies are already setting up camp in my stomach. Is it me, or is it getting a little bit tense in here?

All eyes will be on Gareth Barry as he makes his short waited to return to Villa Park following his protracted move to Anfield. Barry will be no doubt get a hostile reception from the Villa fans for requesting a move to Liverpool and Champions League football. Hopefully he will be able to put all this behind him and… what?... he didn’t move? But it was the summer’s No.1 transfer certainty!!!

Right well here goes again.

All eyes will be on Gareth Barry as he faces Liverpool for the first time since his protracted move to Anfield fell through. Really not fancying this one to be honest, Martin O’Neill will have his troops whipped up into a frenzy and be looking to put one over Rafa; who he and the Villa fans will no doubt see as public enemy number 1 following the summers events. Rafa should have our boys fired up after another woeful performance on Wednesday but there’s no Steven Gerrard to perform last season’s last minute heroics following a groin operation but hopefully the return of “Gold Medal Masch” will add some missing bite to the midfield. Hyypia is still struggling with a hamstring injury so Skrtal or Agger will deputise. In an ideal world Robbie Keane will open his account with the winner to show that he was the right man for us to sign rather than Barry but inevitably it will be the Villa man who will smash one past Reina in stoppage time, run to the Holt End to have make-up sex, leaving Martin O’Neill to bounce up and down in front of Rafa Benitez like a demented Zebidee.

This promises to be a tense night following our 3 recent performances and our penchant for late winners in the 2 league games so far. The performance against Standard in the 1st leg left me aghast and I was shaking my head in disbelief not only at how poor we were playing but also at how we were not at least 2 down. Thankfully they didn't take there opportunities and with Keane looking more embedded into the team at times on Saturday we will be able to cause a better threat from the off at Anfield tonight. The inclusion of Aurelio for Dossena is the only change from Saturday's line-up against 'Boro and although the performances this season have gradually got better they have still been a long way from anything acceptable. The defence will need to be alert to the aerial threat that Standard posed in the 1st leg and hopefully in Skrtal can excel in that area when the normally dominant Hyypia had struggled in the last tie. For some reason we seem a bit out of sync, a little sloppy, so far this season. Passes being over or under hit, 1st touches going awry and some confusion at times at the back. On paper this should be a comfortable night and hopefully we can sew it up early on however the importance of getting through to the Champions League proper and our nerve-jangling late finishes so far suggest it won't be.

Formed 1892. 1901- 1st League title of 18. The Kop. Shankly Arrives- promotion, first FA & UEFA Cups. Shankly Retires, Paisley takes charge- 1st European Cup & adds 2 more. Fagan’s Treble. Dalglish – Heysel, The Double & Hillsborough. Souness- high price transfers, low league finishes. Evans- Return to the boot room, but no return to glory & the last day of The Kop. Houllier’s 2001 Cup Treble. The Rafa-lution- Istanbul: We’ve won it 5 times!!!