Before
It looks like we'll be without Mensah for this afternoon's game and Ferdinand may well replace him and that worries me. Anton's done a decent job as a full back since his return to the fold but I don't fancy him against Torres. Wednesday's result was very pleasing and if we can get anything against Liverpool, it'll be a fine culmination to a good footballing week. Jones will probably return and if we can grab another early goal, get the already very touchy Anfield crowd even more upset and keep on pressing, I think we can get a draw. I'm sure Kenwyne would pull out all of the stops today. Yesterday's results pleased me on the whole with, first of all, Villa getting an even bigger thrashing by Chelsea than we managed and Fulham losing their game in hand. The latter is purely for selfish reasons as if Fulham finish above us at the end of the season, I'll have to shell out £50 to my Fulham-supporting mate for the third season in a row. Bolton's 4-0 drubbing was the perfect accompaniment to a late afternoon snooze on the sofa. West Ham continued their collapse and I think they may well be overhauled by Hull, especially if we beat them on 10 th April. If I was a fan of West Ham, Burnley and others closer to Hull, I'd be mightily pissed off that Fulham rested most of their best players. There used to be laws against that in the old days but in the modern world of squad rotation, I don't know what can be done, except drink and fume of course. I could've had a seat by myself in the middle of the Kop for today's game but for numerous reasons, the telly won out. Despite their much-publicized woes, Liverpool are still a force to be reckoned with and I think they've won their last seven home games. Anyway, I've a feeling it's going to be a nail-biting, arses-to-the-wall 1-1.

The Match
The omens were good before kick-off. I ran like hell and managed to catch the bus along to my local and when I walked in, the first face I saw on the T.V. was Kevin Phillips. However, the least said about the match, the better. We were comprehensively outplayed in all departments, except in the goalkeeping zone where Reina had virtually nothing to do all game apart from saving a good shot by Zenden near the end. The writing was on the wall, that our collective arse was soon up against, in the first minute when Gordon made yet another great save after Steed conceded a free-kick in a dangerous spot. I'd question Turner's part in both Liverpool's first-half goals. Fair dues, Torres is one of the best strikers in the world but Turner didn't get any kind of challenge in before Torres scored an excellent goal after three minutes. Then, half an hour later he should've tried to close Johnson down a bit rather than standing there letting him have a shot that deflected off him into the net. I was an island of Sunderlandness in a lively pub, largely populated by a group of Polish lads who'd been playing football themselves across the way and who loudly cheered every Liverpool goal. It looked to me that some of our players had half a mind on their summer holidays as there was a casual, kickabout air about our play at times. Liverpool had the bit between their teeth from the off and could have won by a greater margin so I reckon we can't complain about 3-0. We can complain, though, about much of our passing, our lack of creativity and lackadaisical attitude. We'll have to pull our socks up before we face Spurs next week or we'll lose again.

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