Champions League hopes dented again!

Liverpool's Champions League hopes were dented once again today following some slack defending and finishing in the 1-1 draw with Birmingham. They now trail Tottenham by three points and Man City by four points and have played a game more than the two. This is yet another poor result in
a season that has most people acting in a Roy Hodgson manorism, leaving chairs worldwide dented (I just saw Roy kicking a chair after conceding a goal so I thought I'd toss that in).

Liverpool seemed to have started the stronger, limiting Birmingham to half chances and creating one or two goal scoring oppertunities. The highlight of this being Maxi Rodriguez's cracking shot that was pushed on to the bar wonderfuly by should-be England goal keeper, Joe Hart. The football leading to this effort was arguably the best of the game and dissapointingly almost a highlight of the season. . .its been a pretty bad season. Liverpool could not find a way through Birmingham's back line and the poor free kicks and cornes were'nt helping. They seemed to have had a bad of Nani-itus with the quality of set pieces on display. It's a genuine condition, consult your local doctor if you cant lift the ball over the first man on the near post. Birmingham nearly went ahead when Pepe Reina failed to deal with a deep cross by James McFadden and Roger Johnson rose above the Liverpool defence but the center back could only head the ball wide.Birmingham then took advantage of Lucas's inability to find a forward pass and created a few half chances before half time. It was Liverpool who struck first however, just two minutes into the second half. Glen Johnson's mishit shot found Gerrard who turned Lee Bowyer and curled his shot into the far corner. Birmingham fought back however and leveled just under ten minutes later. Some terrible marking allowed Liam Ridgewell to sneak in at the back post and tap in McFadden's excellent cross. If Liverpool fans were upset by the goal, then the substitution of Fernando Torres in the 65th minute didn't to much to ease their nerves. The Spaniard was replaced by David Ngog much to the disgust to Liverpool and Birmingham fans as David Ngog isnt exactly the Fonz in the eyes of Birmingham supporters. The Liverpool fans weren't alone in their confusion of Torres sub, as the look on Steven Gerrard's face gave off a sort of WTF look as scratched his head. Liverpool pressed for a second goal for the remainder of the game and but for an accidental goal line clearence by Liverpool sub Aquilani, Maxi would have bagged his first and Liverpools second. A number of chances from Maxi,Ngog, Babel and an excellent oppertuniy for Birmingham's Lee Bowyer but he wasted from about 6 yards. The following was what will be remembered ,if Liverpool fail to achieve 4th spot this season, as the defining moment (not that it perticularly was, but when people think back to where the points were dropped that chance will be number one in the flashback library). David Ngog was presented with a golden chance from Dirk Kuyt, but Ngog could only scuff his shot and cause football fans worldwide to sigh. I'm sure even the David Ngog bebo fan club must have been somewhat upset. (Don't believe me? Go check! Theres at least 4 for him!) This game will be seen as two points lost rather than one gained and many Liverpool fans and players alike will surely begin questioning Benitez's decisions and future.

So at the moment it seems Liverpool will actually struggle to salvage anything which will lead to people logging on to see what has been written on 'What can be salvaged?' and to find the words ''Nothing. THE END'' written. So what went wrong today? Well basically Torres looked isolated because of the excellent defensive work from Birmingham's two center backs, so instead of sending an extra body up to support him, Rafa replaced him with a lesser striker (not that i dislike Ngog, but I'd prefer a tired and off form Torres with one leg, to him). But Rafa claims Torres was exhausted and that he wished he could have had Ngog's movement and Torres's finishing. Unfortunately Liverpool's scientists have not yet discovered how to morph players together leaving our hopes of Torgog(Torres and Ngog) a distant prospect. Yet Rafa did make the right decision by dropping Gerrard back to center midfield as Liverpool had more creativity since sliced bread was invented (seems like that long since Alonso left). The problem is that Stevie should be playing in there with Mascherano, because this allows Stevie to drive further forward rather than worry who the man next to him will drag down next. So now with five games left its even to Rafa that five wins out of five is needed. And he is right in the fact that there are still a lot of points to gain. This would be perfect if the other teams did not have this oppertunity, or if they were all Portsmouth and could only field 13 players.

Thanks for reading this weeks post. Next game will be Benfica, a vital part of the season and this blog. Will Liverpool trow away their last chance for silverware this season? Will this blog be very critical of Lucas because I'm fed up with the defensive approach? And what can be salvaged? (I know thats kind of corny, but I ran out of questions and then remembered that the title was also a question). So Liverpool fans, be sure from now on to say a quick prayer to the Liverpool God, not Robbie Fowler, the other guy!
Yours,
Dec