As I continue my move, it's as though I've been transferred:

• DMB leaving Rangers finally?
  
• Everton taking a look at our Landon Donovan.
  
• Sol Campbell to save United's defense?
  
• Liverpool says Aquilani isn't frustrated.
  
• Fabregas wants a target man at Arsenal.

Optimism is a pre-requisite for football supporters. It takes different forms; winning a trophy for one club is the equivalent of avoiding relegation at another. The supporter, before and during a season, will invariably swing between belief and the less palatable outcome. As the Premier League avalanche sweeps all before it, the downward trajectory is being ignored.

So Torres won't be risked, but is this the week we see Aquilani? Walcott is out again for Arsenal who also have Song suspeneded. Everton lost Distin and Gosling in midweek further diminishing their options, and already had Heitinga suspended for the visit of Spurs. All your team news, including a glut of crocked strikers: Soccernet: Premier League Team News Football365: Premier League

With his ineffective man-management skills, Rafa Benitez has alienated a whole host of players during his reign, including Peter Crouch, Robbie Keane, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel and Xabi Alonso. The latest person to feel the full force of the 'Benitez Effect' is new signing Alberto Aquilani, who has become 'frustrated' with his manager's cautious approach.

So let's see: Another HOME loss; 9th defeat of the season; woeful lack of real creativity; no discernible cohesiveness/fluency; worst points total since the Champions League began; Dirk Kuyt starting again and contributing nothing. Steven Gerrard strutting around with palpable disinterest. Gah! I can't be bothered with the bad and ugly stuff tonight; it's too depressing to dissect.

Well, what do you say about that game?
Liverpool played some neat attacking football prompted by the impressive Aquilani who showed alot of neat touches and was willing to take the ball off the defenders and set up attack after attack, a promising full debut by the Italian in front of the kop.
The Reds played some good football in this match, spraying the ball around very well and dominated the game for long periods.

As the standout match of the weekend looms, I am taken back on memory lane yet again. This time, I was reminded of the heartwrencher at Anfield on 26th May 1989. On that day, Liverpool were three points ahead of closest challenger, George Graham's Arsenal. The Reds needed to avoid defeat by a two-goal margin to be crowned champions.

Everton came back from 2-0 down to draw at Goodison Park 2-2.
The result means Harry's Hotspurs stay in 4th on 27 points.
We currently lie in seventh on 24 points, three points outside the top four with Aston Villa and Man City ahead of us in fifth and sixth.
So, it ain't all bad, we are in touching distance of the top four despite being without Torres for ages now.

Last night, the 'Liverpool Daily Post' published an article about Alberto Aquilani containing a headline that suggested the Italian was publicly criticising the club. I made a complaint to the Post about the nature of the headline, and now it has (rightfully) been changed to something a little less provocative.

11am, live in the US on FSC
Because of my basketball season tickets, I probably won't have the review up right after the game. Thankfully, I'll at least see the match before leaving, but I won't get a chance to write a review until 4 or 5pm. Sorry.
Last 4 head-to-head:
1-2 (a; CC) 10.

Liverpool lost tamely to Arsenal at home today.Having put in a superb first-half performance to go in 1-0, thanks to a Dirk Kuyt goal, Liverpool conceded a calamitous own goal by Glen Johnson and shortly afterwards Johnson was beaten to the ball by that fella Arshavin who fired Arsenal into a 2-1 lead.

So Torres won't be risked, but is this the week we see Aquilani? Walcott is out again for Arsenal who also have Song suspeneded. Everton lost Distin and Gosling in midweek further diminishing their options, and already had Heitinga suspended for the visit of Spurs. All your team news, including a glut of crocked strikers: Soccernet: Premier League Team News Football365: Premier League

Liverpool:

Reina
Johnson-Carra-Agger-Insua
Lucas-Mascherano
Benayoun-Gerrard-Riera
Kuyt

Bench: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, El Zhar, Skrtel, Dossena

Blackburn:

Robinson
Chimbonda-Samba-Nelsen-Givet
Emerton=Grella-Nzonzi-Douf
McCarthy-Di Santo

Bench: Brown, Roberts, Pedersen, Andrews, Kalinić, Hoilett, Salgado

2:45pm, live in the US on DirecTV. Because it's basically meaningless, it's not on either FSC or Setanta. It's on one of those stations (channel 462 in this case; 462-1 in HD) that show every Champions League and Europe League game. I sincerely apologize for rubbing it in if you can't get or afford DirecTV, but I adore it.

After beating Drebecen and Everton in away games, we could only 'manage' to hold Blackburn to a 0-0 draw at their turf. The last fixture was a disappointing game for Liverpool fans because clearly we could have won that game if only lady luck had decided to throw even a wee bit of the Mona Lisa smile towards us.

Cavalieri
Darby Skrtel Agger Insua
Aquilani Mascherano
Benayoun Gerrard Dossena
Kuyt
Goals:
Benayoun 43'
Jorgensen 63'
Gilardino 90+2'
Well, that adequately sums up this year's Champions League campaign.
Another below speed first half, but Liverpool went ahead thanks to Benayoun.

Liverpool: Cavalieri, Darby, Agger, Skrtel, Insua, Benayoun, Mascherano, Aquilani, Dossena, Gerrard, Kuyt. Subs: Reina, Torres, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Carragher, Spearing, Pacheco.

Bent asking for a few dozen beach balls since he can't score otherwise
Let's get to the weekend ahead in the Premier League and analyze and predict the matchups from a fantasy perspective.
I. Arsenal @ Liverpool: Frank Lampard ruined my almost perfect 2-2 prediction last week with his missed penalty kick, will Gerrard or Fabregas miss from the spot in this crucial encounter?

A few days ago I highlighted comments from Alberto Aquilani's father that seemed to suggest Liverpool's new signing was deeply frustrated at his lack of playing time. Well, in my view, Aquilani's most recent comments reveal that he is not only frustrated, but worried that Benitez will continue to use him sparingly.

Is He Truly Match Fit?

I'm more nervous about this Arsenal match than any other time I've awaited Liverpool taking on the Gunners. Well: outside of a European quarterfinal, anyway. It's the context of this season that has me all wound up. The injuries. The results. The fall from the Champions League.

The stage is well and truly set. What a weekend for Arsenal fans so far! Title challengers have dropped points as Chelsea were held at home and United defeated in their own backyard. Top four contenders Citeh march on in their quest for the all time record for drawing matches and the tiny Tots just gave us another chuckle.

After that soul-destroying to defeat at home to the Gunners which cost me a few quid, we have a chance to return to winning ways against Wigan at Anfield on Wednesday.What happened to us in the second half today?We were bossing the game all over the pitch until Glen Johnson put through his own net early in the 2nd half.

There is no denying that the loss against Arsenal last night was frustrating for the majority of us. Many of us had expected that we would win this game because, at long last, we had players coming back from injuries and Rafa had almost his best players at his disposal. It was also a great opportunity to close the gap at the top, especially when the other contenders for the top four faltered in one way or another.

3pm, live in the US on Setanta
Last 4 head-to-head:
1-1 (a) 01.28.09
3-2 Liverpool (h) 10.18.08
1-1 (h) 01.02.09
1-0 Liverpool (a) 09.29.07
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 1-2 Arsenal (h); 1-2 Fiorentina (h); 0-0 Blackburn (a)
Wigan: 2-2 Stoke (a); 2-3 Brum (h); 1-0 Sunderland (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Torres 10; Kuyt 5; Benayoun, Gerrard 4; Ngog 3; Babel, Johnson 2; Skrtel 1
Wigan: Rodallega 6; Boyce, Scharner 3; N'Zogbia 2; Bramble, Figueroa, Gomez, Koumas, Sinclair 1
Referee: Phil Dowd
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio
Lucas Aquilani
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
Once more into the breach, dear friends.

Reina
Carragher Skrtel Agger Insua
Benayoun Gerrard Mascherano Aurelio
Ngog Kuyt
Goals:
Ngog 10'
Torres 79'
N'Zogbia 90+2'
An egregiously stupid goal given up in the second minute of second half injury time takes some gloss off a workman-like performance, one which saw a bit of normalcy resuming with a deserved win.

Liverpool team to face Wolves at Anfield this boxing day. Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Lucas, Aquilani, Benayoun, Gerrard, Aurelio, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Pacheco, Darby, Kuyt, Spearing, Ngog, Skrtel.

Bir teknik direktör mental olarak nasıl geriye doğru sayar ve bu düşüşü takıma da yansıtır diye sorduğumuzda şu anda en taze örnek Rafa Benitez olur herhalde. Rakiplerine göre çok daha zayıf kadroları yavaş yavaş kendi kadrosu haline getirip neredeyse Ferguson'un United ile yirmi yılda başarabildiklerini Şampiyonlar Lig'inde 2-3 sezonda başaran, lig tarihinin en çok puan alan ikincisi olarak son yıllarda görülmemiş kadar iyi bir lig performansı gösteren Liverpool'un şefi Benitez'in sistemi bu sezon tam manasıyla yerle bir oldu.

Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 1 - Torres 90+3 Liverpool snatched all 3 points in this important match with a cool finish from Torres, but it was a match that could have gone either way where Villa had more clearcut chances than we had. Liverpool lined up 4-2-3-1 as follows with Aquilani getting another start and Kuyt back on: ————- [.

Tonights Liverpool tema to face Aston Villa at Villa Park. The reds are hoping to continue the good finish to 2009 with a win. Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Benayoun, Lucas, Aquilani, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Ngog, Spearing.

7:45am, live in the US on espn2
Last 4 head-to-head:
3-2 Liverpool (a) 02.07.09
1-0 Liverpool (h) 10.29.08
4-1 Liverpool (h) 12.22.07
0-0 (a) 09.15.07
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 2-1 Wigan (h); 1-2 Arsenal (h); 1-2 Fiorentina (h)
Pompey: 1-2 Chelsea (a); 1-1 Sunderland (a); 2-0 Burnley (h)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Torres 11; Kuyt 5; Benayoun, Gerrard, Ngog 4; Babel, Johnson 2; Skrtel 1
Pompey: Dindane 4; Boateng, Kaboul 3; Piquionne 2; Hreidarsson, O'Hara, Yebda 1
Referee: Lee Mason
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio
Lucas Mascherano
Kuyt Gerrard Benayoun
Torres
It's almost the same line-up I guessed last time out, except no Aquilani, which I'm sure will be well received.

12:30pm, live in the US on FSC
Last 4 head-to-head:
1-0 Liverpool (h) 03.20.04
1-1 (a) 01.21.04
0-1 Wolves (h) 01.14.84
1-1 (a) 08.27.83
Last three matches:
Liverpool: 0-2 Portsmouth (a); 2-1 Wigan (h); 1-2 Arsenal (h)
Wolves: 2-0 Burnley (h); 0-3 United (a); 1-0 Spurs (a)
Goalscorers (league):
Liverpool: Torres 11; Kuyt 5; Benayoun, Gerrard, Ngog 4; Babel, Johnson 2; Skrtel 1
Wolves: Doyle 5; Craddock 4; Milijas 2; Ebanks-Blake, Edwards, Keogh, Maierhofer, Steadman 1
Referee: Andre Marriner
Guess at a squad:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Insua
Benayoun Lucas Gerrard Aurelio
Ngog Torres
What are the chances of Wolves making 10 changes for this game?