God Bless the Fates for Dirk Kuyt?

Gees, what a way to win the match. Played useless for most the match and then he comes up with the most important goal for the season so far. No big surprise.

So I've slept through the season so far, this match being little difference. In our defense, Liege played 8 back for the majority, but with the amount of talent we have, it shouldn't have been this hard.

My man of the match? Well, nobody, really. Skrtel was somewhat of a standout, but for the most part no one appeared to be able to figure out the Pandora's Jar that was Liege's defense. Nabil El Zhar and Babel certainly streesed out their defense though.

Well, hopefully our run of playing less than mediocre and producing results will continue this weekend.

Today's Banter: Bolton wish to keep Guthrie, Carson to Villa deal on hold, Gerrard wins style awards - thanks Carra & more

Danny Guthrie has impressed Bolton to the point that they are interested in keeping him on permanently, but according to manager Gary Megson, they have yet to speak to the 20-year-old about his intentions nor have they initiated talks with LFC. Due to the central midfield clutter, it is understood that Guthrie is available at the right price. If I had to take guess at his valuation, considering his age and the fact that he is not only already a regular starter in a Premiership side, but an obvious contributor to their better form, I'd say £5-7m. What do you think?

It appears that our club is waiting for a better run of form from Scott Carson to continue talks with Martin O'Neill about a transfer fee. Certainly Villa wanted to get it done shortly following his fiasco in the net for England so they could play off the negative press and low-ball us, but his first match back with the Birmingham club, he was phenomenal at Ewood, shutting down Blackburn, and he wasn't half-bad versus Arsenal last weekend. I hope we don't budge on the £10m asking price, there are a few other clubs interested in him including the aforementioned Gunners.

Steven Gerrard added two more awards to his ever growing list of accolades, but I get the feeling these are more likely to be used as paperweights instead of making their way into the trophy case. Our skipper won 'gongs' for Most Stylish Sporting Star and Icon from the inaugural 107.6 Juice FM Liverpool Style Awards at Sefton Park Palm House. In his acceptance speech, he had a go at Jamie Carragher and the awards themselves: “I would like to thank Jamie Carragher for this award.... If it wasn’t for him badgering me about my dress sense and hair cut then I wouldn’t be standing before you today. So ‘thank you Jamie’.”

Finally, two articles worth reading is one by Tony Barrett in the Liverpool Echo about Lucas and another at the FIFA site on Fernando Torres. The former tells how the Brazilian is learning from Gerrard and talks about his progression and role in the side in general while the latter brings up some interesting points about our world class Spanish striker. It talks of how his move to Liverpool has 'freed' him from the pressure of 'his iconic status with the Atletico fans' that also prevented him 'from leading anything resembling a normal life in Madrid.' Also, it brings up the fact that, at the age of 23, he already has 45 caps for Spain. That's just ridiculous and gives him a realistic chance at breaking records in that regard as well as total carreer goals (he has 15 now, Raúl scored the most at 44).

Kids watch and some other tidbits in the works. Cheers.

Today's Banter: The kids crush Bolton, Carson gone, God may need surgery, & Agger almost back

It's a match day so I'm not going to indulge as much as usual. First off, the Academy hailed brimstone and fire on the young Wanderers of Bolton to secure a 5-2 victory. Nathan Eccleston and David Amoo notched a brace apiece with Marvin Pourie adding the fifth. You know, I've heard of the latter two kids, but this Eccleston seems to be the business. Hopefully he'll continue to develop and progress so if he ever gets to the first team, we can stick it to the Mancs about stealing one of their own right out from under them. They can have their Cofie and biscuits and shove them you know where. Anyhow, youth coach Hugh McAuley was pleased with the scoring output, but disappointed that the clean sheet wasn't kept.

Well, it's looking more and more like a done deal that our keeper/super-model extraordinairre, Scott Carson, may be making his loan to Aston Villa permanent. Apparently we've agreed to terms with Martin O'Neill's side. I have mixed feelings about this as I think Carson is as good if not better than Reina, but the Spaniard is always going to get the nod with Rafa calling the shots. Hopefully we're getting a respectable chunk of change for him and can use that money to sign Masche permanently. In any case, I'm gonna dread when we have to face the Villans from now on, just another keeper with more cause to shut us down.

Word out of Cardiff is that Robbie Fowler is having hip issues. So much so that he may need surgery to fix the problem. Details are far and few between, but God is traveling to Germany sometime next week to see a specialist. He's the same guy that treated Michael Owen and Ronaldo, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Hopefully it's not as bad as thought and he'll be back to fitness in no time.

Speaking of getting back to fitness, the return of Danny Agger after the international break looks highly likely. The Dane has returned to training and as soon as he gets to fine fettle, he'll be back on the pitch for us. Maybe he'll feature for the Reserves on Tuesday, who knows, but we need him back ASAP. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Kewell may have to wait?, Chelsea drawn in Carling Cup, Ashley Young would welcome Crouch, & more

Well, this is disappointing news. Apparently Harry Kewell is not in-line to start today at Blackburn and may not even play nonetheless. Rafa has said that he will be extra cautious in integrating the Aussie into the first-team. This may be a ploy by Benitez, but I doubt it. To be honest, King Harry looked oddly spent within minutes of taking the field against Cardiff on Wednesday. I was hoping he'd start today, but now it looks as if our home tie with Beşiktaş is a more realistic opportunity for him.

With all eight teams remaining in the Carling Cup being top flight sides, it looks as if the competition will actually have a little meaning this year. Even more so for us or Chelsea as we have drawn one another for the quarterfinals. I have mixed feelings about this to tell you the truth. On the one hand, I'm glad we get to play the Blues as no matter the Cup, when it's do or die between us, the intensity is so thick you could cut it with a tree branch. On the other hand, do we really need another tough fixture? I guess Rafa could have sat Gerrard on Wednesday to lessen the chance of our advancement, but he didn't. I doubt now he's shooting himself or anything, but I'm betting he hoped we'd be playing West Ham instead.

Ashley Young wants Peter Crouch to become a Villain. So do I. You know what would piss me off? If Crouch went to Aston Villa and actually played up front like he should instead of trying to be a midfielder. Every time I see him out of position it reminds of that part in Zoolander when Mugatu goes on his rant about Derek Zoolander only having one pose. "Can't anyone see that he's a forward and not a midfielder?! He's playing out-of-position! He's a forward! Doesn't anybody else ever notice this?! I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

Finally, with all our metatarsal injuries this year, Rafa is calling on the boot companies to develop a more reasonable cleat with less studs. You know, I really don't understand why there isn't a more protective boot especially on the top side where most injuries occur when one player's cleat collides with the top of another's foot. Anyhow, also in that article is a mention of Itandje being injured. Not major, but a concern nonetheless. Cheers, I'll be back with line-up analysis about an hour before the match.

Should we sell Scott Carson?

Pepe Reina is only 25 years old. Barring major injury, the two-time defending EPL Gold Glove award winner has at least five to seven years of quality play left in him. He has alluded at times of returning to Spain though, more specifically Atlético Madrid where his father became a legend, but I can't see him going anywhere in the near future. He is our number one for now.

Before yesterday, I wasn't all that impressed with Charles Itandje, but now I see why Manchester United and other big clubs have been after him in the past. The 24-year-old Frenchman may have over-played some balls, was rightly beat once, but also made some stunning saves. I'm not sure how long he'll be around, but for now, I think if he ever had to step in for Reina, he'd do fine.

Following Itandje in the pecking in order is David Martin, the Reserves number one. The 21-year-old son of former West Ham player, Alvin Martin, saw action with the first team on three different occasions in the preseason. In my best judgment, he seemed to have the qualities to make a solid Premiership keeper, though signs of his youth and inexperience showed at moments.

Though he probably won't play for us for a few years, if ever, next we have 17-year-old Danish prospect Martin Hansen, who's been at the Academy since the beginning of last year. And just for good measure there's out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov and Australia wonder kid goalie, Dean Bouzanis, who is the current top keep at the Academy .

In other words, we're loaded at that spot for years to come without Carson. Rafa seemingly likes to collect keepers like the old woman in the shoe likes to collect kids. In all we have seven keepers if you count the Academy and nine if you include Carson and Mihaylov. That's just ridiculous. Is Benitez collecting and cultivating keepers as part of some master plan to keep loaning them out to other Premiership sides, so they'll be without their top goalie when they face us? If so, it's brilliant, but highly doubtful.

Carson is quite the talent though. Just this past summer numerous clubs including Arsenal inquired about his services. I have no problem saying he would be our starter if we didn't have Pepe. The thing is, we do, and there's only one keeper in the world I would even consider starting in front of Reina and that's Peter Cech. In other words, if Carson wants to be the regular starter, he's going to have to be perpetually loaned or sold and though I'm for either of those options, the latter looks to be the most realistic.

Price might become an issue though. If Craig Gordon is worth £9m, Carson can't be too far off. If I were Rafa I wouldn't accept anything less than £8m. If a club doesn't want to pay that much so be it, we got £2m for him from Aston Villa for his one-year loan there and we can just continue to lease him until someone feels like taking out a mortgage. The only thing is, if we can sell him this summer, than we can turn around and use that money to strengthen our squad.

Today's Banter: Riise upset over wageslip leak, Villa want Crouch, Rafa afraid of 'God'?, & more

Well, another match day is here and I'll get to the normal routine in a bit, but first it's time to cover what's going on in the world of all things Liverpool FC. First off, John Arne Riise is furious that one of his wageslips from last season has been made public. The 27-year-old defender is convinced the paper was somehow stolen from him since he would never just throw something containing such sensitive information in the trash. Why this interests anyone except a criminal trying to use Riise's information to steal his identity is beyond me. Furthermore, it's obvious that there's a severe case of cognitive dissonance going around that is more viral than images of Riise's wageslip. I seriously doubt any of those people who have published the photo of the papers would want their wages and/or personal information revealed. Have some class and stop doing things just for your own self-benefit.

Martin O'Neill has revealed that Aston Villa are interested in making a bid for Peter Crouch in the January transfer window. It looks as if O'Neill is ready to break the £10m mark for the lanky striker, smashing the club transfer fee record in the process. Other interested parties such as Sven-Göran Eriksson and Man City seem reluctant to pay a proper sum for Crouch, obviously seeking a bargain. Rafa has recently said that the England International is not for sale, but I personally hope he's willing to change his mind for the right price.

Speaking of Crouch, there seems to be speculation that he could start tonight. I would sort of be surprised if Rafa didn't save him for Saturday, but then again, maybe he's planning on resting him then so he'll be in top form for our crucial Champions League clash with Beşiktaş at Anfield next week.

Rafa just can't stop praising Robbie Fowler. Benitez feels that 'God' could very well score against his former club this evening, but hopes he does so in a losing effort. He continues the Robbie Fowler love-fest by thanking the 32-year-old striker for his second term service to the club and being like an additional coach on and off the field. I love Fowler and am worried about him being extra motivated to score tonight, but I'd rather he didn't, losing effort or not.

Finally, Rafa has called a fit Harry Kewell like a new signing. I concur, but let's all hope he stays fit. The Aussie is due to start against Cardiff this evening and with Gerrard likely to sit, I look to him to be our leader. We need his heroics now more than ever. Cheers.