Anfield Red

To say Liverpool needed a spark during the last seven matches of the season would be akin to saying our victory in Istanbul was a ‘good’ night. Both are pretty obvious observations.

Steven Gerrard was the catalyst for most of the Liverpool’s memorable moments over last four or five years, so it only seemed fitting that someone else take up the reigns in Sunday’s match against Sunderland. Whilst Fernando Torres hasn’t been dormant during the recent stretch of games, his last few times out on the pitch appeared to be a preview of what was to come.

We were right about that. Torres’ perfect opener in the first three minutes told the Anfield crowd exactly what they wanted to hear, which was: “Don’t worry, lads. I’ll put this burden on my shoulders.”

Torres’ shoulders, as well as his body in general, appear to be fully fit at just the right time. The Spaniard spoke of his new-found form after yesterday’s victory and promised that there’s more to come from him in the coming games.

After winning the FWA Footballer of the Year award last season and setting a new high mark for goals in a season, Steven Gerrard seemed destined to make the next step after leading Liverpool to a second place finish in the league a year ago.

But with the expectations for the 2009/10 season came a rash of injuries that seemingly derailed Gerrard for most of the campaign. The inconsistencies have been prevalent in a season that has truly been one to forget. With seven matches remaining and Liverpool on the brink of missing out on the Champions League for the first time since 2003/04, now would be as good a time as ever for Gerrard to find his form.

The skipper admitted to the press that he’s not been at the top of his game this year. “I think it can be better, if you look at my form through the season as a whole I am not totally happy, I have not reached the level I would like to be at,” he said.

It seemed like it was only yesterday that we were discussing the idea of not having Javier Mascherano at Liverpool for the long-haul. Barcelona were chasing him, and things appeared to be looking pretty damn bleak at one point last season.

In the end, it looks like we’ll all be able to look back one those days and wonder what the hell we were thinking! With Barca currently cool on Masch, Liverpool decided to make the most of the moment, moving in to sign him as soon as possible.

And while we’re still probably a few weeks away from a signing, it looks like Monster Masch will be around here for a long time to come.

“Liverpool know I want to stay,” Mascherano said. “I don’t think it will be difficult to arrive at a deal and we will see what happens in the next few weeks.”

It’s times like these that tend to make the average footballer unravel at the seams. The “times” we’re talking about are of course those up-against-the-wall kind of moments where you’ve got one of two options; you can run away and hide, or you can stand up and be counted on.

Rafa Benitez knows what camp Fernando Torres falls into. His tenacity and hunger for the ball has made him a lethal weapon at Liverpool since the first day he stepped foot on Merseyside. Whilst he hasn’t had the opportunity to lift the Premier League trophy at Anfield, he has felt the rush of fighting for a league race until the final day, as well as rarity of playing in a Champions League final in Rome.

All those moments of seemingly being on the doorstep of greatness, only to see the door slammed in your face, can will certain players on. But they can also have an adverse effect, causing some players to become disillusioned and frustrated when things aren’t going according to plan.

Like many of you, I’m growing tired of discussing the roller coaster ride of a season Liverpool’s been on. We know the last seven matches are critical to making it back to the Champions League, as well as possibly holding onto some of the bigger names at this club. Those are known facts most supporters already know about.

So instead of banging on about the problems at this club, why don’t we talk about success that’s taking place on Merseyside. That success is of course coming from the reserve squad, a team built up of players that honestly deserve a shot during next season’s pre-season training to prove their worth in the senior squad.

Why do they deserve a shot? Well, I could tell you about some of the class youngsters we’ve got, but I’ll let numbers do the talking, and that number is 14. As in 14 games unbeaten.

I used to love playing the game hot potato when I was a young tyke. The object of the game was to get rid of the ball in as little time as possible, passing it off to your opponent in the hopes that he/she would be left with the ball in their grubby, little mits when the music stopped. The game was a load of fun.

Well Liverpool are currently playing their own game of hot potato with winger Albert Riera, quickly throwing the winger at Russian clubs Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv and CSKA, in the hopes that one of them will be left with Riera in their hands when the “transfer” music stops. That’s literally how this saga is playing out.

All three sides have made it clear that they’ve got no interest in Riera, making yesterday’s rumoured move to CSKA a bunch of paper talk. How typical. If you’re going by current reports, the best bet to get stuck with the Riera “hot potato” would be Spartak, but again, that’s just going off reports.

If you want my opinion, I don’t think any of these clubs will take a flyer on Riera. All of them know the other could bite and given Rafa’s desperation for moving him in the only transfer window that’s open, I’d be hard-pressed to see us make £4million at this point.

Liverpool’s difficult season has kept a number of important reserve players from making their mark in the senior squad, one of which is Jay Spearing.

The midfielder, who made his senior debut against PSV in the 2008, has been given very little chance to prove himself in Rafa’s squad this year. It’s been a while, since the Sunderland match of 2009 to be exact, that we last saw the 21-year-old.

Instead of playing the season out with the reserves, Spearing has been given the chance to play some proper football with Championship side Leicester City. There’s a chance he could feature at the weekend when the club plays against Reading.

“Jay is a great signing for the team, a player that should be a big help to us between now and the end of the season,” Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric told the club’s official website.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and that sometimes means offloading a player at even the most inopportune time in the season. With team looking for a bit of stability in these less-than-stable times, Rafa Benitez figured it made sense to offload the ’sinking ship’ better know as Albert Riera as soon as possible.

With almost every transfer window closed this late in the season, Benitez still found a way to make sure the club’s biggest wart could be removed and shipped away to Russia before Liverpool embark on what is surely the most critical set of matches this season.

Liverpool and CSKA Moscow have reportedly agreed to a deal that would ship Riera off to the Russian club for £6m. The move allows Rafa to bolster his transfer funds to £12m after moving Voronin and Dossena earlier this season.

Admit it: you’ve always wanted to be a world-class footballer. Playing in the Champions League, winning league titles, driving £100,000 Range Rovers and having your pick of WAG’s is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the life some world-class footballers lead.

But instead of the WAG’s and trophies, you’re saddled with a bird that just won’t stop going on about your trips to the pub for another pint, as well as a broken-down jalopy that won’t start on even the best of weather days. Such is the life of a writer at Anfield Red you lead, fair reader.

So how DO you get the lead the life of a footballer without actually having the bank account of one? Buy a license that makes people believe Steven Gerrard is really behind the wheel of that Leyland Mini Clubman!

And the debate for fourth rages on, this time with Jamie Carragher expressing his belief that Liverpool still aren’t out of the race for the final Champions League spot.

The defeat on Sunday left Liverpool in sixth place, four points behind Spurs for the last slot. The problem is, is that Liverpool have played one more game that Spurs, and two more games than fifth-place City.

Even still, Carra has keeping the faith that Liverpool can get the job done with a mix of good results and a little luck to go along with it.

“We have just got to recover from this as quickly as possible and get on a run of victories,” said Carragher in the Liverpool Echo. “Of course we believe we can still close the gap. They (Liverpool’s rivals) will have difficult spells and we have got to make sure we take maximum points when they do.