Another quality performance from Liverpool against West Ham

So how do Liverpool fans feel about Birmingham's win yesterday. Leaves Pool in a potentially sticky situation. With Arsenal and United set for an FA Cup Quarter Final clas it'd mean it would have to be an FA Cup final only involving Arsenal, United, City, Birmingham. If a team other than those makes the final it means 6th place isn't good enough for Europa League.

If that happens mean you'd have to win the Europa League to qualify.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 28/2/2011 10:34:16 PM

You're 6 points behind Chelsea and they have 2 games in hand on you. You'd have to rely on them completely collapsing and you actually putting in some good form for the rest of the season. I'd focus on securing 6th place if I was Pool, especially since one bad weekend could set you back to 9th position.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 2/3/2011 02:22:29 AM

Injuries to Carroll...... you bought him injured ffs.

Injuries to Carroll...... you bought him injured ffs.

Dalglish claims referees listen to 'who shouts loudest'

Kenny Dalglish has prepared for the visit of Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney to Anfield by accusing "the ones who shout loudest" of receiving preferential treatment from referees and undermining the Football Association's Respect campaign.

Ferguson is to defend himself against a charge of improper conduct brought against the Manchester United manager following comments about the referee Martin Atkinson at Chelsea on Tuesday and has Rooney available for Sunday's game with Liverpool despite elbowing James McCarthy at Wigan. Rooney is free to assist United's pursuit of a record 19th league title, one more than Liverpool, after the referee Mark Clattenburg prevented the FA taking retrospective action against the striker by insisting he handled the incident correctly at the time. Dalglish did not mention United or Ferguson by name in his allegation of double standards but, while indicating Liverpool could withdraw their co-operation from the Respect campaign, he conceded recent events had fuelled his frustration.

The Liverpool manager said: "There has been a theme about referees for most of this week. When I came back in we were made aware of the Respect campaign that is there to help referees and which, obviously, we have adhered to. We have never come out and criticised the referees after games. It is difficult for them not to make mistakes but if we are going to respect the campaign and we are the ones adhering to it, then I just hope that we are not the ones who are suffering.

"Sometimes you think that the ones who shout loudest are the ones who get the more beneficial decisions and that would be totally unfair. We will respect the campaign as long as we think that we won't be suffering in any way, shape or form. Right at this particular moment in time I cannot say that it is particularly true that we haven't suffered. We will try our best to maintain our dignity and respect for referees but we would also like to think they would show us respect for going along with the guidelines of the campaign."

Dalglish's first game back in charge of Liverpool, in the FA Cup at Old Trafford in January, produced a first-minute penalty for United and an early red card for Steven Gerrard from the referee Howard Webb. The Liverpool manager also believes the authorities have been unfair and inconsistent in punishing match officials.

He added: "We had an incident at Wolves where the lady official [Sian Massey] gave a decision that proved to be correct and she was left out of games thereafter. Why? She did nothing wrong. Now somebody was publicised during the week there, without mentioning any particular incident, and what happens to them? They just continue."

Liverpool v Manchester United: Raul Meireles looks to slay bitter rivals as he enters dragon's den

On Sunday lunchtime, Raul Meireles will need his dragon. It covers his back. “You know what it means?” asks the Portuguese midfielder, when required to explain the vast tattoo which runs down his spine. “It is protection. In Japanese mythology, it is the perfect creature.”

On Sunday, Manchester United are at Anfield. Against the Red Devils, face to face with Liverpool’s demons, Raul Meireles will need his dragon.

He knows it, too. His eyes are wide, his tone disbelieving, when he discusses the intensity, the sheer, relentless physicality which pervades the Premier League. “The kicks here,” he exclaims. “Ooph. The game never stops. Everything is a battle.”

Never more so than against United; never more so than when United must be defeated if Liverpool are to have any hope at all of remaining even the joint most titled club in England. Reason to be afraid? Reason to think he has no taste for a third encounter with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side this season? No. A laugh. “It is very good. I like it. This is England. It is unbelievable.”

It is a word that crops up often in 45 minutes in Meireles’s company on a sunny spring afternoon at Melwood, Liverpool’s tranquil training complex. He is relaxed, engaging, his English fluent enough to showcase his rapid-fire wit. His sentences are short, staccato. He receives an idea, releases a retort. He is as economical with words as he is with possession. And he is positive. Always, breathlessly positive.

The Porto team where he made his name? “Lucho Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez. Unbelievable.” Andre Villas-Boas, the coach at the club he departed last summer for Anfield for £11.7 million? “I only worked one month with him. Unbelievable. He is like Steve Clarke, since he came here. Wow.”

His delight is not restricted to his former club. Rui Bento, his hero, was unbelievable. Steven Gerrard, his captain, likewise. Kenny Dalglish’s return, too, to replace Roy Hodgson. “The fans had stopped believing in the team. Now, with Kenny, they sing his song 10 times every game.” Believable? No. “Unbelievable.”

So too the goal that first catapulted him into the country’s consciousness, that volley at Molineux. “After the game, I went home, straight on to the internet and watched it 20 times. But it was a lucky goal.”

Another recurring theme. “I am a lucky guy,” he says, when discussing team-mates past and present. “I played with Vitor Baia at Porto. He won more titles than any player in history.” He will not, though, be drawn on who is the best he has played alongside. “Too difficult. Sorry. Lucho. Cristiano Ronaldo. Lisandro. But I like Stevie [Gerrard].”

Conscious of his own good fortune, capable of drawing pleasure from all he has achieved. Meireles is a reservoir of positivity. His first few months in England, though, must nearly have drained it.

His transfer, he freely admits, was “a dream”. “I always dreamed of playing in the Premier League,” he says. “But [I never thought] for a top club. Maybe a middle club. To play in Liverpool, it is fantastic.

The supporters. Wow. I want to win every game because they deserve it.”

Especially after what they, and he, went through earlier this season. By October, Meireles, pursued for the last three years by Internazionale, Sevilla and Marseille, found himself in a side sitting 18th in the league.

He is adamant Liverpool’s ostracism from the Champions League did not negatively impact his view of the club. “When Liverpool make you an offer, there is only one answer,” he insists. “When my agent told me it was a possibility, I said I go now. Now.”

Nor, more surprisingly, did the relegation battle he found himself embroiled in. There are no regrets.

“Did I expect it? No. Never in my life. Never,” he says. “But I enjoy things more now. In Portugal, at my first club Boavista, I had to fight and fight to be in a good position. Then at Porto, we played so well, we had the best players in the best team. I won 10 titles. Then I came here, and we had this season.”

Meireles, playing out of his homeland for the first time, might have found his expectations confounded, his ambitions realigned to fit Liverpool’s new reality, but while his surrounds were unfamiliar, his club’s plight was less strange.

His ability to connect with a dropping ball would not suggest it, but perhaps Meireles does not have the greatest sense of timing. A boyhood fan of their great rivals Boavista – “I hated Porto” – he crossed the Douro in 2004. The summer after Jose Mourinho won the Champions League, left for Chelsea and took a raft of players with him.

“It is hard to lose a figure like him,” he says. “That year, my first at Porto, we won nothing. We had three coaches. But that is normal when you have had two fantastic years, winning everything. It is difficult to build a new team. But the second year was perfect.

“It is like Liverpool. This is a difficult year. New coach, new players. But I think next year we will have more chance to fight for better places. It takes time to be perfect.”

Hodgson, summarily dismissed by Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owners, in January was never afforded that time. Meireles will not speak ill of him – “He brought me here. I like him. I need to thank him” – but will acknowledge that Dalglish’s more aesthetic style suits him better.

That is hardly a surprise. Meireles, muscular but slight, is not built for combat, but for grace. “In Portugal, we say it is better to be small and good, than big and bad,” he says. United should not expect him to shrink away from challenges today. “Sometimes you need to tackle. “But it is more how you read the game.”

And it helps when you have a dragon on your shoulder. Offering protection.

Brilliant. Everyone, but particularly Suarez, Kuyt and Lucas. Meireles in the first half too.

Excellent performance from all involved. Can't really fault anyone in that. People are saying United were poor, but they were only as good as we let them be.

Kuyt, Suarez and Lucas had a great day. Meireles' contribution was superb. Gerrard deserved a goal late on there.

Deserved result, will be interesting to see whether they can back it up for their next game

If Liverpool are so good why arent they in the top 4 and challenging for the title

If Liverpool are so good why arent they in the top 4 and challenging for the title