Reds 3-0 King Kev's sorry lot

It was a tale of two strikers as Liverpool saw off Newcastle with ease on Saturday.

There was Michael Owen, once the darling of the Kop, once European Footballer of the Year, and a striker no Premiership or European defender relished playing.

And then there was Fernando Torres, the new darling of the Kop, a player no Premiership or European defender has relished playing this season and, should he continue this current vein of form, a Ballon D'Or cannot be ruled out in the future.

As El Nino continued his brilliantly devastating form with a clever goal, Michael Owen, as Newcastle captain could only watch as a relentless Liverpool pushed his side further and further towards the drop zone.

Owen's career has gone south since he left Liverpool, he sacrificed what had been a pretty decent sojourn in Spain for regular Premiership football for the sake of his England chances and it's been one nightmare after another since. Injuries have not helped but it can't have escaped many people's notice that players rarely do well after leaving Liverpool, they never hit the heights the did at Anfield. Only Kevin Keegan, ironically Newcastle's current beleaguered manager, and Steve McManaman spring to mind but there are few others.

I feel sorry for Michael. He was a marvelous player for us and always seemed a top bloke but you live and die by the decisions you make in life and at the moment he's suffering.

As his mates and one time team mates Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard prepare to do battle with Inter on Tuesday, he prepares to do battle with Reading, Bolton and Middlesbrough in attempt to avoid the drop. That's a stark reality he won't enjoy facing.

For us that's now five wins on the bounce. A handy little run that has seen the confidence and good feeling restored to all at the club.

The off field circus goes on but we can take solace from the fact that Gerrard and Torres are combing to devastating effect (44 goals between them this season) on the field and we still have genuine aspirations in the Champions League and are in a strong position in the battle for fourth place, admittedly a battle we'd rather not be fighting but having accepted the reality of our season we have to look for as many positives as we can.

Of course Saturday was all just a pre amble for Tuesday's massive game at the San Siro, the kind of game Liverpool Football Club is all about.

There is a danger that at 2-0 we may think the job is done, sub consciously anyway, and slip into ultra defensive mode. Whereas the last time we took a lead to Italy in 2005 when we were beating Juve 2-1 and the tie was on a knife edge 2-0 is a solid lead but not an insurmountable one for the home side particularly given their home form.

But we have the experience, we have the manager, we have the players, we have the confidence. It will be a nerve wrecking night but everyone is looking forward to it and that is what is so great about this game - the great many emotions it puts one through.

That and the remarkable FA Cup semi final line up that was completed over a remarkable two days of football. Man U and Chelsea put to the sword. Chelsea's defeat at Barnsley I'm sure making us all feel a little better about our own exit and Middlesbrough dumped out by a classy Cardiff.

A semi final line up of Pompey, Cardiff, West Brom and Barnsley isn't thrilling stuff but it is, as you will have heard many times this weekend, the magic of the FA Cup and it makes the outcome at Wembley in May entirely unpredictable.