Derby double does little to inspire

Two unsatisfactory but probably fair derby results that does little to improve our league position, gives us another fixture headache and perhaps most tellingly confirms we've hit a slump.

Five draws in our last eight games is not the form of title contenders and three draws in our last three is a worrying predicament when all around us particularly Manchester United are grinding out wins.

Everton understandably and predictably shut up shop in both games and took their chances when they came. We on the other hand seemed to spent 180 minutes and particularly yesterday passing across the edge of their box unable to make any inroads and were saved only by the class of Steven Gerrard and of course Fernando Torres whose flick for the skipper's equaliser was a beautiful thing.

It's good to have Nando back and although he's not found the scoresheet in the last three he's shown flashes of his brilliance that indicate it won't be long before he's on the goal trail again.

That's in stark contrast to Robbie Keane who is rumoured to have walked out of Anfield yesterday after being told he wasn't in the squad. Benitez this morning confirmed that he'd not spoken to Keane since announcing he wasn't in the 18 for yesterday but shed no further light on the matter.

It does little to dampen the constant speculation that has surrounded the Irishman almost from the day he arrived at the club. He has not been an abject failure but he has failed to live up to the expectations we had of him and his perfomance in Monday's derby was anonymous and that's not the first time that's happened this season.

With a week left in the transfer window the rumours are unlikely to go away. Keane won't be sold, of that I reckon we can be pretty certain but if he continues to be in and out of the side and in and out of form then Benitez may look to cut his losses in the summer.

Of course it all depends where we are in the summer. We could be champions, we could be runners up, we could have scrapped the last Champions League place.

It's hard to know now where we are headed because we are in unknown territory. We set the standard and led the way since the beginning of December. Now, knocked off the top we face a challenge and it is a mighty one where every game counts starting with Wednesday's trip to Wigan where three points is an absolute must.

Rafa's rejection is another headache

I don't think many of us were surprised that Rafa Benitez rejected the contract offered to him by the club given the stories that have been coming out ever since negotiations began that he wanted more control over transfers.

This simple yet important demand (it's not as if he's asking for a blank cheque book) isn't surprising given the time it takes for us to actually sign players and lord knows how many we've probably missed out on seeing as Rafa has to email Tom who has to talk to George who then both have to talk to Rick. This, I can only presume, is the standard procedure although it could be far more complicated.

Either the way the situation doesn't look good despite the rosy picture some are painting. Hicks latest media assault saw him give a "reassuring" interview to Sky Sports News insisting this was only a little bother and that it would all get sorted. Which is great, I mean it was a decent interview only for the fact that I and many others do not trust a single word that emanates from that man's mouth.

I trust Rafa who is just as keen to get things sorted as Tom insisted he was but it really is another unwelcome distraction as we head into a defining part of our season already disturbed by Steven Gerrard's antics in Southport at the end of last year.

Both sides have seemingly decided to put it on the back burner for football's sake which is good but all the while Rafa's contract runs down and he wouldn't be short of offers elsewhere. Of course he's dedicated to the club but he really is being tested by the antics of our American friends.

Benitez comments and bad weekend add more pressure

It was almost inevitable as soon as the words came out of Rafa Bentiez's mouth that they may come back to haunt us.

And so it transpired this weekend as we inexplicably dropped more points against a probably doomed Stoke City yesterday evening and United narrowed the gap by destroying Chelsea this afternoon.



Benitez today stood by his comments made in the above video. Which, by the way, I found very entertaining and very funny as someone finally told Fergie where to stick it and there was a certain sense of pride to be taken from a detailed and well thought out put down.

Yet I also knew that the media would make a massive deal out of it and now even more so given the way the weekend's panned out.

To drop four points to Stoke home and away and not score a single goal is not the form of title contenders. The form of title contenders is United's demolition of our hitherto closest challengers Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Fergie's complaints about fixture congestion which Rafa so eloquently addressed in Friday's press conference are, as the Spaniard pointed out, not really valid given the fantastic run in they now have. They face ourselves, Arsenal and Aston Villa at Old Trafford with the destination of this year's title very much in their hands.

Equally a win at Old Trafford coupled with identical results in the remaining 17 games puts the title in our hands but it's a bit too early to be talking like this.

The perceived wisdom is that points will be dropped by all sides chasing the league between now and May but there won't be many, certainly less than ten I would imagine.

It makes slip ups like yesterday's all the more damaging. Furthermore the comments of Benitez heaps further pressure on him and the team to maintain the form that has seen us lead the pack since early December.

Needless to say the derby on Monday week takes on even more importance now.

Everton league game more important than cup showdown

The draw for the fourth round of the FA Cup rather fittingly pits us against Everton in this the 20th year of the Hillsborough disaster.

Coming six days after our league meeting on January 19th and two days after Steven Gerrard's appearance at Sefton magistrates, it is sure to be an eventful week on Merseyside.

How we emerge from it may determine the course of our season. I'll put my neck on the line now by saying I'm more concerned about the league game then the cup one.

Of course there is a lot of emotional involvement in the cup tie given the year that's in it. As well as this it's our first cup meeting the Blues since 1991, when an epic three game marathon included a 4-4 draw at Goodison that would ultimately lead to the resignation of Kenny Dalglish and the end of 20 years dominance of English football.

Ironically here we are, 18 years on, top of the league and on a run that many now feel could end the lengthy 19 year wait for a league title.

This is why I'll take three important league points at Anfield over progression to the fifth round of the FA Cup even if there's an added incentive to winning the competition this year as acknowledged by Jamie Carragher, a man who invests more emotion than most Scousers in a Merseyside derby having experienced both sides of the increasingly bitter divide.

Gerrard's court appeareance in between the two games will not help matters. Everton fans are already putting the finishing touches to vile chants about our captain to go alongside the awful vitriol they spew about his family.

It is two derbies that would be of high intensity in normal circumstances but the surrounding factors are likely to ensure an extra bite both on and off the pitch later this month.