The fat lady hasn't started yet!

Long may she stay quite!

With Manure winning 2-0 overnight and moving 3 points clear of Liverpool and still with a game in hand, the odds on winning the League are moving more towards them and away from Anfield.

However I actually don't feel that bad about it, this season and I acknowledge that there are still 5 games to go has been a success.

A lot depends upon how you measure success, if it is measured in silverware that I agree it doesn't look that good. However if you measure in terms of improvement, then I believe it has been an outstanding success.

I am suggesting that we will finish second (unless my prayers are answered and Manure fail in the last few games) a great improvement and a big step forward. We beat Manure twice and in the process we gave them a real pasting at Old Trafford - that really must have hurt Old Fergie - beat Chelsea twice and broke their long standing home (without losing a game) record - drew twice with Arsenal. Featured in one of the best ever Champions League matches when we drew 4-4 at Chelsea, a game that most people except Liverpool fans thought we had no chance. Oh how close we came to pulling off what seemed the impossible and without our captain!

Lets not forget, we beat the great Real Madrid both home and away and they never scored against us in a overall 5-0 demolition of this very good side.

There are just too many positives for me to feel downhearted about this season. The problem is that Liverpool Football Club and its fans set and expect such a high level of achievement that even coming second in the best league in the world can appear to be a disappointment.

Well for me who has supported this great club for nearly 50 years -

I CAN LIVE WITH THAT!

A reminder of 20 years ago but hope remains

As some of you will recall, 20 years ago it was late drama at Anfield in a game between Liverpool and Arsenal that ended the Reds title hopes.

Back then it couldn't have been more dramatic. With the title destined for Kenny Dalglish's side yet again, Michael Thomas raced through the Reds backline and with the very last kick of the Football League season scored the goal that gave Arsenal the title instead. It was a dark moment in the history of Liverpool Football Club coming just a matter of weeks after the darkest of moments at Hillsborough.

Fast forward almost 20 years later and to last night where Andrei Arshavin raced through on goal in the 90th minute to score his fourth of the game and put Arsenal in front, looking to have ended all hopes of Liverpool winning the league they have won just once since that fateful night in late May 1989.

At the end, it was by no means as dramatic as that night. Furthermore Yossi Benayoun's 93 minute close range finish earned a point that put us back on top and could prove crucial as our captain sagely observed.

But if we're being honest it wasn't enough when we had said beforehand that six wins from the last six was a must. Assuming Manchester United win their two games in hand they go six points clear at the summit and with five games left there may not be enough time for us to claw it back and end the title famine.

But then who could have predicted two 4-4 draws in our last two games, or a 4-1 win at Old Trafford or any of the remarkable late comebacks or wins we have witnessed at Anfield and on the road throughout this season?

It's been an unpredictable campaign, full of ups and downs and late drama. Whose to say that with five games left that there can't be a bit more?

It's not over yet, not till it's mathematically impossible.

A powerful message has made a difference

On Wednesday at Anfield, the 96 people who died at Hillsborough 20 years ago were not just remembered and honoured, their long suffering families were given hope.

Last night and the next six

I haven't got too much to say about last night except everyone on that pitch did Liverpool Football Club and the memory of the 96 very proud indeed.

We could not have asked for more and it was only the cruel nature of Chelsea's first goal that swung the tie in their favour and gave them the confidence to finish off the tie even after a late scare.

We remain an excellent side and one capable of winning the Premier League title this season, we are certainly closer than at any point during the last 19 title-less years and that is an excellent achievement in itself given we have had to cope for a large portion of the season without our talisman, Fernando Torres.

We are reliant on others to help us out but more than a few people have said to me that if we win our final six games, and this is a big if then we will be champions. And to be champions this season would mean so much.

Six games to go, let's go!

Remembering the 96

I’ve supported Liverpool pretty much all my life and I have contemplated for a long while writing something about Hillsborough, never really being able to decide how or what to write about.....

Crashing down to earth but with hope in our hearts

The euphoria of the past few weeks had to end at some point. We hoped it would be in May with a league and European Cup to our name alas the latter looks unlikely after tonight but far from impossible.

After a month where we've seen the Reds stick four past Real and Man U (Andrea Dossena scoring in both games!), obliterate a strong Aston Villa and summon the latest of late goals at Fulham to cap yet another improbable stoppage time win you've got to believe that we can go to Stamford Bridge and score three without reply, afterall we scored four at Old Trafford...

The point is don't give up yet but this wasn't good tonight for sure. The awesome start that smashed Real Madrid looked on the cards when Torres put us in front but Chelsea's comeback was impressive. Didier Drogba should have levelled on two occasions. Ivanovic's equaliser was preventable but inevitable as was his second goal, the flaws of zonal marking rearing their ugly head again but what odds a full back scoring two goals in a Champions League quarter final?

Drogba's third was deserved and a fine finish to a fine move. We had no reply. Our heads dropped from the moment Chelsea equalised and we just couldn't break them down. Lucas and Dossena, two players who have played out of their skins in recent weeks suddenly returned to their average selves, losing the ball, messing up the easy things. It was Middlesbrough away all over again but at a higher level and far more costly.

Quite simply, Rafa Benitez was tactically outclassed in Europe and there's a line you've probably never read in the five years he's been at Liverpool. He won't like that and that's all we can hope for when it comes to Stamford Bridge next Tuesday night, that he is so riled by tonight that he sends his players out to achieve the unlikely and they've been doing it all season.

And let us not forget that next week we play for the 96 Reds who should be here today. There is no greater incentive than that. Do them proud redmen. Believe.