FERNANDO TORRES TO LIVERPOOL'S RESCUE

It's often churlish to talk about must win games just a month into a new season, but a 2-2 draw away at West Ham hardly spelt heady optimism for the camapign ahead.
Enter the best striker in the world to soar higher above central defenders than he should really be entitled to, and screw an unstoppable header away from England's number one goalkeeper Robert Green.
At times Liverpool looked really dangerous going forward, and bagging three goals on your travels is pretty much getting the job done in the attacking third.
But if you've got to routinely score three goals just to secure the win, as your defence is getting leakier by the week, the alarm bells should be ringing.
The lads will know it themselves, but Carragher and Skrtel were found wanting for the two Hammers goals on Saturday.

Hines was a real handfull all afternoon, and it was hardly a surpise, or a disgrace, that a whippet like him should skin Carra, all 31 years of age.
What was inadvisable was to shove the winger when he still had plenty to do. Let's have no arguments about it being a fair body charge.
It was a pen plain and simple.
As for their second goal, to concede yet another goal from a set piece shows there is something seriously wrong with Liverpool's defending at dead ball situations.
Skrtel, with all his supposed power and dominance in the air, was closest to Carlton Cole, yet he was easily beaten.
When are we going to get a grip on this? We can't be handicapping ourselves every game by conceding at least one to a set piece.
If we aren't hammering away at this problem on the training ground, then the fans will want to know why.
Whether it's a question of zonal marking at the expense of man-to-man marking, it needs to be sorted.
On a very basic level, Liverpool defenders appear to have stopped attacking the ball when it's thrown in the 18 yard box.
And I wouldn't mind two lads stuck on both posts for the forseeable future as an insurance policy.
Either way, it's a massive worry, and one which is threatening to cost us vital points. It already has with Bassong at Spurs and Curtis Davies against Villa.
Agger's return couldn't come any quicker for us, and I suspect he'll walk straight in the side when he's fit.
The question is who's likely to make way? I wouldn't be surprised to see Skrtel occupying the bench for a bit as he seems to have lost his way slightly and is not quite the commanding presence of last season.

Going forward, we looked good.
Yossi had some decent moments, without rising to the hiehgts he's shown at home against Stoke and Burnley.
Kuyt was always involved and the threesome of Maschaerano, Lucas and Gerrard in midfield appeared to work this time.
A word also for Insua who was again excellent. The Argentine is always muscular in the challenge, was consistently getting wide, and his interception and pass to Torres created our first goal.

As for the Spaniard, what would we do without him?
His first goal was a moment of genius, a strike fashioned out of nothing.
It's good to see Nando has forgotten about having petty battles with centre halves and is concentrating on being his brilliant best.
And the headed winner was completely and utterley lethal. Nobody else was going to win that header and the way he outsprung two taller Hammers defenders showed the all round finisher he has become.

Credit were it's due too to Ryan Babel who made a definite impact when coing on as a late sub.
The Dutchman made inroads down the right hand side, showed more of an appetite for the game than we've seen in a long while, and his dinked chipped cross for our third goal was a sign of class and intelligence.
While it's unlikely Babel will still be at Anfield come summer 2010, we've got two options. Continue to bemoan his stilted offerings, or keep supporting him in the hope that he might provide moments of quality than can only benefit Liverpool and our title charge.

The season is well and truly on. To win the Premiership you've got to strive for, and often attain, perfection.
With Man Utd beating top teams like Tottenham and Man City (thanks to a large dollop of some shocking referee timekeeping on Sunday) and Chelsea maintaining their 100% record against a powerful Spurs, three points are a must in away games against mid-table Premiership sides, ie West Ham.
But we're going to have to really plug the gaps at the back to give ourselves any sort of chance this time round.

Carra, and his 31 years of age,