Recently by Luke Traynor

IN CONVERSATION with the ECHO's Everton reporter Greg O'Keeffe after Saturday's derby, we both hit upon a similar conclusion.
"Liverpool are Merseyside's new Dogs of War,' we agreed. "It's come a full circle."

FIGHT, passion and commitment.
That's the first way to battle out of a crisis of confidence that is seeping through Anfield at present.
When signs of footballing quality are in short supply, one of the initial things fans demand from their players is effort.
And to be fair to the Reds, last night, they gave us that in spades.

LAST night, Liverpool FC surrendered limply to a side struggling at the wrong end of the Championship.
Not only we beaten, at supposed fortress Anfield, but we were outplayed.
The Reds were palpably second best in terms of fight, commitment, ideas, creativity and skill.
Now is not the time for delusional hopes, skewed statements of how we just need our luck to change, but for cold, hard, plain facts.
It's only facing up to the reality that will possibly drag us out of this sorry, sorry mess.

AFTER many of our dismal draws or defeats this season, some fans have been quick to chirp up and say: "What do you expect, when the owners won't financially back the manager?"

A fair point, some would offer.

But dropping points at well-baked Spurs and being held at home to money-bags Man City is one thing. Being outperformed by a side five places from the foot of the Championship is quite another.

STRANGE game this one, with Reds fans convinced that we deserved the points and Villa boss Martin O'Neill certain his side were robbed by Torres' late winner.

AND so the gloom deepens.
We traditionally have too much for The Arsenal at Anfield, our power, physicality and high octane tempo often winning out over pretty passing patterns.
But the way we surrendered in the second half, limping through the last 25 minutes without so much as a whimper, was truly alarming.

ANOTHER game, another lot of huff and puff from Liverpool, but not enough craft to open up a mediocre defence.
The task of grabbing that Champions League spot seemd achievable a couple of weeks ago, but it now seems an increasingly arduous one with every passing fixture.

A LITTLE late this, I know, but reporting duties have kept me chocca of late.
Still, a retrospective look at the Derby, with more time to ponder, is sometimes preferrable to kneejerk reactions to performances, n'est pas?
Or, 'No?'as Rafa would put it.
I digress.
First off, isn't that winning feeling great?
I'd forgotten what three points was...

ANOTHER game, another absence of a win....it seems that we're in for a long hard season boys.

The young Frenchman has been taking a lot of stick recently about that dive against Birmingham last Monday.