Confidence comes and goes in a flash

Last night was never going to be an exhibition of free-flowing football. However Liverpool done what was required to get to Cardiff. Who's to say that Liverpoool can't go and win it.

I'm starting to feel the kind of confidence I did when Liverpool beat Manchester United in Cardiff two years ago.

Setting off at six in the morning, everyone was talking about how Liverpool were going to win the game. Not one single person talked of possible defeat. The return journey last night was starting to resemble those thoughts.



Confidence in Liverpool in recent weeks has dwindled, so much so that Five Live's 6-0-6 show has been flooded by Liverpool fans.

One fan even said: "If Shankly was alive he'd be spinning in his grave!"

Besides the fact that if he were alive he wouldn't be in a grave, the point is that success takes time.

Sir Alex Ferguson took seven years to win his first league title and was one game from the sack way back in 1991.



There are fine lines between success and failure is so fine that you can be on top of the world one day and in the gutter the next.

So any Liverpool fans getting impatient with Rafael Benitez should just take a breath and relax. As Andy Gray pointed out on Sunday, nothing is won in January.

Benitez: The right ideas but no luck with injuries this season. 

Cheated? Try Pot, Kettle and Black!

By Chris O'Keefe

In today's Gossip Column on BBC Sport I found this little nugget.

According to the ‘Daily Express’ Jose Mourinho accused the rest of the Premiership of cheating Chelsea out of points in a desperate bid to stop his team lifting the league title.

Having just watched Chelsea’s scrape a 1-0 win at Anfield I’d say that it was Mourinho and his team’s tactics that were cheating others out of hard earned and well deserved points.

Tiago’s handball smacked of the Maradona teachings. It wasn’t the only penalty to go unnoticed. Claude Makelele decided the best way to stop Florent Sinama Pongolle was to trap him what can only be described as a bear hug.

Makelele also went to the floor quicker than professional wrestler and it looked equally scripted and unreal. I think this is a Mourinho tactic. Any who remembers Porto’s run in the UEFA Cup and Champions League in the past two years will no what I mean.

For example Celtic fans will unhappily remember the Brazilian striker Derlei from the 2003 UEFA Cup Final in Seville. BBC commentator Barry Davies described the actions as “a farce” as time after time players would go down under featherweight tackles.

It happened last year as well much to the dismay of Sir Alex Ferguson as Porto marched on. Maybe they dived and rolled on and on to the final.

This Chelsea side may lead the table but based on their performance today they don’t look a morsel of the side that went unbeaten last year.I know that a lot of teams are doing the same but the dishonest approach to the game is not something we want to see and until it is stamped out it will tarnish any success they may have in future.