Once the exciting news of £80 million over the next four years had sunk in, Wednesday came around - the Champions League. Liverpool welcomed Debreceni of Hungary. The Hungarian minnows were a hard nut to crack, but thanks to Dirk Kuyt's goal Liverpool came away with all three points. A good win and ultimately a good start even if the performance wasn't quite up to normal standards. Three wins in a row now and momentum's slowly building.
It was encouraging to see Fabio Aurelio coming on Wednesday night on his comeback to full fitness. His return to fitness will bolster the squad and it quashes the injury list down to just two- Nabil El Zhar and Alberto Aquilani. The introduction of Aquilani can't come quick enough with the suspense surrounding his qualities growing.
Intently watching the reserves beat Manchester United I managed to miss the majority of the officiating circus at Goodison Park. Back to the reserves - and Liverpool's performance was first rate. David Ngog popped up with the winner and provided a performance of an ever-developing striker. Apart from his goal his work rate and hold up play was fantastic, linking up well with Eccleston and Amoo. Damien Plessis was sent off for a high-footed challenge. I feel he was extremely unfortunate, however Liverpool stood strong and Palsson continued to play exceptionally well in the middle of the park with help from Jay Spearing. With next week's fixture at an inform Leeds United in the Carling Cup the likes of Amoo and Eccleston may have the chance to really impress the manager.
Damien Plessis' red card may have been a slight shock, in the referee's defence the foot was high and that was perceived as dangerous play. The referee played to the letter of the law and the decision stood. The decision to ban Adebayor for three games has received much media attention this week. There are arguments for both sides and these have been churned out frequently this week- I won't bore you with these! The underlying issue is though, that the player didn't receive any immediate punishment for his actions. In comparison to Plessis' challenge on Thursday night, the injuries caused to Van Persi were far worse- leading to highlight once again the frequent irregularities in the officiating of games. This brings in the decision of Uefa to adopt five officials at this year's Europa League games. It merely caused confusion in the most part as the referee constantly confided in his 'extra staff' on every decision- consequently slowing the game down. The argument is however that 'if' extra officials had been at the Manchester City game- Adebayor may have been sent of there and then. I feel the most sensible way would be to introduce video referees, similar to those in Rugby. The Adebayor issue would have been dealt with quickly and efficiently… Uefa continue to experiment.
Enough about trivial matters! Liverpool travel to West Ham tomorrow to continue there winning form, the winning mentality of last season is re-emerging and an away win tomorrow will reinforce that. Ryan Babel showed glimpses of his talent as a substitute on Wednesday. Babel showed desire on Wednesday night; if he could apply this in every game he would be a fantastic player for the club. Here's hoping! Javier Mascherano should start tomorrow, however Steven Gerrard's return to midfield has allowed Benayoun to be explosively creative in the last two games. It will be interesting to see who Rafa goes with but the most important thing will be for Liverpool to pick up the much needed three points at Upton Park. Come on the Reds!