gutted.

there, a nil-nil draw away at pompey, and doubts are starting to resurface over liverpool's title charge this season. a tinker here and there, an entire change in personnel upfront, with crouch and voronin starting. benayoun, not a natural winger, coming in on the left. alonso and sissoko to boss the middle of the park, with gerrard, babel and torres rested on the bench. arbeloa continues his streak of games at left back, for the 6th game straight? and carragher's ribs recuperate in time for him to partner agger at the back. the improving pennant on the right and ever present finnan slotted in at right back. hmm, a team good enough to win against most premier league first teams i'm sure. but aiya. pompey away are never an easy prospect and not one liverpool really relish. and so it proves to be.

pompey are the new bolton, with the current bolton looking far from a team challenging for european football. resilient, hard to break down and a tough nut to crack even for the big four, especially at Fratton Park. Harry Redknapp's starting eleven comprise of five, yes FIVE, africans. scary stuff. there's the scary kanu, the scary utaka, the scary muntari, the scary benjani, the scary bouba diop. that's half the team. dammit, the teams who take them on during the African Nations Cup are darn lucky la. africans are scary, they have tremendous engines and fearsome power. most of them at least. ahem, there have been flops too i guess. but think africans and midfield holding players come to mind - essien for chelsea, zokora for spurs, and of course MOMO sissoko for liverpool. so pompey have FIVE of these scary creatures. was dismissing them at first, since these african players are usually one-dimensional, with nothing much to add to their raw power. well okay so they have skills too. but seriously, an african playmaker?

but well, the african power was enough to bring pool's superb start to a grinding halt, and put a wedge into our title chasing track. so, hanging precariously on 11 points from 5 games now, arsenal look set to overhaul the current leaders. and i guess they already have, with a win over pretenders tottenham. 3-1, with gareth bale's opener proving nothing more than a false dawn for spurs'champions' league ambitions. the freekick was special though.

oh well, and i'm no way gonna elaborate on manure's late 1-0 win over everton at goodison park, their third 1-0 win on the trot so far. horrors. i hate to say it, but arteta's caught my eye with his unbelievably quick feet.

so well, the big guns were brought on in the second half, gerrard, torres and babel unleashed upon the tiring pompey. redknapp replied with a tactical switch of his own, bringing on nicko krancjar(? spelling) for benjani, a holding midefielder for a striker. and it ensured that the visitors left the south coast with 2 points dropped. or it perhaps could have been a point gained for liverpool, for kanu had failed to convert the penalty gift-wrapped to pompey after alvaro arbeloa was alledge to have tugged on kanu's shirt, reina coming up with yet another penalty save. what's new? and pompey admittedly had the better of chances, with utaka a constant threat and kanu dangerous with his close control and clever flick-ons. they spurned a few, liverpool failed to convert, with voronin clipping the top of the crossbar and torres later on, blasting his left foot shot way wide. it about summed up the afternoon for the title pretenders against a resolute pompey side. another false dawn?