Fernando Torres has given his clearest indication yet that he will still be at Anfield next season.

The 26-year-old spoke on his official web site claiming; "My place is here at Liverpool, and in England." Fantastic news for Reds fans following the recent assurances from Javier Mascherano and Pepe Reina. It appears Liverpool will be hanging onto their star players this summer despite the antics of the owners and the troubles on the pitch.

Torres added: "I still think that we will finish fourth, but qualifying for the Champions League isn’t the most important thing on my mind. The most important thing is for the club is to try and sign quality players, footballers who improve the quality of current squad."

A message to the owners perhaps?

Realistically though, money for transfers is likely to be limited with the current situation at the club so Benitez may well be forced to sell again before he can buy.

That leads this piece nicely onto the recent antics of a certain Mr. Reira. The winger has divided opinion on Merseyside but for me the Spaniard has always offered something different to Liverpool's setup. He offers genuine width and on his day can be a menace to any opposing defence.

In that sense it was a shame he voiced his recent displeasure at lack of first team action. However, the 27-year-old has sealed his own fate with the verbal attack on club and manager. Rafa Benitez - not one for giving second chances - will certainly be looking to ship out Riera as soon as possible. His destination looks set to be Russia with either Spartak or CSKA (his move has been delayed by wage demands apparently), one can't help but feel he will ultimately regret letting his moment at one of Europe's top teams go so easily.

Contrary to what you may hear or read about this game, Rafa Benitez set his team out to win this game and somewhat surprisingly continued with an 'attack-minded' holding midfield player in the form of Lucas Leiva.

The Brazilian was given licence to roam forward at Old Trafford, as had been the case against Lille and with Aquilani against Portsmouth. These heat maps from ESPN emphasise this point, comparing Lucas' positions on the pitch with his midfield partner Javier Mascherano is key (note the orange blocks in opponents half).

Mascherano

Lucas
Mascherano clearly sat alot deeper than Lucas and moved from left to right much more often in order to help out full-backs Insua and Johnson. Whereas Lucas' map shows he played alot more centrally and further forward.

Benitez's tactics seemed to be working perfectly as Torres headed in after five minutes. What will disappoint the Spaniard is the fact that Liverpool didn't hold on to the lead for nowhere near long enough to play the counter-attacking style they would have reverted to after taking the lead.

One of Ferguson's instructions was to exploit Liverpool's left hand-side, with Emiliano Insua clearly not comfortable dealing with players who have some pace and trickery, the United boss was inevitably going to use Antonio Valencia as his pivital man and the Ecuadorian rewarded his manager's faith with a run into the box to win the penalty (The foul should have been given outside the box but that's another issue).

United's equaliser seemed to be the turning point as United continued to target Liverpool's left after the break. With Fletcher, Carrick and Park in midfield, United dominated most of the possession and as a result Liverpool struggled to get a real foothold in the game second half.

Interestingly enough, despite numerous passes to Valencia on United's right, it was Darren Fletcher who delivered an almost undefendable ball that brought the winning goal (it was also Fletcher's crossing ability from the right-hand side that gave United their equaliser in Milan). Despite hysteria over Wayne Rooney's current form he was marshalled extremely well by Jamie Carragher and it was unsung hero Park who took advantage.

While Ferguson certainly targeted the vulnerable Insua, Benitez's ploy was to get Torres one-on-one with Vidic, and in the first half the Spaniard seemed to be giving the centre-back another torrid time. But after the break Torres was starved of the ball in dangerous areas, Liverpool looked a little jaded after three games in less than a week.

Ferguson's 4-3-3 come 4-5-1 formation is looking more impressive every week, especially when United took the lead, the midfield five kept possession and in doing so starved Liverpool of creating many chances.

Some would say a deserved victory for United, but in truth this game's major turning point was the decision to give Valencia a penalty.

Nothing too special here folks, just an observation of Rafa's slight alteration to Liverpool's 4-2-3-1 formation.

Before this week began Liverpool had not scored more than two goals in a league game since September 2009 (against Hull City) and had not scored more than one goal in a European tie at Anfield this season.

All be it a slight tweak, the subtle change has given Liverpool a great deal more going forward. In essence, the starting position of both Aquilani and Lucas was deep, alongside midfield partner Javier Mascherano. But instead of sitting in alongside the Argentine both Aquilani and Lucas have been given licence to get forward and support the attack, which has given the Reds more options going forward.

Liverpool's game against Lille highlighted the fact that Lucas Leiva does possess attacking qualities. People who have read about his time in Brazil will know he was known as a box-to-box player who could provide a killer pass or even a goal. His run into the Lille penalty area for Liverpool's first goal was something Reds fans have yet to see from the Brazilian.

Aquilani(also known as a box-to-box type player), certainly revelled in this freer role. Before Monday, the Italian had almost exclusively been used in the disciplined holding role, which as of now, doesn't seem to suit him.

Rafa's tweak has brought two good results but the trip to Old Trafford will provide Benitez with an even greater tactical battle.

What a refreshing change, after the dross of the DW Stadium and the long balls in Lille, how good was it to see Liverpool playing some fantastic football?

Yes, Portsmouth were pretty piss poor, but Liverpool took full advantage in a stylish and confident display. In the first half especially Liverpool threatened to run riot over Pompey, the Torres-Gerrard combination was back, Maxi Rodriguez was finding space here, there and everywhere and Alberto Aquilani looked like he could live upto the £18 million price tag.

As previously mentioned in the after-game thoughts against Lille, the isolation of Torres and lack of creative movement in midfield led to a stale attacking display. But at Anfield on Monday night there was an evident shift in emphasis. The inclusion of Alberto Aquilani was key to this particular transition.

While Aquilani's starting position was essentially alongside Javier Mascherano in a holding role, his progressive forward runs left him unmarked on many occasions in dangerous areas. It was interesting to see Michael Brown had clearly been given the job of 'man marking' Steven Gerrard, yet Pompey did not count on the forward runs of Aquilani from deep.

Maxi Rodriguez's movement was also refreshing, while not the greatest in possession, the Argentine seems to have a clever mind and shows a willingness to pick out space and link up play. With Glen Johnson occassionally bombing forward from right-back, the make-up of Liverpool's attacking threat suddenly looked alot brighter. Fernando Torres re-discovered his shooting boots and looked dangerous all night, a major plus with Old Trafford on the horizon.

It would be a surprise if Benitez does not adapt a similar attacking approach in Thursday's game against Lille. However, even if Aquilani shines again, the inclusion of Lucas Leiva for a more disiciplined display at Old Trafford next weekend would surely make sense.

Interesting quotes coming out from Fernando Torres today, the media have somewhat span the comments slightly but in general very encouraging that Torres will be staying at Anfield.

"It's too soon to talk, I honestly think that we're going to be fourth, but for me Champions League qualification isn't so important," said the Spaniard.

"The really important thing is that the club makes a big effort and brings in important players, who will improve the quality of the squad. We need four or five top-class players to compete, better than we have here, who will make us grit our teeth and do everything we can to try and keep our places.

"Without reinforcements next year we will once again be fighting to be fourth. I want to fight next year to win the Premier League, to win the Champions League or the Europa League, but for this there have to be signings.

"I've left my home and it's clear that I owe Liverpool many things, and I'm very happy here. The fans have treated my like one of their own, but I'm going to think about my future and hopefully it will be here. I think these fans deserve to win.

"Beyond thinking about me, I think the club deserve to get back to winning (trophies), but they know themselves that right now that it's far off.

"The fans are worried about players going, it's a problem when you start to fear that your players are going because you know it's because the club is not moving forward, but I don't think that is going to be the situation here.

"Since the arrival of (managing director) Christian Purslow Liverpool have had an important boost, we signed with a big-money sponsor to match Real Madrid, then things are going to go forward."

Another game, another away game without a goal. The reds have now failed to find the target in five of their last six away games, a worrying trend to say the least.

Liverpool created a handful of chances in France last night but the lack of movement and creative element in the final third was still there for all to see. Note a previous post from Red and White Blogger, highlighting this.

A tactic from Rafa Benitez last night seemed to be to target Fernando Torres with long balls over the top of the Lille defence, and certainly on a dodgy looking surface it might not have been the worst idea. Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger seemed especially briefed on this. It is a tactic that has worked in the past for Liverpool, most notably last season at Old Trafford when Martin Skrtel's long ball released Torres for Liverpool's equalising goal.

But Liverpool's long ball tactics rely too heavily on the ability of Torres, there was too big a gap between Torres and the rest of the team last night. At times the Spaniard managed to make something of the long ball situations but as the game went on you could see the visible frustration from Torres, he was essentially feeding on scraps. Support from midfield was all too rare, but when it did come Liverpool created arguably their best chance (and move) of the night when Ryan Babel linked up with the main forward, only for the Dutchman to be foiled by Landreaux.

One thing to emphasise here is that using the long ball tactic is not the worst ploy, in fact with the pace and ability of Torres it can be fruitful but in order for it become effective support must come from midfield, too many times last night this wasn't the case. There must also be a variation in the type of attack Liverpool present to the opposition, going long everytime becomes easy for the opposition to read. Last season the link up between Gerrard and Torres (even if they didn't start too many games together) was effective but was also added to by a supporting cast of Dirk Kuyt, Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera.

Liverpool's forward philosophy seems to have become extremely static, which in itself is baffling considering the success of last season. Does Benitez's 4-2-3-1 formation need to be altered? It was very successful last season but in truth it has never looked like repeating that success this term. In the Premier League especially there seems to be a new trend emerging of the 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation with Manchester United and Arsenal two of the beneficiaries. Manchester United's use of this system with Rooney at the head of the formation seems effective, it becomes efficient both in both home and away games because the two wide players are used to support the attack when going forward and then sit in to become a five-man midfield when the opposition are coming forward.

It could be worth considering by Benitez because Liverpool do have the personel to use this formation. Torres, as we know can lead the line solely, he could then be supported by the likes of Ryan Babel, Albert Riera, Dirk Kuyt or Yossi Benayoun in the two wide positions. That would leave three positions in the middle of midfield where you could potentially use Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas or even Aquilani.

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On a side note, the recent performances of Javier Mascherano must be applauded. The Argentine is finding his best form again, even in his stints at right-back (most notably in the Derby) the 25-year-old has impressed. Against Lille Javier was at his destructive best, it's just a shame that nobody in front of him is showing any particular form.

Obviously Liverpool have now made things extremely difficult for themselves in their quest for fourth place but there surely couldn't have been a better game to get back on track than troubled Portsmouth coming to Anfield.

It’s the day after the night before and the dust and settled on what was Liverpool’s ninth league defeat. This blog post was purposely delayed until today to avoid any forthcoming knee-jerk reaction.

Unfortunately, as a Liverpool supporter I am still left seething with the utterly lifeless performance that was Wigan away. Even the best teams have their off days but the fact remains Liverpool have had too many off days this season, especially away from Anfield. Sunderland, Portsmouth, Reading, Fiorentina, Fulham and Wigan, the list goes on of genuinely pathetically poor performances.

It was the first time that I can remember Rafa Benitez visibly incensed in his post match interview, you could tell he was hurting. Benitez very rarely, if at all, criticises his team but last night was an exception that needed to be made.

These professional footballers that supposedly ‘crave’ Champions League football did their best impression at not showing it last night. There was no heart, no ambition, no imagination, no fluidity and no passion. To manage not one effort on target on against, let’s get this right, a distinctly average Wigan side is borderline embarrassing, not to mention the fact the pitch had been re-laid.

Despite all of this Liverpool could have nicked at least a point (if not all three) had Fernando Torres found his shooting boots. However, if Liverpool had taken anything from this game it would have masked the genuine failings of this team.

The spirited performances of Javier Mascherano and Sotiris Kyriakos have to be mentioned, along with Pepe Reina - but that goes without saying. But too many top players disappointed and went missing, and that includes the influential skipper. I have never seen Steven Gerrard give away so many passes in one game. Dirk Kuyt another, his mishap for the goal was painful to say the least.

Last night added further weight to the argument that Emiliano Insua needs to be replaced at left back, Fabio Aurelio is injured and there is no other first team left back in the squad but a genuine defender is desperately required, Daniel Agger maybe?

The lad has been run ragged by virtually every right sided midfield player in the league. Hell, he even made Jobi McAnuff look like Cristiano Ronaldo. I have stood by Insua in the past, the guy is still young and showed much promise prior to this season but it makes you wonder how many poor performances warrant being dropped.

In reality, how many wake up calls do this side need? Seriously, enough of all the talk of ‘we will turn things round’ and ‘we have turned a corner’, time to put up or shut up. On this evidence Liverpool won’t finish in the top four and more importantly, don’t deserve to.

Liverpool still have time on their side and a favourable set of fixtures compared to their Champions League rivals but something has to radically change between now and Thursday night, this side does not lack ability and it’s about time the player’s started showing it.