Come on Liverpool, Lets Up The Standard!

Tonight, Liverpool host Standard Liege in an attempt to get into the group stages of the Champions League.

The first leg of this tie was awful. Liverpool looked short of ideas and were a yard behind the Standard players in almost every 50/50. People put this down to start of season rustiness.

To be honest, the two games since haven't been much better. The opener against Sunderland we, again, seemed short of ideas. It wasn't a good performance by any means. Thankfully Sunderland played even worse so we weren't punished.

Until Fernando Torres scored, the nearest we had come to a goal was Xabi Alonso's 70 yard effort. Yes, it was an improvement on the Standard Liege game, but it wasn't the performance of champions.

Then, against Middlesbrough, it was more of the same. Liverpool looked slow and out of ideas, although there were some promising bits of link-up play by Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane. It took a Jamie Carragher wonder strike, with perhaps a little help from the defender, to draw us level, and then Captain Fantastic Steven Gerrard to save the day.

Again, it was an improvement on the previous game, but not hugely. The glimmer of hope we can take from this is that last season those are the type of games we were drawing or losing.

It has been said that to be a Champion, you need to win when playing badly. This is true to some extent, but you have to play well sometimes!

I can sense there is more to come from Liverpool, and that this may be the worst we will play all season. I wouldn't mind that one bit.

But these matches we win while the team is still getting to know each other are bonuses really. Hopefully, the improvements will carry on tonight and we will make it through to the Group Stage.

We will need a rather vast improvement if we are to challenge for the title, however, as our form on the opening day compared to that of Chelsea's was poor. Still, three points are three points.

I'm hoping for a more exciting game tonight, and Liverpool really need to up the standard. If we don't make it to the Champions League proper, it could have major repercussions on the club, financially and mentally.

So come on Liverpool, give us another special Anfield European night!