Are the Trumpets Marching Towards Liverpool's Jericho?

Who would have thought it?! Liverpool sitting second in the Premier League, and not top only because of an inferior goal difference to Chelsea. This is even more of a feat when one factors into consideration the absence of Torres for the past few weeks, and indeed Skrtel, who was doing brilliantly at the back with a certain Mr Carragher.

However, the league position perhaps acts as a smokescreen over some slight niggling doubts that seem to be, as ever, creeping up on Liverpool.

Firstly, Torres’ absence has been missed. Last weekend’s performance against the bottom club (Tottenham) showed that Liverpool are playing with great skill and patience, but have the same old problem of not being able to kill a game off when they have the chance.

With no disrespect to Dirk Kuyt, who, as well as his usual 100% commitment has actually knocked in a couple of goals recently, the Liverpool strike force just doesn’t look the same without El Nino.

Robbie Keane has so far only scored in Europe, and is not looking quite the potent striker that we had all hoped for when Rafa signed him at the beginning of the season.

Kuyt, although getting the occasional goals, is not someone you can reckon on to get a goal every match or two.

As for N’Gog, the young Frenchman, his presence in the opposition box is about as effective as trying to light a cigarette with a water pistol! He will get better, but he’s not ready to cover for the lack of Torres just yet.

Babel, who usually is rather good in front of goal, also hasn’t properly got going yet.

Yet, the good news beckons—the light is getting ever nearer; Torres is due back, according to most reports, imminently. There was the question of whether he would play against his old club, Atletico Madrid, on Tuesday, but he had to watch a beautiful but impotent display of football by Liverpool from the stands – only to see his new side draw a game that they controlled for the majority thanks to a very last minute penalty.

Step forward Mr Gerrard! As usual, the Liverpool captain came to the rescue of his team. He received a fair bit of flack for it too; some believe that he crumpled more easily than an old autumn leaf in the wind, but who really cares?! Liverpool were certainly due at least a point from that game.

Tuesday’s match aside, the consensus is that Liverpool need two things to happen:

a) Torres needs to come back from his injury soon, and hit the ground running. The goal difference between Chelsea and Liverpool (15 at the moment) needs to be scythed down to a more satisfactory size. And if Torres and Gerrard can get back to the understanding they had towards the end of last year, Liverpool may just start winning games by more than one or two goals. Hammering the opposition time and time again can only be good for confidence.

b) Robbie Keane needs to warrant his large transfer fee with goals. His effort has been impressive, but surely even the Kop can’t find the room to accept two Dirk Kuyts (i.e. the players who throw their heart and soul into every game, but as strikers really should be hitting the back of the net more often)…

Yet, I firmly believe that, with the performances shown thus far, and if the past week is merely a blip in the grander scheme of things, this Liverpool side really do have the talent, confidence, and game to truly challenge for the title this season. But the chat about needing to up the game in the next match needs to stop—Liverpool need to start firing on all cylinders right away.

So far, Liverpool’s title-challenge walls are standing strong, and the trumpets still seem to be a long way off.

As a parting note, what a brilliant bit of luck it was that Juventus decided not to swoop for Xabi Alonso over the summer—some of his performances have been top-notch!