Top of the league, into a Cup final but so many injuries...

Monday night was a bit of a rollercoaster, watching the Merseyside derby. It played itself out as a proper old fashioned local derby, not much football on show, a few rash tackles, 99% of which early on were Phil Neville flinging himself into everything and everyone he could saw wearing red, in a reprisal of his old role against Jose Antonio Reyes. The almost inevitable Gerrard stunner threatened to ruin my evening but Rafa's zonal marking paid off a treat when Martin Skrtel (having a poor game) chose to let Tim Cahill take up an unmarked position in the box and Arteta put it on his head with aplomb. 1-1 and we stay top by goal difference while the bookies now have Liverpool as third favourites for the title. I agree should look at the facts and we are top of the table now on merit. Can't be unhappy with that.

Onto last night and our game against Derby. The team sheet didn't fill me full of confidence but I was almost glad to see Nani after putting a daft bet on him to score last night. I didn't think our performance in the first half was particularly stunning, it was more an insight into the difference between Premier League and Championship. We scored three without really doing a massive amount. Nani's thunderbolt, O'Shea ghosting into the box in a position that deserved to be offside but wasn't and a good Tevez header from a pinpoint Rafael cross seemed to put the game out of reach, even though Rafael was soon withdrawn with what is another hamstring injury.

The second half was a strange affair, reminiscent of the Hull league game and the Blackburn Carling Cup game. Foot off the pedal and the other team takes a chance, in this case a penalty, and they're one goal from extra time. The media seemed to think that Derby dominated the second half but this didn't match the game I was watching. By all means they improved on their first half display but they weren't really troubling us until the penalty. The penalty would never have happened if Jonny Evans wasn't limping around but Fergie's baffling decision to use all the subs left us no choice. Thankfully a Ronaldo penalty after a bad tackle from Carroll on Tevez (which he could have walked for) put us further ahead as the body count continued to rise. Anderson could barely take the weight on his ankle, Nani did his groin and couldn't even limp out the rest of the game and Evans was still hobbling about. Ten outfield players against seven and only one goal away from being forced to extra time, after Barnes placed a free kick inside Foster's near post. That lad could have a real future in football, if injury stays clear this time.

Job done just about, but at what cost? Rio, Brown, Evra, Rafael, Neville, Evans. All carrying injuries, leaving our back line massively depleted. Further up the park we now have Rooney, Nani, Anderson and Park all doubtful, joining the long term absentee Owen Hargreaves. We can only hope that Wes and Rio make their returns sooner rather than later after beginning training again. Anderson faces an X-ray to determine the extent of his injury. We need to clear at least some of these injuries quickly if we want to maintain an attack on all competitions this year.

Added a new feature to the site – What's being said? Whether it be from my favourite Liverpool site, the press, our players or another blogger, I'll try to keep it funny or poignant. I won't update it daily but I can't think of a better name for it.