THE FOURTH PLACE DERBY

Most of us would probably take a point now - our current ills have made Finch Farm resemble a field hospital full of bandaged and bleeding troops sitting around in a daze.
Injuries and squad size have got us on the ropes, and if the team are collectively playing Ali’s famous Rope-a-dope trick, they're doing a very good job of looking beat.
Fulham and West Ham reeked of a form slump coming at precisely the wrong time.
But, with the positivity that this blog was meant to typify at the fore, these players have proven they can beat the odds before.
You’d have seen long odds for us tearing into Fiorentina and beating them in a manner which restored much pride at the end of this term’s Euro campaign.
After the first leg we looked like rabbits in the headlights, scared and seemingly incapable of stepping up.

We need to stage the same kind of fight-back on Sunday. Liverpool have some highly-vaunted threats to Tim Howard’s goal. They will try and get off on an intimidating front foot.
I’d prefer to see us get right back at them, instead of defending too deeply against Torres.
It would obviously be suicide to ignore his very potent threat, but I’d like us to spend as much perspiration getting the ball on The Yak’s toes and giving their ageing defence something to worry about.
The best portly waiter never to grace La Tasca in Queen’s Square will probably expect us to go for a point and pick his side accordingly.
(I can see him now. Red-cheeked, waddling up and down the touchline and making that weird hand gesture he does to tell the team to give the ball to Torres).

From their lot, Torres aside, I’m probably most concerned about the impact of Lucas. Whether through sheer luck, or just throwing money at stuff til it comes off, the waiter has found a proper gem there.
In our midfield, Mikel Arteta owes it to us, and himself, (...cue cheesy Any Given Sunday-style Pacino opus) to grab this game by the scruff of the neck. I used to be aghast he never got picked for Spain, but recent performances would make him second pick for Andorra.
Harsh words maybe, but he needs to get back to the displays of last season when he was our wonderfully beating heart. The ability hasn’t gone anywhere so he needs to get his head right. And carry on shooting at goal.
I’m currently stuck between watching it in my mate’s flat or the New York on Allerton Road. It’s the conundrum of what is best; relative privacy to let bitterness/rage/indeceny/and or smugness flow with abandon as the fridge-chilled Tuborg’s roll down - or a public setting with better atmosphere but more personal discipline.
I’ll leave it til the last minute knowing me.
Finally, whatever the result, it’s be good if it didn't all spill over into fighting and vandalism. There’s just no need.
We’ve still got a fair bit of footy to play after Sunday and nothing will be set in stone.

Last but not least, if you're stuck in the bookies at 3.50pm on Sunday, have a fiver on Neville. I've just got a feeling.

Read a red perspective on Sunday. Luke Traynor's 'Another Red Letter Day' blog is at http://luketraynor.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/03/derby_day_1.html

Also, have a go at Danny Kay's Derby Sports quiz at http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/efc