Fernando Torres opened up the Derby defence with the technique and glee of an excited kid unwrapping a Christmas present. He received the ball just outside the penalty area, took on his opponent on his own rather than passing, then just went past the next Derby defender and just clipped the ball in the far corner. With the match just thirteen minutes old, and a Derby defence seemingly water tight as a wrapping paper you would have thought that the focus has now turned on improving the goal difference column rather than the points won one. Openings and good chances followed in the next thirty-two minutes or so, but they were treated with the respect of a spoilt brat who had too many jumpers and argyle socks under his Christmas tree.
The no easy games cliché looked as dead and buried as the turkey digested during yesterday’s lunch. After going one goal up, Liverpool recorded 86% of the possession in the first fifteen minutes, a six-nil win at Anfield in September, and a record of seven points out of eighteen matches only confirmed the threat of today’s opponents.

The affable and ex-Liverpool reserve Paul Jewell seemed to have roused his troops at half-time. And Liverpool probably felt they have done already enough to return to Merseyside with the three points. They disrespected their opponents and just looked all over the place, wasting pass after pass, lacking assertiveness, cutting edge and solidity at the back, when taking in consideration John Arne Riise was deputising as centre-back, it was not too surprising. An accident was waiting to happen, and it actually did happen on the sixty-seventh minute when James McEvely slotted the ball home after Liverpool failed to defend properly a free-kick. The present unwrapped by Torres in the first half looked now broken and effectively put on the side.

Liverpool quickly regrouped, Dirk Kuyt was thrown into the fray for Ryan Babel (who so far always looked better and more effectively when subbed on rather than when starting the match). The returning Xabi Alonso got the best out of the Welsh keeper Lewis Price after a curling shot from just outside the penalty area. Steven Gerrard went even closer, getting the better out of Lewis Price but not the crossbar as he rattled a shot after some very good work by Yossi Benayoun who subbed Sami Hyypia earlier on.

It was only a reprieve though, when some two minutes later, Gerrard simply poked the ball into the net, after a close save on Torres to save Liverpool’s blushes and basically get Liverpool out of jail from a position of not just two points lost, but squandered and scattered shamefully.