Lads still rusty. Lads still off-form. Unsharp. Giving the ball away as if Platini has decided he wants as many balls as referees. Rather slowish. Off the pace actually. Pressure already telling. Shipping in goals. Manager fed-up of the whole system.

It was all under these circumstances that Liverpool travelled to the ridiculously named Reebok stadium. Adding to that the undisputed fact that they’ve only got three points to their name in as many games. It wasn’t the ideal preparation, and I guess confidence wasn’t remotely anywhere in the Northern region. The expectation didn’t silhouette any of the confidence factor. The expectation was very high, as Liverpool were to be facing a side that was having it even worse than them. Sometimes the fixture list can be kind like that.

The circumstances though seemed to make up for the rare kindness, as Liverpool found themselves one goal down once again. Admittedly it was all Liverpool’s making as very poor defending gave their captain Davies the easiest of tasks to stab into the net. The ball was travelling in Liverpool’s six yard box and there was a surplus of white shirts over red ones. Carragher went berserk and I just let my head drop down unsure what to expect.

I shouldn’t have done. Few minutes later Liverpool replied through the newly acquired Johnson in what could be said to be a typical Liverpool goal. Crafty, yet so simple in its execution, it was delightful to watch. As Bolton’s rearguard defended easily the umpteenth corner the ball bobbled away in Johnson’s direction. With the ball in his feet he moved horizontally to his left as his opposing number a good metre away was wrong footed by it all. With Bolton’s area still rather congested he took his time to choose his shot’s best route through all the gaps.

Shortly after the restart, Liverpool had to restart everything once again as they let the opposing Cahill give Bolton the lead. The proceedings gave Liverpool a breather as Lucas for once reminded us of Alonso as his run committed Davis to tackle from behind, earning him a second yellow card.

Torres was making his presence felt loitering around even though sometimes with a touch that was letting him down. But he couldn’t let Kuyt’s sublime chest pass down. Torres was enabled an open view of the goal that with a ball with his feet this time he made up the most of it with the aplomb we expect from him.

And then Gerrard had another rush of blood through his head. This time in an opposing penalty area and with a ball in his feet. And the result was a net showing its worth as it absorbed the ball. For the first time Liverpool went ahead. And there was no way they were going to let that slip. The only failure was not adding to the score-line as excessive altruism seemed to have got into the lads feet and they thought they can walk the ball over the line which at one time it’s debatable whether they actually did.

The top two looked at times far from their best. They looked like the opening of this blog. But then again, they reminded us that form is only temporary while class is permanent. For a change an international break is welcomed in this neck of the woods as the lads can take their time to compose themselves better. And all this with a win in their feet.