Faith, Hope and Charity

Well the dust has just about settled on our draw against the Brummies. It comes at the end of a week that has seen the ups and downs of a football fans life.

This time last week most Reds fans believed we had turned a corner of the season. An excellent performance against a team in some form. Our star striker hitting a vein of form that has been patchy over an injury hit season. Even old big fat head himself can see how well the boys have played. We are still in with a shout of claiming that all important fourth spot, if other results can go our way.

Then on to Lisbon, where the Eagles relied on a moment of madness (from a Dutch winger or a Swedish official, I'll let you choose) to earn them a result that, to be honest, I would have taken before kick off. I have every confidence that at Anfield, even this season (possibly especially this season), we can overturn a one goal deficit, particularly given an away goal.

Saturday comes and in the early kick off, the sun shines on the righteous as the team that shall not be named lose to their closest championship rivals to the dodgiest of offside goals. I love this game at times.

Onto the three o'clock kick offs (remember them?). 38 seconds past 3 and the sun shines even brighter. One Darren Bent, who has been in my fantasy football team this year, fires home giving me 4 points and, more importantly, putting Spurs on the back foot. Another Bent goal doubles my pleasure. Then the afternoon turns. Bent misses two penalties (minus points in my fantasy team) and an ex Kop hero pulls one back for the North Londoners. Luckily another Anfield old boy seals a win for the team taken apart at Anfield less than a week earlier.

So far so good. OK, Villa took all three points but it's City and Spurs that are our main rivals for the place at Europe's top table.

So City spoil my evening. 20 minutes in and hopes of an Istanbul like comeback from Burnley seem highly optomistic. And to make matters worse my main rival for the fantasy football league has Tevez for his captain and he has scored one and claimed two assists, all points scoring and all doubled.

City's win has taken them fourth, 5 points clear of The Reds having played the same number of games. That means that we have to rely on them losing two of their remaining games (possible, they do have to play United, Villa, Spurs and Arsenal as well as two should win games against the Brummies at home and a last day trip to Upton Park). It also means we have to win all of our games including a home game against title chasing Chelsea and games against three teams all playing to avoid the drop. Of course, they should be the gimmie games but Burnley away could be a tricky tie, although if we score 4 in twenty minutes the nerves will stop jangling a bit. Our inconsistent away form makes me feel that although all our away games are winnable I am not confident in winning any of them.

This feeling has been compounded by todays result. Don't get me wrong, Birmingham away was never an easy fixture as they are in good form and an outside bet for a European place. However, it was a fixture we needed to win to maximise the pressure on our rivals.

I'm not going to critisize Rafa Benitez for his decisions today. I feel he put out a team that was strong enough to take all three points and he also made a brave decision to replace Torres with Ngog. I was reading two writers I have a great deal of respect for when this substitution took place on Twitter and although Richard Buxton and Paul Tomkins agree on a great many things, they were diometrically opposed to the decision to take Torres off. My opinion was that it was brave, but I think it was vindicated as the performance of the Reds improved after the switch.

However, the result makes it increasingly unlikely that we will be able to catch a City team that are brimming with confidence. Mathematically, fourth is the best finish we can possibly reach after todays result. Logically though, I can't see us winning all of our games (although I do think we will beat Chelsea) and I don't think that City will drop enough points for us to catch them.

Ironically, on Easter Sunday, my faith in our ability to qualify for next season's Champion's League has been sorely tested and found wanting. Unfortunately for me, reality has taken over and I have to accept that it is very unlikely that we will reach the fourth place. If we do, it will be down to City and to a lesser extent Spurs failing to convert their advantage.

I still have hope that we will do the seemingly impossible. That hope will only disappear when it is mathematically impossible for us to overhaul the teams above us. I even hope that we beat Chelsea and United beat City if it means we claim that all important ticket to Europe's elite (that's where the charity comes in).

But in all honesty I can't see it. Can you?