EPL ~ Birmingham 0-0 Liverpool; Torres branded "diabolical"

zocoss SG

Birmingham are hard to beat home since they returned to the top flight. In the circumstances, this fixture will be informative about Roy Hodgson's chances of rebuilding Liverpool with limited means. His side has held its own to date and new signings Raul Meireles and Paul Konchesky are in the squad. Alex McLeish, for his part, has the option of giving debuts to Jean Beausejour and Martin Jiranek, although Alexander Hleb is injured. Neither manager can spend heavily and this season will test their ingenuity as well as their eye for a bargain.

Venue St Andrew's, Sunday 4pm

Tickets £30-50 (0844 557 1875)

Last season Birmingham 1 Liverpool 1

Referee M Halsey

This season's matches 1 Y2, R0, 2.00 cards per game

Odds Birmingham 23-10 Liverpool 7-5 Draw 23-10

Probable starters in bold, contenders in light. Photograph: Graphic

Subs from Taylor, Bowyer, Míchel, Fahey, Murphy, Vallès, O'Connor, Beausejour, Jiranek, Derbyshire, O'Shea, Mutch

Doubtful None

Injured Hleb (leg, 18 Sep), Phillips (thigh, 18 Sep), Parnaby (hamstring, 18 Sep)

Suspended None

Form guide DWD

Disciplinary record Y8 R0

Leading scorer Gardner 3

Subs from Jones, Pacheco, Ngog, Agger, Lucas, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Wilson, Spaering, Shelvey, Kelly

Doubtful Ngog (hamstring)

Injured Aurélio (achilles, 19 Sep), Kuyt (shoulder, 2 Oct)

Suspended Cole (last of three)

Form guide WLD

Disciplinary record Y2 R1

Leading scorers Ngog, Torres 1

• The last six Premier League matches between these sides have been drawn – if this finishes level it will equal the record for consecutive draws between two teams

• Birmingham's last nine top-flight home wins have been by a single-goal margin

• Liverpool have won once in their last 10 away games and have managed eight goals in their last 13 (including four against Burnley)

• Roger Johnson has scored the quickest goal of the season so far (3min 40sec) while Martin Skrtel has picked up the quickest booking (3min 31sec)

zocoss SG

Reina is keeping Pool in the match. I think if Birmingham try hard enough, eventually one will get in...

Rooney9 SG

if liverpool lost, wouldnt roy position becoming untenable before meeting man united next sunday.

omgukilledkenny SG

boring.

zocoss SG

Torres branded "diabolical"

Fernando Torres was branded "diabolical" and accused of lacking interest in an amazing blast from TV pundit Jamie Redknapp.

As Liverpool's talisman struggled to regain his scoring touch in a dismal stalemate at St Andrews, former Anfield favourite Redknapp slammed Torres's performance in an astonishing onslaught.

Torres scored twice for World Cup holders Spain against the full might of Liechtenstein last week, but he boarded the team coach escorted by three security guards and with a face like thunder after drawing another blank for Liverpool yesterday.

Sky Sports analyst Redknapp panned Torres, who made little headway against Birmingham defenders Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, saying: "Fans will suffer to a certain extent when you give the ball away, but they won't suffer a lack of effort.

"Out there for 45 minutes today he (Torres) has been terrible. He hasn't got hold of the ball, he hasn't chased, he's got frustrated, he could have been booked, he's been diabolical.

"I'm his biggest fan, and of course you have to give Johnson and Dann credit, but he's shown no appetite for the game. He's looked frustrated, sloppy, lethargic. I know people talk about his rustiness, but he looked fed-up."

Redknapp went on to write off Liverpool's title chances, adding: "It's completely unrealistic to think Liverpool can win the title. They are in a difficult moment and they need a couple of stars."

Kop manager Roy Hodgson emphatically rejected Redknapp's criticism of Torres - who has scored once this season for Liverpool, the winner against West Bromwich Albion last month.

Hodgson hit back: "I don't share that opinion - Fernando is working hard for the team and, as we saw towards the end of the game, he is a constant thorn in the side of defenders.

"We must give Birmingham due credit for sticking close to him, but we know he missed matches at the end of last year, he missed matches at the World Cup and I'm not at all concerned about him.

"He will get better and better as the season goes on and I believe we should be discussing whether it's a good season in May, not at the beginning of September.

"The longer the game went on, the stronger he looked and the more likely he looked to score - having said that, it would have been harsh on Birmingham if we had stolen a 1-0 victory."

Only a couple of world-class saves from Pepe Reina denied the Blues all the points, but City manager Alex McLeish was proud of his team's display. He said: "All we lacked was the killer touch, but our performance level was fantastic.

"We restricted Liverpool to hardly any chances, and I would like to believe it was a case of Torres finding our defenders hard to play against."

Birmingham have now gone 17 matches unbeaten at home in the Premier League - and have not lost against Liverpool in their last seven meetings.

tripsky SG

he has a habit of turning it on against man utd.... maybe we should rest vidic this weekend

Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1) SG

that time vs man u

torres scored

the power on against big clubs

but off sometimes...