And Chelsea throw away more points.

Liverpool too. The entire team other than Maxi Rodriguez can`t hit the broad side of a barn, and when they do, the other team`s goalkeeper pulls off a fabulous save. Liverpool had a dream schedule during the holiday period and have completely squandered it.

You've definitely thrown away some great opportunities to cement a place in the top four.

Money well spent on Carroll?

A clean sheet and a point at Stoke - decent result. Just Chelsea next.

The problem is that McLeish`s intent EVERY game seems to be to get a scoreless draw.

I haven`t complained this season because unlike under Roy, Liverpool are not scoring despite playing attractive football and creating a ton of opportunities, whereas under Roy they were painful to watch and struggled to generate many scoring opportunities. However, it`s clearly getting into the team`s head and the more anxious they get, the harder it is for them to score. The goal must look like a small dot to them right now, and the goalkeepers must look like giants.

Clearly the money was not well spent on Carroll, particularly if the club was looking for a consistent goal scorer, which he never was. Of their acquisitions since last year`s winter transfer window, I would say they`ve had a 50% success rate. Clearly Suarez was a great buy, even if he`s not the goal scorer he was expected to be. Adam and Enrique have also been worth the money.

Downing has confirmed that he`s a solid player but not the elite kind of talent that a team needs to move into title contention. He`s not fast enough to break down defenders or create space for crosses, and he`s not a goal scorer, but he hasn`t been a dud. Henderson, on the other hand, I still don`t see what made him such a must buy, particularly for his price tage. And Carroll`s problems have been well documented. When I think of the combined fees paid for Henderson and Carroll and the kind of elite goal scoring striker that could`ve been bought for that kind of money, it`s very frustrating.

I`m almost at the point that I`d like to see Liverpool try to get Bent in the winter transfer window, but I don`t think he can handle the big stage, as he proved when he was with Spurs.