I don't think Gareth Barry was missed by Aston Villa at Anfield last night – in fact, I'll go so far as to say we were better without him in the middle.

Controversial, I know, but the mere absence of Barry allowed the Villa central midfield to dominate Liverpool. While Steven Gerrard will make excuses about events off the park affecting his game, we all know it was because Stilian Petrov and Nigel Reo-Coker did a job on them at Anfield

Look, Barry is a decent player but he's no central midfielder and last night we saw glimpses of Reo-Coker and Petrov moving forward.

‘I don't think Barry was missed by Villa last night – in fact I'll go so far as to say we were better without him in the middle.’


If they weren't playing against the central midfield of a club in the last 16 of the Champions League and were playing against a Fulham, a Birmingham City or even a Blackburn then we'd have seen what they can do as a partnership. Against Liverpool, I think they did more than enough.

It's the type of player Barry is more than anything. He can't break forward because he's not quick enough and, while he's got an excellent left foot, he's not quick enough with it and things seem to break down when he gets the ball – not always, just most of the time.

Anyway, lots of things I want to talk about, so I might break this up into three or fours posts, but on to referees this season, because they've got better in my opinion.

When I say better, I mean they're not blowing up for everything and they're letting the game flow. There were a few instances last night and I've noticed it quite a bit the last couple of weekends that they're not blowing up all the time.

The football has flowed and it's made for a better game, and long may it continue.

I'm not going to talk too much about Marlon Harewood like a lot of other people today – our views haven't changed on him. He's still worthy of the claret and blue shirt and, for all the stick he's taken, nobody seems to remember what was said about him when he was purchased.

He was bought as a squad member and an impact player and last night, and not for the first time, he did exactly what he was supposed to do. Kick on Marlon, you the man!