Portsmouth 2-0 Liverpool: The Sunday Mirror verdict

These are bleak days on Merseyside. The body language of talismanic figures like Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres told its own story at Fratton Park yesterday lunchtime as Liverpool slumped to their fourth defeat in six league games.

Bottom club Portsmouth heaped more misery on the lacklustre Reds with this deserved 2-0 win. Even before Javier Mascherano was sent off, for a brutal assault on Tal Ben Haim, Liverpool heads had dropped.

Rafa Benitez’s guarantee of a top-four finish is beginning to look a bit hollow.

The Spaniard claimed Mascherano’s red card changed everything - but his side were already a goal down by then and looking unlikely to level the scores. Benitez resorted to sarcasm after the game - bizarrely repeating the phrase “the referee was perfect“ six times. He is clearly feeling the strain.

The plight of his side had already been underlined earlier in the week when they were drawn against Romanians Unirea Urziceni in the Europa League - while Manchester United and Chelsea were handed glamour ties against the Milan clubs.

Rafa has got issues. Torres looked out of sorts and kept losing his cool. Indeed he was lucky not to join Mascherano in the dressing room after elbowing Ben Haim in the face.

Jamie Carragher was given the runaround by Frederic Piquionne. If Carragher and Gerrard are Liverpool’s heart and soul, then Mascherano is their lungs and legs. They will badly miss their influential midfielder, who will be out for four games following his second dismissal of the season.

New Pompey boss Avram Grant, on the other hand, has got the side believing in themselves. After Nadir Belhadj opened the scoring, the south coast strugglers never looked like losing their lead.

Hassan Yebda broke down the right and found Kevin-Prince Boateng with a low cross. Pepe Reina parried Boateng’s shot but Glen Johnson headed straight to the Algerian - who gleefully volleyed the ball past Reina.

Frederic Piquionne sealed the three points with a brilliant strike nine minutes from time. Once again, Boateng was involved, sending in a dangerous ball from the right. The striker, who has looked far more threatening since Grant became manager, flicked the ball past Carragher and rifled the ball home from the tightest of angles.

Carragher just couldn’t cope with Piquionne - who could have got a brace when he rose above the defender to head Boateng’s cross just wide. The veteran centre-back immediately tried to make amends at the other end - but blasted the ball over the stand in comical style.

Benitez argued that the visitors were well in control until Mascherano’s sending off just before half-time. AIthough they had plenty of possession, however, they only had two attempts on goal. First Torres shrugged off Michael Brown and curled the ball over. Then Daniel Agger rose, unmarked, to meet Gerrard’s free-kick - but also missed the target.

In fact, Portsmouth would have won even more convincingly had they taken their chances. Agger made a complete hash of a headed clearance to present Hassan Yebda with the ball, but the midfielder smashed it straight into Carragher. The impressive Jamie O’Hara then went close. And Piquionne was put through on goal - only for Emiliano Insua to dive in and block his shot.

True, Gerrard came close in the final minutes, but the truth is that Asmir Begovic - in for the injured David James - had very little to do in the home goal. The Liverpool skipper now hasn’t scored in open play for 11 games.

“It’s not normally easy to play against Gerrard and Torres,” said Grant. “But my team did a good job. The players have got self-belief. They now think they can win big games.”