It is a little glib to suggest that Liverpool have a one-man strike force in Fernando Torres.

It seems almost beyond dispute, though, that whenever the Spaniard is unavailable Liverpool look ill equipped to challenge for the title, a situation hardly helped by the sales of Xabi Alonso, Robbie Keane and Alvaro Arbeloa in the past year.

I realise this could come across as heresy to Liverpool fans, but might the answer be to sell Torres too?

Torres is, without question, an exceptional player but he is not irreplaceable. Liverpool have won nothing with the Spaniard in attack because they simply do not have the same in-depth quality that Chelsea and Manchester United can boast.

If Cristiano Ronaldo was worth 80 million when he moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid, Torres should command a similar figure.

With that money Liverpool could buy three, maybe four, top drawer players who would give their squad more balance. Valencia striker David Villa would cost around 30 million and would be a handy replacement for Torres, as would Atletico Madrid’s Argentine frontman Sergio Aguero. Either, or both of them, would leave manager Rafael Benitez enough left over to strengthen in other areas.

Villa’s team mate David Silva would add some creativity in Liverpool’s midfield as would Tottenham Hotspur’s midfield spark Luca Modric or his team mate Aaron Lennon, if they could be prised away.

With Liverpool’s debts unlikely to ease any time soon, Benitez will probably need to sell before bringing in new blood but few of their current squad, apart from Torres, Gerrard and midfield anchor Javier Mascherano, would raise the kind of money that they would require for a major squad overhaul.

Selling Torres might be the one step back Liverpool need to take in order to take two forward because at present they appear to be getting left behind.

PHOTO: Fernando Torres looks on during their Champions League soccer match against Fiorentina at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence September 29, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Liverpool’s run of four straight defeats has generated a lot of discussion about what has gone wrong, but precious little about how to put it right, aside from the suggestion that it might be nice to see Kenny Dalglish back in the dugout.

So let’s leave aside for a moment Rafa’s handling of big players and whether he should have kept hold of Sami Hyypia and Xabi Alonso, and consider what the club’s next moves should be.

As many have noted, without Fernando Torres they look impossibly ordinary in attack, and when Andriy Voronin was brought on with a few minutes to go against Lyon it seemed to many fans an indictment of the Spanish coach’s transfer dealings.

Certainly Liverpool could do with another top class forward but with money short the chances of them landing David Villa or someone similar in the transfer window are remote. And in any case, I’m not sure pitching in a player like Villa at the halfway stage of the season would provide the answer.

What Liverpool really need is a player with a touch of gravitas, the sort of performer who can command respect from team mates and opponents alike, can put his foot on the ball, weigh up the options and give players around him a lift.

Arguably the best signing Gerard Houllier made, apart from Hyppia, was Gary McAllister. The Scot was 35 when he moved to Anfield yet he still had a profound effect on the team, playing an instrumental role in the run to the Cup treble of 2000-01 and, more importantly, the club’s first qualification for the Champions League.

How Benitez could do with a player cut from the same cloth. But where should he turn?

David Beckham might have been a solution — well, Michael Owen did sign for United, after all – but the England man seems set for another stint with AC Milan.

He is no McAllister, but in the absence of such a player Liverpool might consider making a bid for Rafael van der Vaart, a player with the same sort of quality on the ball and the experience of leading a team during his time at Hamburg SV.

He is currently warming the bench at Real Madrid and might jump at a chance to show what he can do in the Premier League.

But if not the Dutchman, who would you suggest? They certainly need to find inspiration from somewhere, as they contemplate the possibility of falling 10 points behind Manchester United on Sunday.

Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium gleamed in the sunshine on Saturday as the north London side produced an exhilarating display to beat Portsmouth 4-1 in the Premier League.

The impressive structure, wedged into a densely populated part of the capital, is one of England’s finest club grounds but many of the 60,000 fans sat on their comfy plastic seats would have pined for the old Highbury ground just across the road.

Highbury, like Goodison Park, White Hart Lane, Anfield and the old Maine Road, was born in an era when football was the traditional “working class” escape from a hard week’s labour.

Just being at the ground, watching your favourite players, was enough reason to raise the voice and wave the scarf. Things were spontaneous, sons followed fathers as the terrace folklore was passed down from one generation to the next.

Old-school football fans are watching the Saturday afternoon traditions die.

So it is that the image gurus at Arsenal are busy devising ways to re-create what the march of money, live TV, expensive tickets and millionaire players has eroded.

“Arsenalisation” they are calling it. The club is promising a number of measures to try and link the concrete and plastic bowl that the Emirates is to Arsenal’s rich history.

On Saturday this involved the placing of a free red and white scarve on every seat.

Page 12 of the glossy matchday programme instructs fans to place the scarf above their heads when the players come out and to remember to bring them to the next game.

True, it looked good, but have football fans become so pampered that they now have to be given instructions on scarf-waving? Arsene Wenger said he was a big fan of the initiative, eluding to the fact that “soul and love” appeared to be missing at the new edifice.

Once upon a time, taking a scarf, a rosette, bobble hat or banner was just instictive behaviour…new songs would float down from the terraces on a weekly basis.

Arsenal just pump up the volume on the Elvis Presley classic The Wonder of You which for reasons not quite clear has been adopted as their theme tune.

This is by no means a dig at Arsenal. The fact they have identified a problem is to their credit.

Other stadiums also appear to have to initiate the atmosphere. At nearby Tottenham the Tannoy blares a medley of some of the club’s anthems before kick-off while at Wembley Stadium, fans are blasted with a selection of the winning club’s favourite tunes, as if they need a helping hand to celebrate.

With the old Victorian stadium gradually disappearing (White Hart Lane, Anfield and Goodison Park may all soon be gone) clubs will increasingly have to come up with gimmicks in a bid to maintain their identity.

And another thing, since when do self-respecting football fans need to be reminded of the score at halftime and fulltime. It’s another iritating trend that appears designed for the corporate hospitality brigade who might have missed something while tucking into their canapes.

PHOTO: A young Arsenal fan holds up his scarf before their English Premier League soccer match against Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium in London August 22, 2009. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Last season, Liverpool dropped too many points against teams from the bottom half of the table and finally it cost them that long awaited title.

It may well be, then, that the signing of the impressive, energetic Glen Johnson at full-back turns out to be a more significant bit of transfer business than the much criticised decision to sell Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

With the arrival of Johnson, Liverpool have found an extra man who can torment well-packed defences and the evidence was there in the 4-0 win over Stoke City last week.

What a difference from the two goalless draws Liverpool had against The Potters last season, as Johnson scored one and provided another.

The England man needed no time to establish a good working partnership with the tireless Dirk Kuyt and make the fans see just why Benitez spent so much money to buy a right-back.

It might sound strange to say you can replace a midfield maestro with a defender but that is what Liverpool have done.

As they showed last season, getting the better of your direct rivals is not good enough to win the league — you have to beat just about every other team as well, and a player with Johnson’s aggression and ability to make things happen is going to make a big difference, I expect.

PHOTO: Liverpool’s Glen Johnson celebrates his goal against Stoke City during their Premier League soccer match at Anfield in Liverpool, August 19, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Staples

I had heard a great deal about the fabled Anfield atmosphere on European nights but nothing quite prepared me for my first visit.

Quite a night I chose as well. The 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in what was the first meeting on Merseyside between the two European powerhouses will sit high on anybody’s list of magnificent Anfield occasions.

The atmosphere on the day of the match was great, as hundreds of Real fans took in The Cavern district and Liverpool’s impressive waterfront but it was the walk to the stadium that brought home quite what the European Cup means to Liverpool fans.

Huge banners were paraded through the terraced streets that surround the looming stadium. Boarded up shopfronts displayed murals of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, two of the club’s greatest managers, although I didn’t see one of Rafael Benitez (well, he is yet to bring the league title back to Liverpool).

As a self-confessed traditionalist when it comes to football stadiums I loved Anfield.

From the moment you walk in you are met by match-day officials who no doubt have done the same jobs for decades. The media room is adjacent to the trophy room and VIP’s bar, where John Toshack, John Aldridge, Jan Molby, Mark Lawrenson and Ian St John, to name but a few, were all greeted with warm handshakes and banter. It was like a family reunion.

I was told by a colleague to make sure I was shoehorned into my red, wooden press seat at least 15 minutes before kickoff to savour the Liverpool anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone. Great advice.

I’ve been lucky enough to be present for many World Cup and European games while working for Reuters, but this outstripped everything. 45,000 supporters, including the Real Madrid fans, belted out the song and the noise tingled my spine and brought a lump to my throat. With a backdrop like that it is no wonder Liverpool often raise their game for nights such as this.

Real’s players looked completely overwhelmed by their surroundings, and these are players who have experienced the biggest stages in the world.

Long after the game had finished, I walked back through the narrow streets around Anfield. Just for a while it was like being back in the 70s when football really was a game for the ordinary bloke on the street.

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s players react after Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard (unseen) scored the team’s third goal during their Champions League match at Anfield, March 10, 2009. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Owen Wyatt has invested in new 3-D technology to provide a fresh look at Real Madrid chances of knocking Liverpool out of the Champions League.

Click on the video above to hear our views on the key battles at Anfield, and a look at what the Spanish papers and Real Madrid players are saying ahead of the match.

The view in Spain seems to be that the form and fitness of Torres will be the decisive factor in this match but we’re not so sure. Liverpool are in charge after the 1-0 win at the Bernabeu but an early goal for Real would change everything. Watch out for that man Raul.

Robbie Keane’s arrival at Liverpool and the long pursuit of Gareth Barry suggest Rafa Benitez is looking more at British Isles players than in the past.

Vlogonthepitch host Owen Wyatt went to his local pub to canvass the opinions of two Liverpool fans.

If Barry does eventually sign, will the new approach from Benitez help Liverpool compete more in the Premier League or might it cause them to suffer in Europe?

Let us know your views.

For once a tie between two English sides in Europe brought out the best of the Premier League. A breathless second leg at Anfield has already been hailed as a classic after Liverpool won through 5-3 on aggregate to set up yet another semi-final against Chelsea, which will doubtless be slightly less of a classic.

Still, let’s take a bit of time to let Tuesday’s match sink in. It will be remembered by Liverpool fans as another great European night at Anfield, while Arsenal supporters will see the tie as a whole as a tale of two penalties — one turned down in London and one given in Liverpool.

We’ll have more on this on the blog tomorrow. For now, read Mike Collett’s report from Anfield here at the main site — he describes the tension on the night as almost unbearable — and send us your views on the match, the tie and the semi-final to come. Did Rafa Benitez get his tactics wrong at the start? Were Arsenal hard done by? And when was the last time you saw a European tie as good as that?

PHOTO: Steven Gerrard and Ryan Babel celebrate victory over Arsenal at Anfield, April 8, 2008. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito