SO we don’t win a game we should have done and the phone-ins are buzzing. Sadly, it’s most noticeable that it’s the out-of-towners who are all for getting rid of Rafael Benitez.

I’ll nail my colours to the mast now. In 1,000 years, one could not imagine anything less LFC-like than sacking a manager who has taken us to two Champions League finals in three years – especially with the sort of players we’ve had lately!

Most genuine fans love the manager, it’s just that we’d also love him to get some of his foibles sorted out.

Like substitutions. He could have changed things around against City a bit earlier – like half-time. I’d also have liked to have seen Ryan Babel in the middle.

True, Harry Kewell must come off after 60 or 70 minutes, and we needed to keep the width, but Babel alongside Torres probably represents our best bet up front right now.

And there’s an important point here. With Crouch out, we do not have too many players who can actually make any sort of impact, while some of our team do not make much of an impact even with 90 minutes to do so.

Sadly, I’ve been very wrong about Dirk Kuyt. Last year I thought he looked dynamic but at least he tries – Voronin is not even that good.

Injuries have found us out a bit at the back, but we’ve largely got away with it. It’s lack of firepower that’s costing us.

Two world class offensive players is not enough, they can be marked out of the game. Although, usually this marking is within the rules of Association Football, not rugby.

Some of City’s tackles would have graced Twickenham, yet Uriah Rennie did not even deem them fouls. For me, he let this game flow too much.