Rarely will a five goal win at Anfield induce so much apathy among Liverpool fans but such was the standard of opposition yesterday afternoon the fact we twice went behind only serves as a moral victory for them and damaged pride for us.
In the end Havant & Waterlooville were seen off with minimum fuss in the second half but it was a surreal first half at Anfield in which the Reds looked a side shell shocked by the plucky visitors who were clinical with their chances and had they had a little more discipline might well have produced the biggest cup upset of all time.
As Rafa Benitez noted afterwards, there were few positives from the game only the hat trick of Yossi Benayoun, a player who has very much lived up to his tag as a replacement for Luis Garcia. His overall play hasn't been good of late but he's scored some crucial goals and it's goals that are the most important thing in football which makes him a valuable asset despite many people's doubts about his overall ability at this level.
Lucas Leiva was off the mark for the first time as he continues his promising progress. More chances are likely to come his way now that Momo Sissoko has been all but sold to Juventus. Debut boy Martin Skrtel will want to forget that game in a hurry having been caught out more than once. We'll put it down to debut nerves but against a side like Havant it doesn't reflect well on him at all.
Ryan Babel remains in an enigma. Great in some games, shocking in others. He's still learning of course but the clamour for him to start tends to recede once he does actually start. He remains, for the time being, most potent when coming off the bench.
Really not much more to say on this. It was a shocking first half performance, slightly better in the second. Ultimately the job was done. Havant got their moment in the limelight, shocked the nation for 45 minutes but we are in the last sixteen and must feel that if we can get our act together, a trip to Wembley is not out of the question.
Tom Hicks was predictably on the PR offensive today as he spoke to Radio Five Live about the events of the last few weeks. There was nothing new to report except that he is "absolutely" prepared to endorse the Mascherano transfer and he insists that there was never a serious possibility of the club being sold to DIC despite what I and many others have been informed to the contrary.
On the silence of Gillett there was little to say except that they get along fine. Interestingly he also said that: "We have never turned down Rafa's request for money on any player he has asked for." This is despite the Liverpool Echo reporting last November when it all kicked off that G and H had refused Rafa the money, around £4m, to buy Kahka Kaladze from AC Milan.
As Hicks was charming the boys at Five Live there was an interesting story in today's Sunday Mirror about how back in 1999 a Texas based firm partly owned by Hicks bought into Brazilian giants Corinthians promising the sun, moon and stars including a brand new stadium only for it to all end in tears and with no new stadium. Sounds eerily familiar...the promises at least.
In any case Hicks today called for everybody to move on from the frenzy that has engulfed the club these last few months. "We are on our way," he said. But where to?
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