Liverpool keeping faith: Why Dudek won't wear the Jerzy again

Liverpool's 3-0 defeat at the Emirates in November left a sour taste, though it was later sweetened by seven wins in ten matches. Saturday's taste was somewhat bitter-sweet with the FA Cup exit  and the show of red strength by the Kop. But Tuesday's successive defeat by Arsenal in the Carling Cup and the 6-3 scoreline leaves a severe ulcer in the mouth.

Rafa Benitez's promise to Jerzy Dudek to let him defend the Liverpool goal in the Cup matches proved too costly once again, and maybe the promise should have been offset by the unwritten pledge of fielding the strongest team possible to make us fans happy. The memories of Istanbul are too strong to be tainted by yesterday's non-performance but I feel that we have seen the very last of the Polish goalkeeper's playing career for the Reds.

While the fourth official signalled six extra minutes for the first half, memories of Istanbul flowed through me. But those special six minutes in Istanbul are etched through our memories because they only happened once. This time, they just served to let Arsenal's young kids score twice, put the tie firmly beyond Liverpool's reach and let the historians search in the record books for the last time such a reversal result was recorded in the first 45 minutes at Anfield.

Bill Shankly used to say there are two teams in Liverpool, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves. He's been proved right again as, rather than a whole squad, Liverpool have two different teams -- the first XI and the second XI. Such is the gulf between some of the first-teamers and the others supposed to be knocking on the manager's door for a chance.