The morning after the night before and my head still hurts. Pre-match my stomach churned, my appetite had gone and I settled down to my first pint. No change, maybe one more….

What unfolded before me made my stomach churn for all different reasons. Bottom line, we failed to turn up and Milan took the trophy from us without much of a fight, it has to be said.

It is painful, we controlled them in the first half without really looking dangerous or incisive. Defensive errors on their part let us in, most notably Jermaine Pennant who really did not get a hold of his shot but still made Dida save well. The angle favoured the keeper but a more powerful strike was needed. Steven Gerrard, too, came up wanting with his one-on-one.

Still, I am not here to draft a report on a game we all saw and have made our own conclusions on. I am here to ask a question, one I am sure every Liverpool fan and most neutrals would love to know the answer to; why was Bolo Zenden playing? Sorry, not only playing but starting. It had been coming all week, all the news was of his ankle injury in training last week and constant updates on his fitness. Anyone new to this wonderful game or those of us visiting from another planet would justifiably assume that this man was one of our big boys, a pinnacle performer, The big-time Charlie! The reality, I am afraid, is a lot different.

In his time at Anfield, Zenden has not managed to put in anything close to a significant performance to elevate his status to automatic starter in the biggest game in European club football. His best spell with us, in my own humble opinion, was when he was injured. That way he could not affect our play by single-handedly nullifying any threatening attack down the left.

That is all he did last night, on more than one occasion we were making inroads down his side of the field only for it all to come crashing down once the ball found the feet of the atrocious Dutchman. He really was that poor, head down, slow and indecisive in a game where mere seconds and the right ball counted, he came up short every time.

It is very unlike Rafa Benitez to keep faith with a man who has not been performing, nay has never performed for the club. It was very Gerard Houllier-like of him. Houllier, the man who used to play his man into the ground in the vain hope there would finally be a time when he came good, wasting seasons on no-hopers. We all know where that line of management led him.

As the dust settles on another nearly night for Liverpool, the message is clear: get a proven striker in now. Despite Zenden’s atrocious showing, we would have taken that one last night if we had one out there.

As I go to press on this, it appears Bolo will be shown the door. Too late? The man should never have been welcomed through it in the first place.