Whenever a crisis engulfs a football club the real victims are the good people that pay the players’ wages and those who have every right to show their discontent when things are going wrong. Sadly I feel Liverpool supporters have been let down massively in the past months, not only off the pitch, but on it as well.

I have sat back and listened to a lot of pundits and ex-pros looking to find the reason behind Liverpool’s troubles this season. Some have put it down to poor management and off-field distractions with the takeover, but few have actually chastised the players who have badly let down the football club with half-hearted displays that were devoid of any heart and spirit. How many of this current Liverpool squad would run through a brick wall or sweat blood for the football club? I think therein lies the problem.

Don’t get me wrong here; Roy Hodgson certainly made some mistakes at Anfield but I can’t help but feel that a lot of players decided to hide behind the manager and let him take the rap, as opposed to looking to resolve the problems out on the football pitch. It appears to be an unfortunate trait within modern football where players are not only cheating their manager with half-hearted displays, but ultimately the club’s supporters. You only have to look at the immediate impact Harry Redknapp had on Tottenham, and how that same crop of players, who were bottom of the league, managed to make the Champions League within eighteen months. Hopefully Kenny will be able to get the desired response in the coming weeks at Anfield and we can salvage something from this season.

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I remember my time at Liverpool in the mid 90s where although we failed to win the title, no supporter can ever claim that this team didn’t try or give everything on a weekly basis. We knew the importance of the red shirt, the expectation of the football club and there were few of us at the time who couldn’t look ourselves in the mirror on a Saturday knowing we hadn’t given everything on the pitch. Liverpool supporters always respect hard work and commitment shown on the pitch, even if at times the result went against the football club. It is why the likes of Stevie G, Reina and Carra are so revered at Anfield; it is a shame that others don’t follow their lead.

Hopefully the presence of Kenny Dalglish at the helm will inspire those around him and show what it means to play for this football club. I have always felt that with the exception of Sammy Lee, there haven’t been enough ex-Liverpool players in and around the management team. The boot room at Liverpool is legendary and when I was playing you had both Roy Evans and Ronnie Moran drilling into you the significance of the football club and this is something that I fear has been missing in the past regimes at Anfield. I read a few months back that Rodolfo Borrel claimed that the best players to defend the Barcelona shirt are Catalans and while I agree with the sentiments; the best way to salvage Liverpool FC is to have a figurehead like King Kenny instilling into the players the importance and historical significance of donning the red shirt of Liverpool. Too many players have abused this privilege in the past and it is something that needs to be addressed if the Reds are ever to succeed again.

I hope for the sake of my former club that King Kenny is able to instil into the players the importance of playing for a club like Liverpool.

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Socceroo star Tim Cahill remains in some doubt for the Asian Cup quarter-final with the striker missing training due to a corked thigh.

Cahill injured himself late in the 1-0 win over Bahrain on Tuesday and Australian medical staff have opted to take cautious approach ahead of Sunday’s knockout clash with Iraq.

The Everton man will be given every chance to prove himself while David Carney and Luke Wilkshire, who have overcome shoulder and groin injuries respectively, should play at least some role in the game. Brett Emerton will sit out the match through suspension.

Meanwhile, midfield pair Mile Jedinak and Brett Holman have denied there is any sense of revenge against the Iraqis for Australia’s loss to the Lions of Mesopotamia in the 2007 Asian Cup group stages.

“I don’t think revenge is the word,” said Holman. “But it would be nice to get a win as they’ve won the last couple of games against us and had the upper hand.”

Jedinak said: “Personally, not being there last time, I’m not thinking about that, though I’m not sure about the rest of the boys and this is a different game.”

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“But let’s not kid ourselves – they are the defending champions for a reason. They are a good side and we are expecting a tough game.”

Blackpool have surprised football fans and pundits all over the country with the way which they have played football this season. Blackpool’s season, in which they’ve been no lower than 15th, has been driven in no small part by their talismanic midfielder Charlie Adam who turned in another Man of the Match performance against Manchester United the other night.

Unsurprisingly, Adam has attracted the attention of some of the Premier League’s top sides and it now appears that a move to Liverpool could be on the cards before the end of the window. Adam has since handed in a transfer request, but have Liverpool purposely unsettled the player?

Adam has had issues with the Blackpool board from as early as October when he received £20,000 through an arbitration committee following a dispute over bonus payments. There was a fear that the case could have been deemed a breach of contract which would have allowed Adam to leave for free in January, however the Premier League ruled that this was not the case. Nevertheless it appears that Adam could deal Blackpool a severe blow if he decides to leave Bloomfield Road in favour of Anfield, despite saying that he was committed to the club.

There is no question that Liverpool have been savvy regarding the way that they have done business. Liverpool obviously want to pay as little as they can and Adam has never made any point of hiding the fact that he wants to play football at the highest level. So it seems as though the Red have played their ‘big club’ card in trying to lure the player to Anfield.

It is likely that Liverpool never expected their bid of £4 million to be accepted by Blackpool, but it has done something far more important than that – days after Liverpool were rumoured to be interested, Adam handed in a transfer request. Now that Liverpool know the player wants to leave, it is suddenly they who have the upper-hand and know that it is unlikely they will have to pay anything near the £14 million that has been mentioned in the media today.

Blackpool are making all of the right noises about the deal and Ian Holloway is being his usual, outspoken self:

“A bid of £4m is not acceptable. Liverpool should have started with at least four times that offer. Put a one in front of it and it might be realistic. Damien Comolli rang my chairman, faffing about. Put up or shut up, it’s as simple as that. If they don’t make the right offer, my chairman will dig his heels in and I’ll have one very unhappy player on my hands. He could quite literally keep him for 18 months. He is the most pig-headed, stubborn bloke I have met in my life. If Darren Bent is £24m, the game has gone mad. Why should we say, ‘You can have our captain, go on take him. Oh, he has thrown his toys out of the pram. You can have him. Thanks a lot Liverpool’”.

However Holloway must know that, despite what he says here, it is the players who have all of the power when it comes to transfers. If Liverpool maintain their interest for the next few days and increase their offer each time then Blackpool will increasingly find it harder to turn the money away – especially knowing that the nearer Adam gets to the end of his contract the less money they will be able to demand for his services.

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Blackpool may have the stubbornness, but they don’t have the financial clout to hang on to Adam if Liverpool’s interest continues. £4million pounds for a player of Adam’s caliber and age (he’s only 25), wasn’t so much an offer from Liverpool as it was a statement of intent. The only hope for the Tangerines is that Liverpool’s interest has come at the back end of the window so there is little time remaining for a deal to go through. What Liverpool have done isn’t illegal by any means, nor is it really frowned upon, it is just the way that the big clubs know that they can do business nowadays.

Either way, it doesn’t seem like the speculation is doing any harm to Adam’s form, he boasts one goal and two assists in his last two games. Blackpool will be thrilled if they can hold on to him until the summer – their survival could depend on it.

Striker Didier Drogba will start against Everton in the FA Cup fourth round replay on Saturday.

Drogba was dropped in favour of new signing Fernando Torres for Chelsea’s most recent match at Fulham but Torres is cup-tied tomorrow and so the Ivorian has been named.

“Drogba will start this game,” said manager Carlo Ancelotti, who insisted his top scorer has not been sulking.

“I saw the same Didier this week, in focus on the training, working hard with a good motivation. I think he will play a fantastic game.”

Drogba looked a forlorn figure on the bench at Craven Cottage and Ancelotti admits it was a tough decision to leave him out.

“Every decision to leave out a player is not easy to take. Not just for Drogba,” Ancelotti said.

“Every player wants to play and give his support for the team. It’s normal they are not happy.”

“But Didier had a very good reaction during the week, he trained well without problem. He wants to pay a good game tomorrow.”

Chelsea, the FA Cup holders, want to become the first club since Blackburn in the 1880s to win the trophy three years in a row.

“I know this and I hope we can do it,” said Ancelotti.

“It’s another extra motivation. We want to do our best. If are able to move on against Everton we can have a possibility to play a semi-final at Wembley at least.”

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Chelsea go into the game with left-sided midfielder Yuri Zhirkov available after recovering from a calf injury he sustained on international duty with Russia in November.

But both Torres and David Luiz are ineligible.

Ancelotti added: “It’s good news that Zhirkov is available. He is in the squad. He will not start but he hopefully he has an opportunity to play.”

Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington will take a late fitness test on a back injury before Wednesday’s tough trip to Arsenal.Etherington was forced off during the first-half of Saturday’s FA Cup victory over Brighton and Stoke manager Tony Pulis revealed the problem stems from his jaw.

Pulis said: “I’m old fashioned and it amazes me, but I’m told Matty’s jaw line is slightly out of place, which can affect his back and then his hamstrings and also his calf muscles.”

“He’s seen a specialist and we’ve got a brace for Matty’s back, which should sort out the problem. We aren’t ruling him out for tomorrow yet, but we certainly won’t take any chances with him.”

Etherington is likely to be on the bench at best at the Emirates Stadium, with Jon Walters reverting to the left flank and John Carew alone in attack.

Stoke midfielder Dean Whitehead will return after he was rested for the Brighton game and Asmir Begovic is set to be recalled in goal at the expense of Thomas Sorensen.

Pulis recognised Arsenal’s fixture pile-up could benefit his own side, but is expecting a tough encounter nonetheless. “We are still talking about a very difficult game,” he said.

“Arsenal are a top draw side who are on the crest of a wave. Beating Barcelona last week was a fantastic achievement and it was a fabulous game of football.”

“It’s going to be very tough for us, but our lads are in great heart. If we play well, have a bit of luck, and Arsenal are not quite at their best, we will have a chance.”

Real Salt Lake made a dream start to their CONCACAF Champions League semi-final against Saprissa with a 2-0 win in the first-leg on Tuesday.Real, who finished just three points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy last season in the race for the MLS Supporter’ Shield, took the lead against the Costa Rican outfit through a Costa Rican of their own – Alvorio Saborio – who fired them ahead after just eight minutes.It was the second time in as many Champions League matches that Saborio had opened the scoring for Real, after he broke the deadlock in their 4-1 quarter-final second-leg win over the Columbus Crew.Argentinean striker Fabian Espindola doubled their advantage 11 minutes after the break as frustrations mounted for the Costa Ricans, who had five players cautioned during the match.The victory gives Real a two-goal cushion to take to Costa Rica for the second leg, which will be played on April 5 at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma in San Jose.

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu hailed the quality of his young squad after they bundled Roma out of the Champions League.Roma fell 3-0 at Shakhtar on Tuesday to crash out of the Champions League last-16 with a 6-2 overall aggregate.The Ukrainian champions were aided by the dismissal of Roma defender Philippe Mexes, whose rough treatment of Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano left Roma needing three goals with 10 men in below-freezing conditions.Lucescu said he never doubted his side would make it through to the quarter-finals of Europe’s most prestigious tournament.”We prepared well, knowing we couldn’t afford to lose the margin we earned in Rome,” Lucescu said.”We had problems at the beginning as Roma produced some strong football but we were well-organised and managed to rearrange and eliminate errors during the match.””We attacked well and after we scored the first goal we stopped thinking about Roma because the cooperation and coordination between our players grew much stronger.””We have many youngsters who are very quick and they showed it. I am very happy with my lads; they have a great future ahead of them.””One cannot think that we won only because Roma were reduced to 10 men. We played very well against 11 men too, and would have won as well.””I expected a result like this because I have trust in my team; I trust in our preparations, in the atmosphere at our stadium, in our supporters.”Roma boss Vincenzo Montella was always going to struggle to help his side overturn the deficit they suffered under his predecessor Claudio Ranieri, especially given Shakhtar have not lost at home in any competition since October 2008.But the Italian found reason to be hopeful for the future in his coaching debut at European level.”Ahead of the game I asked my players to prove that we are improving regardless of the result and qualification,” Montella said.”I’m satisfied because the approach was very good and we played very well while it was 11 against 11.””Then Mexes was sent off and it’s difficult to play at this level with 10 men, especially against a side like Shakhtar; they are very good at keeping possession and use all parts of the pitch.””We played a good game but once again we finished with ten men and we had a few players booked for fouls we could have avoided.””I think we are improving and we shouldn’t be demoralised by this defeat – that was the main problem in the team when I arrived.”

Gent and Club Brugge kicked off the Belgium First Division play-off phase with a 1-1 draw on Saturday.The top six clubs in Belgium – Anderlecht, Genk, Gent, Club Brugge, Lokeren and Standard Liege – will compete in a play-off series to decide the championship, but neither Gent nor Brugge could get their campaign off to a winning start.

Brugge, who sat fourth heading into the play-offs, will rue not taking all three points after playing much of the match against 10 men.

Aliouane Soumahoro was given a straight red card after just 20 minutes, not long after Elimane Coulibaly had given the hosts the lead at the Jules Ottenstadion.

Wilfried Dalmat equalised for Brugge seven minutes after the interval, but try as they might they could not find another goal to win the match.

In play-off group two, where eight mid-table teams are battling for a Europa League berth, Westerlo defeated Kortrijk 3-0 and Germinal Beerschot triumphed 2-0 over Zulte-Waregem.

Elsewhere, Yannick Rymenants’ 75th minute goal salvaged a 1-1 draw for Sint-Truiden on their trip to Mechelen, while Cercle Brugge were held 0-0 at home by Lierse.

AS Eupen won the first game of the third play-off series, which will decide which clubs are relegated, defeating Charleroi 3-2.

Brazilian striker Jeffe was the hero for Eupen, scoring the winner on 89 minutes after his side had twice come from behind.

As the season draws to a conclusion and Liverpool are still (arguably) in with a shot at Champions League football, Reds fans will look back at the second half of the season and wonder what might’ve been. If only we’d had the foresight, or the benefit of hindsight, we may have been looking at a title run-in over the next 6 games. It hasn’t been a vintage season by Liverpool’s recent standards but then, it hasn’t been one by anybody’s standards. However, the past few months have offered some positives for us so it is probably a good time to look back at the players who have shined the most for Liverpool this season.

From the back, the choices are obvious and given the poor defensive performance this season, there’s really only one candidate; only one man that has kept his head and not let himself dip while those around him struggled: Pepe Reina. The man is already a legend at Liverpool, and if a season was to go by without him being a candidate for Liverpool’s PoS, then you will know that it is a good indication that the Reds have suffered badly throughout. So it perhaps a big thanks to him that we didn’t find ourselves in a worse position before there was a change in management in January. Having played 44 games this season, he has still managed to keep 17 clean sheets and made over 100 saves.

Through to midfield and we have 2 surprise candidates: Lucas Leiva and Raul Meireles. Surprising because back in September, Lucas was still a ‘liability’, a joke and had been pushed toward the exit before the new manager had even had a chance to assess him. Luckily for Liverpool, he opted to stay and has gone on to have his best season in a Red shirt by a mile. He has grown in stature, matured to a level close to the world-class destroyer that was Javier Mascherano. And while he may not quite be there yet, the hopes are high for Lucas and he may well one day be on a par with the great Argentine. Having played 39 games this season, he has contributed only 1 goal and 1 assist. Some detractors may point to this as an example of how little he has improved and in all honesty, it is a side of his game that needs improvement but that is not what he is there for. What he does do is break down the opposition and keep things moving and tidy in the middle. And this he does with great authority and energy; making numerous tackles and with one of the highest pass-completion rates in the league, Lucas is a standout candidate for the PoS.

As for Meireles, the past few weeks have seen him seemingly winding down as the season draws to a close. But I suspect that is less to do with complacency and more to do with his energy levels dropping drastically as who comes to the end of a very hard first season in the most physically brutal league in Europe. The first couple of months saw Raul flit in and out of games but he soon got his head and his body around what was required to make it in the Premier League and before we knew it he was emerging to control games and have a positive effect on the Reds passing and rhythm. The highlight of the Portuguese international’s season came during the absence of the captain for a number of weeks when he was given his preferred role in the centre of midfield, where he excelled, contributing goals and assists and dominating midfield. Unfortunately for Meireles (and perhaps also Liverpool?), once fit Gerrard was slotted straight back in and his form dipped slightly. Next season will be the important one for Meireles in as much as he will be scrutinized much more having already bedded in and that whoever is managing the club by next August will have to find a way to accommodate him in a packed midfield. Meireles enter the last six games of the season having played 36 games, with 5 goals and 5 assists.

Closing out the candidates is a man that many would never consider standout material for the PoS: Dirk Kuyt. He has probably as many detractors as Lucas; dividing opinions in the way only Marmite can. But this season Dirk has risen, time and time again, when others have kept their heads below the firing line, and delivered the important goals when it mattered. For his tirelessness and near mythical work rate, Kuyt puts a lot of his younger and more illustrious team mates to shame. With 35 games under his belt this season, he has chipped in with 11 goals and 5 assists. It is also worth pointing out that he is Liverpool current top-scorer this season.

In conclusion, there is really only one winner in my mind; he has proved time and again this season that he has a spirit and a backbone – and some pretty huge cojones, if you’re Mexican – that would make a Spartan proud and has a rapidly improving game that will only mature, like a good wine, with age: Lucas Leiva.

Who do you think should be given the honour?

Read more of David Tryer’s articles at Live4Liverpool

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Argentina have been drawn in Group F alongside England, Mexico, Korea DPR for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia later this year.The tournament will run from July 29 to August 20, with Argentina, who have won the trophy five of the last eight times, expected to be in the tournament right until the business end.

Argentina’s chances of victory are boosted by the fact that defending champion Ghana, who beat Brazil 4-3 in penalties in the 2009 tournament in Canada, failed to qualify.

Walter Perazzo’s side may face a serious threat in England, early in the tournament, while Korea DPR will be no easy beats themselves, having beaten Australia 3-2 in the AFC Under-19 Championship in China last year.

Brazil, considered another favourite, will open the competition against Egypt in Barranquilla, with the two other sides in Group E being Austria and Panama.

Only one of the 24 countries in the tournament is unconfirmed, with either New Zealand or the Solomon Islands to make up the numbers when they clash in the OFC U-20 Championship Final at North Harbour Stadium on Friday. The winner will be in Group B.