LET DOWN

I haven’t felt this let down after a derby in a while.
Our injuries, shrinking squad and subsequent lack of options meant it was always going to be a difficult task. So in some ways the result wasn’t a major surprise.
But the performance of many in Royal blue came as a deep shock. Players we’ve praised as lion-hearts and matadors in the past simply went missing.
For 90 minutes of semi-bluster we contributed one tame Arteta shot at goal and an equally inoffensive Osman header.
All over the pitch we were beaten to second balls and, inexplicably, the blues just didn’t appear to want it much.
We defended decently and Lescott can be forgiven for leaving Torres unmarked for his goal, given that he was trying to support the Yak and couldn’t have expected the disastrous sequence that followed.
But our midfield didn’t look capable of any effective penetration. Yes Chaill was missed, but early and reckless bookings for Neville and Carsley left them both walking a tight-rope and unable to stamp their authority on Alonso and Lucas.
It seemed Liverpool had more self-control and even Gerrard kept his head well in the early stages, (until a typical stamp on Carlsey later, with the game well won).
It must undeniably be soul-searching time for our Basque talisman Arteta too. Sadly he seems to have lost confidence and his form has gone the same way.
His passing is still neat and elegant but it’s also very toothless. And worse still is his delivery from set-pieces.
Watching him fail to beat the first man from yet another wasted free-kick was deeply frustrating.
We’re left guessing at reasons for this slump. Is it his fitness (linked to his private insistence at flying home to Spain for treatment?). If he does not feel fit he needs to be honest with his manager, and equally Moyes needs to respect that.
Elsewhere some of the lads told me they saw Pienaar driving towards Mather Avenue way at about 11am, and thought he mustn't have been playing.
In retrospect it’s a shame he didn’t carry on driving. Whether he was fully fit or not is debatable, but the game passed him by.
Perhaps only Osman deserves any credit for trying to take the fight to the Reds.
Up front the Yak had a game to forget too. Forced to plough a lonely furrow up front and starved of any decent service, his head seemed to go.
And where was our heralded unity and team-spirit when the Nigerian was bickering with Pienaar and Neville over misplaced passes and broken down attacks?
He compounded his personal nightmare with the careless play on the edge of our box which gifted the ball to Torres for their opener.
Criticism of Yakubu though has to be tempered with his otherwise excellent season, and the conditions he was forced to operate under. He’ll have much better games for us.
I keep hearing people out our post-Fiorentina slump down to tiredness. We’ve run out of steam, our legs look heavy, the players have become mentally exhausted. I’m still not having that.
Yes we have had a busier than usual season, but so have most top seven clubs. With no cup football left now the league is providing our only fixtures.
Belief and confidence can be fragile things and maybe ours was seriously damaged when the colossus efforts at home to the Italians were unrewarded.
Phil Neville spoke at a recent dinner about the players dismay when their very-real Uefa dream died.
Well the mourning period is well and truly over. If Fulham and West Ham could be forgiven, this listless derby cannot.
Our players need to stand up and be counted. They need to remember why they are fifth in the league and do their jobs against Derby County on Sunday.
This derby? It was grim stuff and a false representation of how far we have come so far.
But there are still six games left to prevent this season becoming the one that got away.

Read Luke Traynor's Red perspective at http://luketraynor.merseyblogs.co.uk/2008/03/derby_the_verdict.html