Well it's only a Mickey Mouse tournament anyway isn't it? Actually, no it's not. It's a trophy which we were all made up to win last year, and it's one which I for one really wanted us to defend this year. I'm not fed up with Cardiff yet, are any of you? I desperately wanted to go back there, and to be honest, I fully expected to. The reaction to this game from a lot of fans has surprised me a bit. Yes, the Champions League and the Premiership are more important, but to say that we're better off going of the League Cup is wrong. I'm sick about going out, and I bet the players are too. If we had just played shite and deserved to lose, it would have been easier to take because we could have just blamed the players for a crap performance.
Who's to blame after this though? No-one as far as I can see. It was just one of those nights were nothing went for us. Grimsby had one chance in two hours of football. Yet they came away with two goals and a win. We created goalscoring opportunities virtually every time we attacked, yet there was never anyone on the end of them, or if there was, the finish was weak.
Their keeper has been lauded for his performance, but the fact is that most of the saves he made were fairly routine. I can't think of one save he made that you wouldn't have expected him to. That's because our finishing just wasn't up to scratch on the night.
Their winning goal is something which you just can't do anything about. The fact that Jevons is an ex blue would normally make it even worse, except he's a Liverpool nut and all of his family are as well. So good luck to the lad, and his team.
As for us, well I'm quite happy with the overall performance, and had Fowler been playing then I'm sure we'd have won comfortably. Robbie's form hasn't been great, but it's ironic that when he has played he's had very little service. Last night, the ball was pinging around the six yard but there was no-one there to get on the end of it. The approach play was excellent, but we just lacked that natural goalscorer to finish it off.
Vladi was excellent, particularly when he switched to the left wing. Their right back won't have a tougher game than that in his entire career. Vladi skinned him time and again and it was embarrassing for the lad really, as he just couldn't cope. Vladi absolutely tortured him, and the handball came about due to blind panic. That should have been game over, but when Grimsby did start to come forward we looked surprisingly vulnerable.
There was a close call from a free kick, and when the ball was played back down the right we had fallen asleep. Sami had to go out and close down the cross, and as soon as I saw he had been drawn out of the middle I feared the worst.
A lucky bounce later and it was 1-1 and as in the last game we played in this competition, we were headed to pens. At least so we thought. The winning goal came out of nothing, and as I said, it was something that you just can't legislate for. It was a once in a lifetime goal for Jevons, and sometimes you just have to bow to the hand of fate. For Grimsby, this was just meant to be.
So although I'm not blaming anybody for this defeat, there are a couple of questions which I'd like an answer to. Firstly, why was Jari subbed yet again, and secondly, why did Hamann start ahead of Redknapp?
Jari clearly wasn't tired, as he's intelligent enough to play at his own pace. He doesn't chase many through balls or run the channels, so he's not likely to tire himself out is he? He was behind every single attacking move we made though, and was beginning to really stamp his authority on the game. Yet he was replaced by Redknapp. It didn't make any sense, but then again, it never made any sense why he was left out against Bolton, Villa etc., or why he was subbed against Spurs and Kiev.
I'm really starting to get paranoid over Jari's treatment. I read Thommo's reports of the Spurs and Kiev games in the matchday mag, and he failed to give Jari man of the match in either. That disturbs me (particularly the Spurs game, how could he choose anyone other than Jari for that one?), as I'm really getting the impression that GH doesn't want Jari getting too popular.
If Jari keeps playing well and scoring goals, the fans will demand he keeps his place. That puts a hell of a lot of pressure on the manager to pick him. However, Owen and Heskey are his first choice, and it seems that nothing will change that. GH resented Titi's popularity, and it's the same with Fowler. I'm definitely getting the feeling that he doesn't want Jari attaining such cult status, but the ironic thing is, the worse he treats him the more the fans will start to rally behind the player.
Jari should not have gone off last night, it should have been Gary Mac, who was largely ineffective, although he did tuck the penalty away with customary aplomb. As much as I would have liked to see Paddy get on, I could understand why he didn't. With twenty minutes left, there was the risk of extra time, which would have meant Paddy playing a lot longer than he was supposed to. That's probably why Redknapp got the nod.
Mind you, why the hell didn't Jamie start? This is precisely the type of game where Didi Hamann is not needed. It's not his type of game, and he offers very little to the side. He was poor, which is no surprise because this type of game doesn't suit him. Didi's a midfield spoiler who's there to break up opposition attacks. That's not easy when there aren't any attacks to break up though. Redknapp should have started, and must be absolutely gutted that he didn't.
He played well when he got on, and along with Vladi and Stephen Wright, was one of the positives to come out of the game. Carra did well at centre half, and Danny Murphy had a decent game. The bad point (apart from the result obviously) was the injury to Greg. Hopefully he won't be out for too long. That injury gave Kippe a chance in the side, and I felt he did okay considering he's most definitely NOT a full back. He was like a fish out of water playing there (sorry, couldn't resist that one), but he was solid enough and didn't let anyone down.
All in all, we played quite well, and can definitely consider ourselves very unfortunate to have gone out. However, for Gerard to describe the players as 'heroes' after losing to Grimsby was embarrassing I'm afraid. I wish he'd choose his words a bit more carefully after defeats.
It's the animals next up then, and we're going to have to be a lot more clinical in front of goal if we're going to beat them.
TEAM: Chris Kirkland; Stephen Wright, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Gregory Vignal (Frode Kippe); Nick Barmby, Dietmar Hamann (Emile Heskey), Gary McAllister, Danny Murphy; Jari Litmanen (Jamie Redknapp), Vladimir Smicer:
