Report by Steve Horton at St Andrews

Liverpool's schizophrenic season took another turn for the worse at St Andrews, where we failed to capitalise on Everton's earlier defeat. Losing is painful enough, but when the performance lacked effort, passion, cohesion and ideas it really is hard to take.

The scaremongers had been saying this game was going to cost us £45, but reality kicked in and we were downgraded to a Category B fixture, meaning we were only charged £35.

Those that still tried to get in with child tickets were directed round to the ticket office at one of the most inhospitable grounds in the Premiership. Away fans approaching the ground from any direction that the police don't want you to have to go on a long detour to find the right entrance.

Then there's about three ticket checks and a search, before getting into the concourse to find that they don't serve ale. Strangely pubs around the ground were easy to get into, unlike around the much more welcoming Villa Park.

Perhaps they just assume nobody would be stupid enough to dare go in them. Birmingham have embraced all the worst elements of the Premiership with the hideous music, announcers and sponsorship, which even extends to stoppage time and substitutions having a price on them.

The game itself didn't start too badly for Liverpool, although it was a bit frustrating seeing Milan Baros on the right, Rafa obviously feeling neither Vladimir Smicer or Antonio Nunez were up to scratch.

Fernando Morientes went closest to scoring when he flung himself at a Steven Gerrard cross but Mario Melchiot got there just in time to clear. Birmingham were attacking themselves, perhaps more so than us but we were easily able to resist them.

We weren't creating anything more than half chances however, with Baros out of touch on the right and Morientes struggling without a partner. John Arne Riise was getting into positions on occasions but when he got his best opportunity, he hopelessly miss-kicked.

With Emile Heskey leading the Birmingham line however we didn't look too vulnerable at the back and when he hopelessly volleyed over on 32 minutes there were plenty of jeers.

One thing Heskey did do however, was show plenty of effort and commitment, something he rarely did in a red shirt. He showed a determination to get to every ball that we never saw and even earned himself a booking, such was his aggression.

Our fans had actually been reasonably nice to him, clapping his name when it was announced, but that changed on 37 minutes when a tussle with Sami Hyypia led to a theatrical dive in the box. On balance Hyypia probably did impede him, but Hekey didn't half make a meal of it.

Walter Pandiani dispatched the sot kick and once again we faced the prospect of having to come from behind to win.

Had we held on at 1-0 to half time I'm sure we could have turned it around, as Birmingham were offering nothing. Then Djimi Traore had another of his horror moments when he failed to clear the ball in the area, Jermaine Pennant crossed and Julian Gray scored from a tight angle.

This goal on the brink of half time was a hammer blow and it now looked highly unlikely we'd get anything from this game.

We needed a quick goal when play resumed but unlike at Fulham, we had no ace on the bench to call on. Xabi ALonso turned the game at craven Cottage but now we had Smicer, who came on in place of Igor Biscan but contributed very little.

Baros moved into the middle but was way off the pace and his first touch appalling. Birmingham looked more likely to add to their lead and Hyypia had to head over his own crossbar after a dangerous cross from Gray. We didn't have a shot till the 70th minute, when Baros dragged a low effort across the goal.

There was absolutely nobody taking responsibility on the field for the Reds, with the captain disappearing. Steven Gerrard put in one of his finest ever displays in this fixture last season, but he offered nothing this time around.

Many of his passes went astray and he didn't seem interested in dragging us back level. Not once did I see him try to motivate anyone and the only time he showed passion was when he bemoaned the referee when asked to put the ball back in the quadrant when taking a corner.

Nunez came on and with the rest of the team playing so badly, didn't look out of place and for some odd reason, Pellegrino was brought on with ten minutes remaining. It was enough time for him to make a hash of a clearance from which Birmingham could have scored if the linesman didn't raise his flag.

The officials were doing their best to help us, giving us every 50-50 decision apart from the penalty but we still couldn't get back in. Not till the last five minutes did we have a clear cut chance when Carragher had a header cleared off the line.

Birmingham didn't do much, they just dug in and made it difficult for us, but we just didn't seem motivated enough to respond. Then they started taking the piss near the end, stringing passes around and having us chasing shadows.

Losing always hurts, but when it is to a small time club like Birmingham it is like a dagger through the heart. Their fans don't back their team, instead they are too busy singing Shit on the Villa, Sign On, Champions League You're Having a Laugh and Who Are Yer.

To then hear them cheer every touch their team made in the last few minutes and sing "Can we play you every week"is unbearable. Only about a quarter of our fans were left by the final whistle, which wasn't even greeted by boos, just indifference and a rush to get away.

We are fast running out of games to finish fourth and the nightmare scenario is that Everton could be eleven points ahead of us by the time the Derby comes around. They may be shit, but they are where they are because they are winning all their games against teams in the bottom half. It's about time we started doing so as well.

The only comfort I can draw is that Rafa offered no excuses, whereas his predecessor could have offered injuries, the weather or internationals as explanation for such a woeful display.

There are ten days before our next game, in the Champions League against Leverkusen. The way our league form is going, that may actually offer us our best hope of playing in the competition again next season. Oh how bitter would the Blues be about that.

Team: Dudek, Finnan (Pellegrino), Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Baros, Biscan (Smicer), Gerrard, Hamann, Riise (Nunez); Morientes:

Agree or disagree? Email me at steve@liverpoolway.co.uk

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