Only our third loss of the season but still a rather painful one. It is hard to accept defeat to the enemy, especially in an F.A. Cup tie. We were the much better team until Lucas got sent off and from then on it looked like there would only be one winner - Everton. Our best hope was to get to a penalty shootout and that is what I was hoping for as I have a lot of confidence in Pepe when it comes to saving penalties. We would have won the shoot out with no doubt!

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Ding, ding round two and Liverpool FC comes out swinging in an attempt to knock Everton out of the FA Cup. Sounds good but is it actually going to happen if the rumblings about Rafa fielding a weakened side due to his pursuit of the EPL title are true. I cannot believe he will risk the wrath of the Kop in letting Everton put us out of the FA Cup on our own patch. Does he not understand by now what this would mean in Liverpool City, workplaces, streets and in some cases households - it’s totally unthinkable.

Sunday sees the next installment of the most frequently played fixture in FA Cup history. This will be the 21st time that we have faced The Toffees. The last time we played eachother was in 1991 and that took three matches until Everton finally came out 1-0 winners at home after an amazing 4-4 draw at Anfield in the first replay. Liverpool have not lost in any competition at Anfield since Barnsley knocked them out of the FA Cup in last season’s fifth round on 16 February whilst Everton are seeking a place in the last 16 for the first time in four years.

Of course we all know that this is the second meeting of the sides in a week after Liverpool threw away 2 points on Monday night when Cahill equalised with 3 minutes remaining. We are all waiting hopefully to see Liverpool learn from Monday night that when we score against teams we cannot afford to drop the performance level and let teams back into the match. We all hope that if played the Skrtel, Hyppia combo performs better than the dodgy 90mins we witnessed on Monday.

We will all wait however the see the 11 players than run out in front of a packed Anfield on Sunday and hope that Rafa supports and respects the FA Cup and does not follow Spurs down the road of fielding a weakened side due to the pressures and importance of the EPL.  Are we going to start seeing the FA Cups historic importance lowered and trod on in the same manner as the reserve team Carling Cup Competition? I hope not…

Tonka out - YNWA…

There is suggestion that Rafa will rest key players for this weekends F.A. Cup tie against Everton at Anfield. I am not too sure if this is a good idea. Yes, our priority is the league and then the Champions League but surely we can not take the F.A. Cup lightly especially since it is against Everton of all teams. We have to win not matter what against Everton. We can not afford to give them the bragging rights for the city until next season. Right now they are glowing after the draw on Monday night so we can not give them any further joy.

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