You know, it would be easy for me or any of us to be angry about last night, but at the end of the day what good is it going to do? What I mean is, are you surprised with the result from last night, honestly? I'm not and I said it yesterday before the match.
Martin O'Neill has a footballing philosophy which focuses on getting determined players to give him 100% for 95 minutes every match. It really is simple. He has never focused on trying to play football or actually develop the football of his teams - he has merely spent what was available to him and got hard working players to work hard for him.
So, I am not surprised at the result and I am not going to get angry or unhappy with it. The simple truth is and you can decide to believe this now or not, is that with Martin O'Neill this is as far as we are going to get. Hell, Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish won the league in Scotland - does that mean they'll get Champions League football for their clubs now?
The best Martin O'Neill ever achieved in this league was a League Cup victory and I think an eighth place (correct me if I am wrong) finish with Leicester which if I were a Leicester fan, I would be over the moon with. Hell, if I were a Birmingham City fan, I would be over the moon with an eighth place finish.
Unfortunately, I am not, so I want more and instead of getting unhappy or angry about the result last night and the other day, the response is simple. Do you talking on the pitch.
We enter 2010 two places worse off than we entered 2009 having played the same number of games. I say, it doesn't matter and that what matters is how you finish the season so I am reserving judgement - but I think this transfer window is going to be very important if we truly do have aspirations of playing in the Champions League. We've not taken advantage in the last two - we have to take advantage in this one.
But, back to last night. Some will blame the conditions for the performance last night and if you do, I'll say you might be right, but that didn't stop Liverpool having 111 more successful passes than our 214 and it was the passing at the end of the day that created the space and allowed Torres in to claim the three points for Liverpool.
Some will also blame tired players and again, I'll say you might be right. If you tell them enough times they are tired, they will soon enough start acting tired. These players don't have to play as much as they could be and if the manager fails to use the squad effectively - even making effective use of his three substitutions to give players a little less game time - then there is nobody to blame and no basis for the 'tired' excuse - certainly not with the 'state of the art' training facility at their disposal.
Martin O'Neill might even say we deserved to win the game and all I can ask of Martin O'Neill is that he saves those type of comments until he has spoken to someone else first - I'm not sure what match he watches, but he can't go about saying that stuff after that match.
Last night merely demonstrated the gulf between us and the top four. Yes, we beat Liverpool and Manchester United but Fulham also beat Manchester United and Sunderland beat Liverpool earlier in the season. One or three good results doesn't turn us into a top four team. Better football will and while we are seeing glimpses of it, we need to see more and it has to happen now.
So - nobody is contradicting themselves, nobody is saying sack the manager, nobody is saying anything too negative. I am simply saying, we know what we are going to get with O'Neill and that the players have the ability. We just want to see it again and if that means putting on a player from the start that the Holte End already have a song for so James Milner can continue his little run in the middle - then so be it.
But January comes this week and if we do not strengthen properly this time, there will be only one person to blame. The thing is, will Lerner provide the funds and O'Neill just won't spend them or is Lerner not providing the funds that O'Neill is so desperate for?