Blame injuries not manager Rafael Benitez for Liverpool FC's plight

Any team would struggle without Torres and Gerrard. The difference is United and Chelsea have players who can come in and do a job, we don't have that luxury.

We have to call on the likes of Degen, Dossena, Voronin and Babel - hit and miss players who simply aren't good enough.

When we got injuries it was always going to be a big problem. We can carry one or two, but when you are without four or five of your best 13 players it becomes very hard.

I couldn't fault the effort against Birmingham but it was another disappointing night. We have leaked so many goals and that's the reason we're struggling.

You can argue all you want about zonal marking but there seems to be a lack of belief when it comes to dealing with set-pieces.

We don't attack the ball, there's no aggression and it is costing us dearly.

It happened on the opening day at Spurs and it's still happening - we haven't learned our lesson.

The only way to sort it out is on the training ground. When I was a player if we leaked bad goals we would spend ages in training defending as a unit. The coaches would ensure you didn't enjoy it to ensure it didn't happen again.

We played pretty well on Monday but if you can't defend you aren't going to win games.

David Ngog came in for a lot of stick for the dive he took to win the penalty against Birmingham.

I've slaughtered Drogba and Ronaldo for diving in the past and I can't condone what Ngog did.

As a striker you've got to be canny. When a challenge comes in like that you have to let the defender take your legs and get your penalty - that's the way I did it.

Ngog saw the tackle coming and tried to get out of the way of it but you can't go over a defender's legs when you haven't been touched.

I'm sure Rafa will have had a quiet word and hopefully Ngog has learned his lesson.

Ireland can overcome France in World Cup play-offs thanks to astute Giovanni Trapattoni

I'LL be at Croke Park in Dublin tonight for Ireland's World Cup play-off against France and I can't wait for it.

The French may have more quality than us but they aren't the team they were a few years ago.

What the Irish have is a tremendous team ethic and a manager in Giovanni Trapattoni who is probably the most knowledgeable in the world.

He's canny and tactically astute and if anyone knows how to get past France then Trapattoni will do.

We came through a tough qualifying campaign unbeaten and there is a belief we can reach South Africa next summer.

The priority tonight is that we shut France out.

Even if it finishes 0-0 I'd still fancy our chances of getting through in Paris on Wednesday.