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On a night of critical importance to Liverpool

Surely we were witnessing the last rites of Roy Evans' near five-year reign in charge of Liverpool.

It must now be a matter of time before he is asked to step aside and allow joint boss Gerard Houllier the chance to take sole control.

It's been a long, drawn-out nightmare for Evans, a proud, loyal servant for 30 years at Anfield, but a half-empty stadium said it all as the red half of Merseyside now expect chairman David Moores to act.

Defeat at Leicester, a home drubbing by Derby on Saturday and now a disastrous exit from the Worthington Cup.

Frankly, Spurs humiliated Liverpool tonight at a ground that used to be a fortress.
The Londoners cruised into the quarter-finals on the strength of a committed, organised display - all the hallmarks of new boss George Graham - after exposing all the flaws and weaknesses that have been so obvious for months in this Liverpool side.

Two nightmare blunders by American 'keeper Brad Friedel gifted Spurs a two-goal lead in the first half as gloom engulfed Anfield.

Graham's workaholic side took full advantage of Friedel's errors to score through Steffen Iversen and John Scales in the first 20 minutes.

They were confronted with a Liverpool side looking drained of confidence after a tortured few weeks that have seen just that UEFA Cup success in Valencia as tangible proof that there is still a fighting spirit in a seemingly confused, dispirited squad.

Spurs fans were having a field day, chanting ``Bye, bye Evans'' and ``Are you Tranmere in disguise''.

On a night of critical importance to Liverpool

The result, Spurs' best-ever at Anfield, puts Roy Evans on the brink of being axed but he said: "It is the situation at the club that worries me, and everyone else here more than anything else. It's more important than my scenario. I can come into press conferences and keep saying the same things - it doesn't change at the end of the day. Of course I am disappointed, but the only way out of this decline is hard work. We have to try to rebuild the confidence with the players. It's not for the lack of effort because we created a reasonable amount of chances but we can't keep giving teams two-goal starts and then having mountains to climb. We have to battle through this and we may end up stronger for it."

Joint boss Gerard Houllier added: "The responsibility is totally a joint one, completely. The game was the same as the one against Derby - you go one goal down early on, then two goals down, it becomes very difficult to chase back. It is just like climbing high mountains all the time. It's just bad defending, it ruins any good offensive work when you keep letting goals in like this."

Copyright - Press Association

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