As has often happened this season, Liverpool went away from a match frustrated. The performance wasn't there but enough chances were created to win it. Just as disappointing was the nature of Birmingham's equaliser as Liverpool had defended impeccably until then. Of course much of the focus will go on the substitution of Fernando Torres and the chances missed by David N'Gog. More about this later but the reasons for this draw aren't that simple.

Good Game
Jamie Carragher will probably end up playing at left-back next Thursday but at the heart of the defence he played to his usual standard, never letting Cameron Jerome get the better of him.

Whatever your views of the amount paid to sign him there is little doubting that Glen Johnson adds another dimension to Liverpool's play. His pace and ability to get behind defenders can cause real problems as well as some excitement for us fans. Most of what was good with Liverpool in this game came from his side which surely cannot be a coincidence.

A great goal lifted his game but then Steven Gerrard seemed to be slightly shocked by Fernando Torres' substitution. His passing went off for a few minutes but then he found something of his old self as he drove the side forward in search for that second goal.

One of the few bright spots of this season has been Maxi Rodriguez and the Argentine winger has been slowly getting better as he has grown more used to the physicality of the English game. His vision, passing and running off the ball are slowly turning him into one of the key players of this side. Got himself into some excellent positions and was unlucky not to score.

When a player works as hard as Fernando Torres does, and get you as many free-kicks, it is impossible to say that he had a bad game. But, by his standards, this wasn't a particularly impressive performance as he rarely managed to find space in the box.

Bad Game
Not at fault with the goal, Pepe Reina didn't have as good a game as he usually has failing to hold on to a couple of speculative shots that certainly won't have helped the confidence of his defenders. Played probably in view of next Thursday's game, Soto Kyrgiakos didn't have that bad a game but he was needlessly out of position in the move that led to the Birmingham goal for which he must shoulder a large chunk of blame.

Same goes for Emiliano Insua. Overall, he wasn't bad but should have done better when dealing with James McFadden who was allowed to pick his cross far too easily. The lack of confidence has really bogged down his progess and he is probably the biggest victim of Liverpool's bad seson: Insua looked so much better last season when he came into a side that was playing with such confidence.

Often this season, Lucas Leiva has suffered because he has been playing as a defensive midfielder alongside another such player. Given an opportunity to prove his own worth, however, he was a disappointment. Unable to really close down the Birmingham midfield, he gave away too many free-kicks and, when the ball was at his feet, he often treated it as a burden of which he had to rid himself as quickly as promising.

Another disappointing performance was that of Yossi Benayoun, who never really got into the game. It isn't his fault that he's being asked to play out wide when he truly better suited for a more central role but, even so, he can play much better than this.

Like Benayoun, Dirk Kuyt has often been asked to play out wide when he is really a central striker. Yet he too failed to make much of his opportunity to play in his favoured role. In reality, most of the time it seemed as if he didn't know what position to take up.

Substitutes
So, Liverpool drew because Benitez brought on David N'Gog for Fernando Torres? I take a slightly different view. First of all, N'Gog showed just how strong his character is by not letting the booing of the Birmingham fans get to him. Not too many twenty year olds would be as strong. As for the missed chances, he had done particularly well to find enough room for the first and third one (for which, lest one forget, he controlled the ball beautifully) and it was only the second one that was really a glaring miss. But, whatever the public opinion might be today, this is a talented player who is being forced into a highly pressurised situation whilst lacking the experience to deal with it.

Benitez's comments on the eve of the game weren't too comforting, hinting as he did that Alberto Aquilani's problems were in his head rather than in his feet. It was an accusation that was often levelled at him at Roma and he certainly did himself few favours when he came one seeing that, quite frankly, it looked as if he just didn't feel like playing. Sadly, his biggest contribution was that of blocking Maxi Rodriguez's goalbound shot.

Ryan Babel still has a long way to go before he can be considered as good enough to play for Liverpool on a regular basis but he has certainly showed a lot of determination since almost talking himself into a transfer last January. Coming on for Benayoun, his directness gave Liverpool another dimension and it was one of the reasons why Liverpool did better late on.