Sport 11-12-2000 Ipswich Take Advantage Of Heskey`s Absence who: Ipswich Town what: Beat Liverpool 0-1 where: Anfield, LIVERPOOL when: Yesterday snippet: Liverpool boss Gérard Houllier is criticised in the papers today for his decision not to play Emile Heskey for the first hour of yesterday`s Premiership clash with Ipswich at Anfield, which ended 0-1 to the visitors thanks to a goal by top scorer Marcus Stewart at the end of the first half. "The visitors recorded a deserved victory," says The Mirror, "to leapfrog over Liverpool into third place in the Premiership and suggest that Houllier perhaps requires a spin doctor to perfect his puzzling rotation policy." "We couldn`t believe it when we saw that Heskey wasn`t on their team-sheet," said Stewart afterwards. "That`s when we knew we had a real chance". "It was not a mistake," argues Houllier in The Sun, pointing out that Heskey had played two matches in the past week. "We play Fulham on Wednesday and Manchester United next Sunday and he will be in the team for those matches. Is anyone suggesting Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen are not Premiership strikers?" Not at all, says The Guardian`s Ian Ross. But "the debate as to whether the two can actually forge a meaningful partnership... has come to represent the ultimate pub debate in Liverpool." [... more]

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