Ipswich strike humbles Houllier

The question was, of course, heavily laced with sarcasm, but it conveniently overlooked the fact that both are still finding their feet - and their scoring boots - following injury.

Fowler totally mistimed a close-range opportunity in the 11th minute after Markus Babbel's cross presented him with an unchallenged header that should have been a formality.

If that was a glaring miss, Owen was just as culpable in the 25th minute when he steered a Nick Barmby cross wide from an inviting range.

With Owen misfiring again in the 37th minute, there was already an air of doom about Liverpool's prospects by the time Stewart picked up a Jamie Clapham pass on the left seconds before the break.

It was a justifiable sense of foreboding, too, as Stewart skipped round a challenge from Stephane Henchoz and sidestepped another by the advancing Westerveld before slotting home a goal that was to secure Ipswich's sixth away win of the season.

It might not have been, had Heskey reacted more decisively after being sent clear by Fowler within six minutes of replacing Owen.

It was a similar chance to the one he dispatched unerringly against Olympiakos on Thursday, and the same out-come looked assured. But after watching the failings of his team-mates for an hour, he fell into the same wasteful ways by hesitating as he tried to round Richard Wright and giving John McGreal enough time to scamper back and clear.

It said everything about Liverpool's labouring efforts that £5.5m new signing Igor Biscan emerged as comfortably their most accomplished performer, even though he went on with less than 20 minutes to go.

The Croatia midfielder's impact was a consolation of sorts but scarcely enough to gloss over the deficiencies of Houllier's attempts to make the most of his playing resources.

After seeing his changes up front backfire spectacularly, and struggling to talk his way out of the inquest that followed, this was one rotation policy that was clearly in need of a spin doctor.

There was no disguising Ipswich manager George Burley's delight at a result that meant Ipswich have won more away games than any Premiership team this season.

'We keep coming up against teams with bigger squads and more gifted individuals but we have yet to meet anyone with a better team spirit than ours,' he said.