RAFAEL Benitez's decision to field a weakened Liverpool team against Burnley in the FA Cup on Tuesday night has caused much debate.

I think it was sad because if you are an English, Scottish, Irish or Welsh player you still dream of getting to the Cup final and winning it.

I was one of the few players who was lucky enough to get there with Fulham in 1975 and I don't know how all the foreign players feel but most I have spoken to want to play in it as it's watched worldwide and is regarded as a magnificent competition to win.

I wonder, therefore, how Steven Gerrard felt about being left out for the Burnley game because if it was me I would have been champing at the bit to play. I know that thousands of Liverpool fans, whose magnificent support I witnessed while I was coaching at Everton, will certainly be distraught at how their team were knocked out. Every club wants a good FA Cup run know matter how big or small.

Benitez has been saying he will buy players and win trophies and then he fields that team perhaps thinking they would walk it against Burnley.

It was a strange decision. It's an important trophy and Liverpool have got no chance of winning the Premier League so surely they would want to stay in every other competition for as long as possible.

I can't see why Liverpool should be taking Burnley lightly either. They are a Championship team and it's almost a derby game. The pitch was not the best and Liverpool needed their best players out there.

I'm not saying he doesn't care about the competition but, if it was me, I would have fielded my strongest team and, even then, there's no guarantees. When we beat Arsenal at York in 1985 they had their strongest team but they didn't fancy playing on our icy pitch. Big clubs can never take anything for granted and that's why it's such a great competition.

When I was coaching at clubs like Sheffield United, Everton and Sunderland we always put our best team out regardless of the opposition and, at Sunderland, we still lost to Scunthorpe. It's the world's best cup competition and should be treated with the utmost respect.

Two more people who have been asked to show a little more respect for each other this week are Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. I don't know if their comments about each other are mind games or whatever, but they should just bury the hatchet and get on with things.

There's always banter on the touchlines and there might be a few angry words exchanged from bench to bench but you shake hands at the end and that's it. There's been talk about bringing a mediator in to improve their relationship but I think that would be taking things too far.

They are both grown men but are beginning to act like spoilt kids. They are both in charge of magnificent Premier League clubs and if somebody was having a public swipe at me I would not bother responding and treat it with the contempt it deserved.

Updated: 10:37 Thursday, January 20, 2005