By J Wade
January 19 2005

FORMER FA Cup hero Ronnie Whelan today hit out at the attitude shown by some senior players in Liverpool's defeat to Burnley last night.

The ex-Kop favourite, twice an FA Cup winner with the Reds, was at Turf Moor last night to witness the Reds' limp display.

Whelan said: "The way they went about it was very disappointing. It was a very below par performance.

"Some of the players didn't look bothered whether they won the game or not. It seemed some did not want to be there.

"You can talk about the pride of wearing a red shirt, but some just did not want to be playing last night."

Whelan said it would be wrong to blame the young reserves who were drafted in, having helped the Reds get to the verge of a Carling Cup final.

He said: "You can't apportion much blame on the youngsters. They tried as hard as they could.

"You couldn't question their attitude, but one or two of the older pros need to take a look at themselves.

"I'm sure the manager could see it as clearly as I did."

Whelan has a first class FA Cup pedigree. The gifted midfielder played a key role as Liverpool twice beat Everton to win the 1986 and 1989 finals.

He also netted the equaliser in the 1992 semi-final against Portsmouth, although he was forced to sit out the subsequent Wembley victory over Sunderland because of injury.

He witnessed FA Cup heartache too, seeing Liverpool team lose the 1988 final to Wimbledon.

The former Republic of Ireland star questioned the wisdom of manager Rafael Benitez's decision to field such an inexperienced side for last night's third round tie.