EMILE HESKEY could be forgiven if he were pleased by Michael Owen's continued struggles in front of goal.
With all the focus on Owen's inability to find the back of the net - even from penalties - everyone is forgetting about Heskey's lack of goals.
The whole country seems to be agonising over why Owen has only scored once this season for Liverpool and England.
But no-one is batting an eyelid at the fact that Owen's supposed strike partner Heskey has also only managed one goal this season.
And this from a player who, at £11million, remains the club's record signing.
Manchester United's much-maligned Diego Forlan must be wondering who does Heskey's public relations because he would love to get away with a strike-rate like that.
Against Basel in Liverpool's must-win Champions League match at Anfield, Heskey showed no sign of adding to his tally.
To be fair, he did play a one-two with Milan Baros for Liverpool's goal in the first half, but that was just about all.
The rest of the time he just stood on the left wing, cutting out Basel passes and knocking the ball out of play.
For this he was applauded by the Liverpool fans in the seats beside him, which shows how easily some people are pleased.
After this sterling work he was replaced by El Hadji Diouf with 19 minutes remaining.
In that short time, the Senegalese World Cup striker posed more of a threat than Heskey had in the previous 71 minutes - even if he is still prone to the odd dive.
It seems manager Gerard Houllier has decided that if Heskey cannot cut it as a frontline striker, he can at least cause opponents a few problems on the left wing.
He's big, strong and quick, so the argument goes, so he should be able to rough up opponents.
After this display, though, his next position should not be left wing, but left back - in the changing room.