SANDER BLAMES THE ICE
The Dutch international has blamed the freezing conditions for his mistake that allowed Christian Karembeu to give Terry Venables' side a valuable three points.
"The pitch at the Riverside had a lot of ice on it," said Westerveld. "My feet and gloves were soaking and it was unbelievably cold.
"It doesn't seem that Middlesbrough have undersoil heating, which is a pity because, on occasions, you'd see the ball with ice stuck to it.
"I had to make one save before Middlesbrough scored the only goal of the match just before half-time. Christian Karembeu played the ball wide from the 18-yard box, where Jamie Carragher closed their player down.
"Unfortunately, Carragher blocked my view of the ball, and I only saw it when it bounced just in front of me. I dived to my right to try to push it away, but the ball took a nasty bounce, coming first off my hand and then off my face, leaving Karembeu ideally placed to score. It was a horrible goal to concede."
Liverpool slipped down into sixth place as a result of the defeat and is another example of their inconsistency following impressive wins over Manchester United and Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Norwegian international Vegard Heggem is set to undergo an operation in a bid to cure the injury problems that have plagued him over the past couple of years. Heggem has only played four times this season and has not figured in the action since he limped out of Liverpool's 4-0 win over Derby.
"I am going to round off the year 2000 by having an operation which, I hope, will make 2001 more enjoyable for me from a playing point of view," said Heggem.
"I've had so many problems with my right hamstring for more than 16 months now, and after discussions between the Liverpool medical team, the Norwegian national team medical team and myself, it has been decided that I should have surgery on December 29.
"The surgeon who will perform the operation is someone who is very solid and who has a very good reputation. He has done a lot of research into my kind of problem and he is very experienced in this field."
