Right, let's get a few things straight.
1. Jermaine Pennant is a very good footballer who has improved dramatically for Liverpool over the last 12 months.
2. Last night he worked incredibly hard and, along with Dirk Kuyt, was one of very few Liverpool players who did so, despite the fact that he did not perform anywhere near as well as he can.
3. Pretty much every other member of the team, Steven Gerrard included, was dreadful.
4. The Porto players were hitting the deck at every opportunity and their gamesmanship/cheating was a disgrace.
5. The referee was not allowing players to get stuck in.
6. Jermaine Pennant did not stop Liverpool from winning last night. The performance of the entire team made such an outcome highly unlikely from the outset.
7. Jermaine Pennant should therefore not be made a scapegoat for us failing to win.

Right, now I've got all that out of the way, none of these factors alter the fact that Pennant was foolish in the extreme in getting himself sent off and in this respect he did let his team mates and himself down.
Like he himself has admitted today, he has got to learn from the mistakes he made last night and make sure it doesn't happen again if at all possible.
Anyone who excuses Pennant on the grounds that he was "frustrated" either by the referee or Liverpool's performance is missing the point. The kind of frustration that results in players doing daft things is entirely selfish and no good to anyone.
Similarly, anyone who claims he was unlucky to be sent off is also missing the point. The tone had been set by the referee early on and Pennant had been warned by Benitez at half time and by the referee that he was running the risk of being sent off.
So to launch into a tackle on the byline that he was never going to win knowing that if he got it wrong (or the player he was tackling cheated) he would be sent off, was foolish in the extreme.
Not surprisingly his team mates and manager are far from impressed with him and that is the most important indicator with regards to his actions.
I hope Pennant does learn from last night just as he has learned to perform like a Liverpool player.
He has been an asset to us for the last six months and, along with Agger, Carragher and Mascherano, has been one of our better players in that period.
But those inside Anfield are all too well aware that one of the things that is holding him back from going to the next level is his temperament.
Only if he comes to terms with this problem (as evidenced last night, at Aston Villa on the opening day and against Chelsea at Anfield) will he stand a chance of achieving his full potential.
The solution is simple - carry on tackling (albeit better than against Porto) but stay out of the faces of referees and learn to accept that there are games when everything doesn't go well but that doesn't excuse sacrificing professionalism at the altar of frustration.
Pennant is a very good Liverpool player and he can be even better. If he learns from last night like he says he will then I've got no doubt that he will be better.

• Post to:
•  del.icio.us
•  Digg
•  Newsvine
•  Nowpublic
•  Reddit