In terms of defenders, all the talk this season has been about John Terry. The Chelsea captain, voted players' player of the season, has no doubt been inspirational in his side's double winning success story.

But for my money there is another central defender who has outshone him and frequently outplayed him without receiving half as much praise or media coverage.

And that player is Jamie Carragher.

While Terry has been grabbing all the headlines, not to mention the awards and the England caps, Jamie has been quietly going about his business at Liverpool, turning in match winning performance after match winning performance.

If you need evidence of just how much Carragher has matured as a player over the course of the last 12 months you need look no further than the two semi-final legs against Chelsea - he was absolutely everywhere, absolutely all of the time.

True he may not possess the suave sophistication of a player like Rio Ferdinand but on Tuesday night especially he was an absolute rock in the heart of a Liverpool defence that was pretty much under siege for 92 of the 96 minutes.

He threw himself in the way of every shot and cross within a 10 metre radius and chipped in with many perfectly timed tackles to keep wave after wave of Chelsea attacks at bay.

Up until this season it is true that Jamie, often described as the most Scouse man on the planet, was little more than a utility player at Anfield, filling in the gaps but never cementing a position of his own.

But how that has changed under Benitez who obviously saw something in him that previous managers had missed.

In my mind he is now certainly one of the top four - if not three - central defenders in the Premier League and should, on form and consistency, be a certainty for next summer's World Cup.

Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding Liverpool's 'goal' in that semi-final second leg has once again raised the argument over the introduction of goal-line technology.

Having watched the replays and the reconstructions carried out by Sky, it became obvious that the ball was cleared before it actually crossed the line. But equally there was no way either the referee or the linesman could actually tell that.

Jose Mourinho's post-match moans may have sounded like sour grapes to many - and I am sure there was a huge hint of that in his comments - but the truth is he was right, it wasn't a goal.

The sooner football's governing bodies stop beating around the bush and introduce the micro-chipped football which can tell clearly when the ball crosses the line, the sooner season-defining moments like that one will become a thing of the past.

Finally on the subject of the semi, a quick word about the supporters at Anfield. With the exception of the two idiots who invaded the pitch (probably not Liverpool supporters anyway), the crowd at Anfield were truly magnificent and a credit to English football.

The Liverpool faithful cheered, rallied and screamed their lungs out in a passionate display of support for their team which almost definitely provided the '12th man' that they needed on the night.

It was a real lesson for all of England in how to support your football club. Well done chaps.

On another note, and its not often I get to say this, I have to wholeheartedly agree with the Football Association's decision to give the final Champions League spot to the team that finishes fourth, even if Liverpool win the competition.

It would be grossly unfair on both Everton and Bolton if, after a long hard season the winning post was moved just a couple of games before the end. Those two teams, along with Liverpool, have a right to that fourth and final place and should not miss out just because UEFA made a complete dog's breakfast of the rules.

The FA is totally right in promising the slot to the fourth placed team and is equally right in promising to lobby UEFA for Liverpool to also be included if they should end up beating Milan.

My hunch is that it won't turn out to be a problem anyway, but then again, what do I know about predicting important results.

Contact James on: [email protected]