text: In the search for meaning and importance, the FA Cup might have found its saviour. Enter Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers, a club and manager not just popping into the party to say a polite hello and a quick goodbye. Tonight, against Blackburn at Ewood Park, Rodgers faces one of those defining moments in a season that has not lacked them. His only hope must be that this time it doesn't go so horribly wrong. So far it has been a theme of the campaign that when the need was greatest, so too have been the disappointments. He loaded for duck on a bear hunt in the Champions League against Real Madrid and lost. He wanted to save his best resources for Chelsea and lost that game, too. Kolo Toure found the net in Liverpool's FA Cup clash with Blackburn but his effort was ruled out . Blackburn salute their fans at Anfield after earning a Sixth Round replay at home to the Premier League side . When the European portion of their season fizzled out, first in the big show and then in the Europa League, the Premier League offered an opportunity. Getting into the top-four without Luis Suarez and often in the absence of Daniel Sturridge would be an immense achievement. Having started the season so badly and recovered so impressively, it became a real possibility. Then two huge games - Manchester United and Arsenal. A chance. Steven Gerrard lost his mind, the defence lost the plot and Liverpool lost by a combined total of 6-2 across the two games. A top-four place is virtually gone, unless anyone can conceivably see them making up seven points and a massive goal difference on Manchester City. Suddenly, the romance of the FA Cup is a little more two-sided. They need it badly. Steven Gerrard's birthday falls on May 30, the same day as the FA Cup final at Wembley . The FA Cup represents Liverpool's last chance of silverware after a disappointing season . 'I don't want to go down the route of saying that it saves our season,' said Rodgers before the replay of their quarter-final against Blackburn. 'Our objective at the start, though, was to win a trophy. 'So I think if we didn't get in the top four and we didn't have a trophy this year, we would be disappointed. I think certainly the FA Cup would give us a great boost as a team with lots of young players and players coming into the club. 'That's the expectancy we want. We want to be able to be challenging every year. 'That was the key thing for me, to get the group challenging at the top end of the league and for trophies. The FA Cup would mark a good step forward for us.' The need for trophies has been a dominant theme since Rodgers took over at Liverpool and made them contenders again. There is no denying the steps he has taken with the club and very little to suggest he is anything other than one of the sharpest managerial minds working in this country. Daniel Sturridge will be crucial to Liverpool's chances of reaching the FA Cup semi-final . Glen Johnson is in good spirits in training ahead of Liverpool's trip to Ewood Park on Wednesday . But how he will be tested if this season ends without either a top-four place or a trophy. Raheem Sterling rather helpfully alluded to the need for the latter recently. That tricky contract situation has not gone away and it is less likely to have a happy ending for Liverpool if they can't present a silver argument to Sterling in the summer. The same goes for potential new arrivals. Rodgers can talk magnificently and persuasively but his sales pitches to leading players would be enhanced immeasurably if he could talk about current achievements. Something shiny and tangible and recently acquired would help. It's a tough ask. They face Blackburn with a defence looking as woefully shaky as it did at the start of the season. Without Martin Skrtel and Emre Can tonight that defence could be vulnerable again. Steven Gerrard is also missing. Not ideal, though not necessarily a tremendous setback against a Championship side. In any case, Liverpool and Rodgers need to find a way through. It has been three years since they last won a trophy – under Kenny Dalglish - and the FA Cup is a chance to stop the clock. It's a defining moment that must not end in another failure. Liverpool have not won a trophy since they beat Cardiff to win the Carling Cup three years ago . Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool, November 4 . Finally back on the grandest stage, but Rodgers opted for a watered down XI. Dejan Lovren, Steven Gerrard, Raheem Stirling, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and Mario Balotelli played all previous Champions League matches but none of them started. The aim, it appeared, was to prioritise the following league game. Karim Benzema celebrates scoring for Real Madrid against Liverpool at the Bernabeu . Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea, November 8 . It was time to vindicate the gamble in Madrid, which was widely criticised. Rodgers made seven changes to the side that lost in the Champions League and Emre Can put them ahead. But Chelsea won 2-1, leaving Liverpool eighth in the Premier League. Having rested a host of players in Madrid, Brendan Rodgers' side then lost a crunch league game to Chelsea . Chelsea 1-0 Liverpool, January 27 . After drawing the first leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final, Liverpool blew a host of chances and fell to a stoppage-time winner. A big opportunity missed. The Stamford Bridge also knocked Liverpool out of the Capital One Cup following a 1-0 win at home . Besiktas 1-0 Liverpool, February 26 . Ten years after their Champions League miracle in Istanbul, Liverpool returned to face Besiktas in the Europa League last 32. They held a 1-0 first-leg lead. It went horribly wrong and they lost on penalties. 'Unfortunately, on this occasion, Istanbul is not a happy place,' said Rodgers . Demba Ba celebrates after Dejan Lovren missed the crucial penalty in the shoot-out against Besiktas . Arsenal 4-1 Liverpool, April 4 . Liverpool's last real shot at getting into the top four and it fell apart spectacularly. Raheem Sterling's unauthorised interview hardly helped matters in the build-up and the game was a disaster. They were 3-0 down at half-time and ultimately repeated the kind of defensive inadequacies that hurt them earlier in the campaign. A huge anti-climax. Mesut Ozil curls home Arsenal's second in their 4-1 win over Liverpool in the Premier League last weekend .
target: Liverpool take on Blackburn in their FA Cup Sixth Round replay tonight .
  The competition represents the Anfield club's last chance of success .
  Brendan Rodgers' side are all but out of the race for the top four .
  Liverpool also endured poor campaigns in both European campaigns .
  Robbie Fowler: FA Cup hunt must not be all about Steven Gerrard .