Oscar keeps warm at Anfield with hot water bottle in new low for 'soft' footballers

The Chelsea forward was doing his best to keep warm during the draw with Liverpool

Chelsea player Oscar and a hot water bottle (GETTY IMAGES)

First it was gloves, then the wearing of snoods and even tights that were used to level accusations that footballers had gone soft.

But during last night's Capital One Cup tie between Liverpool and Chelsea, the argument that the era of tough guys like Stuart Pearce and Roy Keane is over was ended once and for all.

Oscar, the Chelsea forward, looked incredibly cold as he sat amongst the substitutes for last night's game. He wore a big jacket. He had a pair of gloves on. He had a hat. He also had some sort of neck warming garment. But that wasn't enough. He also had a hot water bottle tucked under his arm.

Somehow the Brazilian still managed to look freezing as the snow came down on Merseyside.

One person in particular who will likely have been unimpressed with what he saw will be the aforementioned Roy Keane. When snoods became a regular sight on the football pitch, this is what he had to say...

"Don't get me started. I don't know how they do it. It's very strange. Gloves, scarves, I think somebody came on a few weeks ago for [Manchester] City who had a hat on. I don't know how they do it and focus on the game, it's weird. That's the way the game's gone.

"They've all gone soft. I think John Barnes wore gloves but to be fair I think that boy could play. That was just gloves. Then it went to tights. Now it's scarves."