ajams

Didn't think any of them played particularly well, but: Kuyt - worked hard throughout, tried to make things happen Reina - solid, good distribution Torres - way off the pace, but put in the effort and won us the game

All depends doesn't it? If we start losing 5-0 every week I imagine he'll be in big trouble by the end of September. On the other hand we could go on playing badly and scraping results until Christmas, but so long as we continue to get results there will be a decent argument for tolerating the performances, for the time being at least. Personally I am trying to ignore anything Hodgson may have done before he came to Liverpool and assess him purely on the basis of his time here. My view is that he inherited a club and a squad in turmoil. We are/were low on confidence both on the pitch and behind the scenes, with a number of disaffected players and very little in the way of time or financial backing to rejuvenate the squad. There was nothing to be done about the lack of pre-season time - pretty much the shortest I can remember - but we have been active in the transfer market. I think our business this summer has been sensible, if not particularly inspiring. Key areas have been addressed, unhappy players have been moved on, and attempts are clearly being made to re-balance the squad, which for me had a massive Alonso-shaped hole at the heart of it all of last season. As things stand we are still waiting to see what the make-up of our squad will be and we are also waiting for key players to regain fitness and form, as shown by yesterday's horrible performance. Still, so far we have played 7 competitive games, and we've won 5, lost 1 and drawn 1. We're level on points with our main rivals in the league despite having faced tougher fixtures, and we've made it through two potentially tricky ties in Europe, during which we've had to field several fringe players. We've been slow starters for a few years now - early season European play-offs were never much fun under the previous regime either, and yesterday's performance reminded me very much of the Sunderland away game at the start of 08-09. Anyway, I'm not here to make excuses, what we've seen so far hasn't been great, but no real damage has been done. I expect to see steady improvement over the next 2 to 3 months, with a discernible tactical plan and team shape. I also hope to see our big players settle down and find some form, because that will spread confidence through the team. I'm still feeling fairly positive about this season overall, but it's not blind faith. I want progress and results, but I'm prepared to give Hodgson a reasonable amount of time to make his mark.

That was a terrible performance, individually and collectively. West Brom took 10 minutes to realise we weren't at the races and were clearly the better team for the rest of the match. As mentioned earlier Skrtel was very lucky to get away with wrestling his man to the ground on at least two occasions. It's one thing being mediocre, but being a liability is quite another. Torres is so far off fitness it's just not funny. Let's hope Spain don't call him up, he could do with a week just running around the training pitches. I'm going to give Poulsen the benefit of the doubt and assume that his fitness levels are way off too - he certainly struggled. Lucas should have no such excuses, but yet again he did absolutely nothing. He's been around long enough that he should be stepping up in situations like that - he's not there purely to defend and tap the ball back where it came from. In fact he's at his most effective when he breaks forward, but he just seems scared to take responsibility. You could go through the whole team, but ultimately we got what we needed from the game and we move on.

It's basically the same article he wrote two weeks ago, but he's escalated his rhetoric a bit. It's just like the Houllier days all over again.

Reads like a hatchet job, based on selective reading of press reports.

Kelly Ngog Johnson

I'm not saying we played particularly well, but I thought we did OK under tricky circumstances after a bad start. These early season European games are always tough - this one particularly so after failing to take our chances last week. We had a lot of players missing which resulted in a disjointed first half performance, but we improved after the break and deserved to go through in the end. Can't see the point in reading any more into it.

There's only one Paul Konchesky

Ta. At least the situation's been resolved I suppose, hopefully we'll be busy in the next few days.

where's that from?

I'm gonna be optimistic and say 25m euro. Of course this only matters if the money goes back into the "player account" rather than the "debt account"...

Interesting to see if we spend it at all.

Reds Agree Mascherano Fee Barcelona.

No, I saw the whole game.

We did OK against tricky opponents. Promising signs from a few players there, Kelly and Pacheco did well and Ngog is growing in stature, although he really should have put that header away. We're clearly still rusty, but it's been a tough start for us. Hopefully things will start to settle down now, maybe I'm deluding myself but I still haven't given up hope of a decent season.

Bet 365 streamed it - dunno if they'll be showing the rest of the europa league, but they show other games too (not prem league obv). It's free to register and their streaming is good and reliable.

It's no surprise we've been busy, given that Benayoun, Mascherano, Riera and Cavalieri were all told they could leave before the last manager had even left.

It appears Insua wants to play regularly. He also doesn't want to take a pay-cut. I don't think we can really surmise anything else from what's been said and done so far regarding him.

The only thing I've heard relating to this was when Bellamy was looking to leave Man City - there was a suggestion that his not being included in their 25 man squad amounted to a restraint of trade. I haven't seen anything about the legal position regarding such a situation, but I guess it'll take a Bosman-type court case at some point for a precedent to be set.

I think I'd rather keep Kyrgiakos than Skrtel. He's the only player on our books who can deal with corners. Unfortunately we've just given Skrtel a new contract, so he ain't going anywhere for the foreseeable.

To be fair I thought City played really well. Milner, Johnson Tevez and Barry were outstanding and Hart denied us any chance of getting back into the game. As for our lot, I don't particularly like Gerrard that deep, but I thought he did OK. Lucas on the other hand is just so bloody ineffectual it's infuriating. Losing Mascherano at the last minute really left us with little choice though. Agree that Kuyt and Jovanovic are unsuited to playing wide in a 442, but I think that's a moot point given that they'd have been pushed back by City's momentum even if they had started 10 yards further up the pitch. Torres looks unfit, Ngog didn't do too badly, and Agger's probably still a better option than Aurelio at lb if the Trabzonspor game is any indication of Fabio's current form. All in all an easier run of fixtures to start the season could have covered up a multitude of sins, but without trying to gloss over our obvious problems, the points we've dropped so far are not necessarily disastrous. So far as Hodgson goes, I think it's worth bearing in mind that his methods are based on team organisation achieved through repetition on the training ground. He's only had the squad together for 3 or 4 weeks, so I think it's a bit early to be writing him off.

If we lose Mascherano then we need to bring in 3 first-team ready players by this time next week. We really need to sort this out with Barca, they're taking the piss agreeing terms with the player and then offering half our asking price this late in the window. If we end up selling him on the last day of the window with no replacement coming in then we really are in the s***.

Agree fully with the above. I don't think we're missing 'creativity' as such in midfield, but what we do miss since Xabi left is someone capable of making a bit of space for himself in midfield, holding onto the ball that bit longer, looking up and making a pass. We can get by without Xabi's ability to play killer passes from deep, but we do need a continuity player, someone to be the hub of the team. Both Masch and Gerrard are too busy, too hurried, and Lucas just doesn't have the composure, the presence or the confidence. Last season we had four international midfielders, none of whom really worked as a pair. Poulsen may not be as gifted as Alonso or Aquilani, but he should in theory work with any of the other three options we now have, in much the same way Xabi did.

Honestly don't know what to make of the Huang coverage. On the one hand you had the Times putting it on their front page, on the other you had respected investigative journos counselling caution, and all the while there was the suspicion that our beloved owners were trying to start a smear campaign. Just seems to me if you look at takeovers that have actually succeeded, more often than not the media hardly get a sniff until a week or so beforehand. Something never seemed quite right to me about the Huang bid.

Hey it's just a cut & paste job! Anyway, I think there is a little bit of perspective in there, and despite the doubts over Purslow - which I do share - the fundamental thing about all this is that it's still too early to judge. If we get a decent new owner in the next couple of months, then I think the end will justify the means. I do find it hard to believe that a club with as much going for it as ours in terms of history, tradition, iconography, fan base, "brand affinity" or whatever you want to call it is going to slide into administration without a truly serious bid from a truly serious buyer. And I do agree with him about Huang - too much noise and too much drama from the off. As for all the fluffy stuff, that's Winter's stock-in-trade, always has been.