New owners witness same old story

The drama surrounding Liverpool’s ownership battle,decided only on Friday after a Dallas court had lifted an order restraining the 300 million-pound ($479.8 million) sale to New England Sports Ventures,partly overshadowed the problems in the team.

But there can be no hiding them now,with Sunday’s defeat sending Liverpool down a place to second bottom of the table with just six points from eight matches.

The welcome mat may be rolled out for Henry in the home match against Blackburn next Sunday but the most pressing issue from the point of view of the 3,000 supporters packing into the visiting section of Goodison Park was victory.

Put simply,it never looked like coming,as England’s most successful club,albeit one that has now gone 20 years without a league title,were exposed in every area of the pitch.

Tim Cahill smashed in the opener in the 34th minute and by the time Mikel Arteta’s spectacular goal had doubled the lead five minutes after the break those Liverpool supporters looked as beaten and disillusioned as their heroes on the field.

Little danger

After a poor World Cup with Spain,Fernando Torres remains a shadow of the player who used to make life miserable for Premier League defences,the midfield lacks creativity with Steven Gerrard the only source of even occasional danger,and the defence offered little security.

On the basis of this performance it will need investment on a huge scale to compete with such opposition. The owners also have a tough decision to make on how much longer to extend their vote of confidence in manager Roy Hodgson,who defended Liverpool’s performance while accepting that talk of crisis was only going to intensify.

“The new owners making it clear I’m the right man to do the job,you’re always happy to hear that,but whether that’s changed after today I don’t know,” Hodgson told Sky television.

“I don’t feel it to be a crisis,because the way we played today … I don’t think anyone would believe that’s the level of football a team in the bottom three or four would play. But there’s six points from eight games and that’s a very,very poor return and we do need to start winning and climbing up that table soon. Until we do so I dare say the word ‘crisis’ will be bandied around.”

Tevez saves City

Manchester City closed the gap on leader Chelsea to two points after David Silva’s late goal helped secure a 3-2 victory over Blackpool in the Premier League on Sunday. Carlos Tevez chipped Silva’s low cross to put City ahead in the 67th minute and the Argentina striker sent a deflected drive into the net 11 minutes later — soon after Marlon Harewood had headed Blackpool level.

Silva looked to have settled the match when he curled in City’s third in stoppage time,but Gary Taylor-Fletcher still found time to pull one back for Blackpool. Second-place City took full advantage of defending champion Chelsea being held 0-0 by Aston Villa on Sunday. Arsenal,Manchester United and Tottenham are a further three points behind City.

Rooney snub fuels exit rumours

LONDON: Alex Ferguson’s latest snub to Wayne Rooney has fuelled fresh speculation that the Manchester United superstar could be heading for the Old Trafford exit. Ferguson left Rooney on the bench for Saturday’s Premier League clash with West Bromwich Albion,where the Red Devils squandered a two-goal lead as the Baggies fought back to snatch a 2-2 draw.

The Sunday Mirror reported Sunday that relations between Ferguson and Rooney had broken down and that the United boss would seek to sell their prized asset in the January transfer window,with Real Madrid seen as the front-runner. Club insiders quoted by the newspaper said Rooney was slowly being “frozen out”,comparing the present situation to the circumstances leading up to the departure of David Beckham from United to Real Madrid in 2003. AFP