Liverpool FC : Why Mascherano's Stay Means Trouble For Hodgson's Men ?

If Mr. Roy Hodgson is rightly quoted by the press and Javier Mascherano stays on a little longer after the window closes, Liverpool FC are certainly nearing the end of yet another summer window after flattering to deceive. 

Sorry for the pessimism, but the underlying fears are too great to be ignored.

Liverpool FC's summer window effectively got into action with the signing of Jonjo Shelvey before the sudden firing of Rafael Benitez. After a lot of speculation the club then managed to get hold of Roy Hodgson, the then Fulham manager. Roy Hodgson joined the club and almost immediately overjoyed the fans by signing Joe Cole, the extremely talented Chelsea attacker for free after the player failed to agree to terms with the Stamford Bridge club.

Amongst others, Milan Jovanovic made his way to Liverpool too on a free clause, and Danny Wilson and Christian Poulsen also joined for some negotiable transfer fee, none of which exceeds 5m GBP by too much under any circumstances.

Most of Liverpool's fans would be optimistic at Liverpool's Summer transfer window thus far. There are still reasons still to believe that Liverpool hasn't really done nearly as well.

There were the signings of Shelvey and Wilson, both of whom are touted to be future stars and thus its tough to see them actively take part in the season this time barring the Carling and FA cup matches. 

Milan Jovanovic for Albert Riera is a like for like buy, though after the recent altercations, Riera was already a want-away. The other addition in Christian Poulsen was highly considered to be a replacement for Mascherano who had clarified his stance with Roy Hodgson about his decision to preferably quit England.

Although Mr.Roy has come up with a "never-said-it" type of speech, the manner by which Liverpool overlooked a host of other more pressing re-inforcements in favor of the Poulsen move has already spoken volumes.

Now all this brings us to the question , Have Liverpool FC Solved their problems? The plain and simple answer to that is a big "NO". 

Lets have a rewind to Liverpool FC's condition before the summer window. Back then too, Liverpool FC had Benayoun a less creative but good enough player for the club with great work rate. Now they have a more talented, creative player in Cole who too is far more injury prone.

Lucas and Mascherano looked better than the imminent Poulsen -Lucas partnership in the squad.

So has the club really strengthened?

Again "NO".

The truth is Liverpool is still yet to sign an able striker to  partner Fernando Torres upfront or take his place in his absence, when that had been a priority.

Now what Liverpool ideally needs still is to sell Mascherano to get some useful cash to jet in a striker as early as possible. However, with Hodgson still insisting on Mascherano's stay at the club, the club could face even graver problem of having to play the inexperienced strikers or now-the--part time strikers present in the squad.

Frankly Liverpool FC needs no Hleb or Muntari as circulating in the reports. Both the players are not at all strikers and would be surplus to Liverpool's mid-field over-load.

It must be stated that Fernando Torres, Liverpool FC's key striker has been injured more often during his stay at Liverpool whilst out on his duty with the national squad where play-makers are plentiful, so the addition of just Joe Cole shouldn't really solve the burning problem for the club.

Torres's back-up N'gog has been wasteful all through out the last season and also all through the pre-season matches,so clearly the club's inability to get a better striking option has met with abysmal failure as yet.

As if all these weren't enough, the club now has isssued a statement that it can't confirm any real time limit as to when it might be sold. Thus any chances of the club being sold before the transfer deadline has evaporated. Consequently, no chances of a big buy at end.

Ridiculous as it may sound, Mr. Hodgson has even gone to the extent of saying that he doesn't know most player's who are linked with the club. Well, isn't a 60-year-old manager who has been entrusted with such a huge role banking on his experience in Europe expected to know that ?

For the records, Hodgson's last big English signing (for a BIG transfer fee) was Kevin Davies at Blackburn.

However, all this means that Liverpool FC has the same men upfront as they had in the last season with an outside chance that Milan Jovanovic may feature there too, which still is not a proper solution anyway, more so after the player has insisted that he wants to play a role in left midfield.

With time fast ticking away we await Liverpool's first match against Arsenal on Sunday, where Fernando Torres' chances are doubtful and N'gog is almost a certainty at some stage if not the full.

Javier Mascherano's any further stay would thus may be enrich the squad with defensive mid-fielders, which we really can afford to part with knowing the fact that the Argentine is the only player who can bring us some good cash to buy a striker.

Although a sad wish, but if Liverpool FC loses to Arsenal without scoring on the opening day with Torres not playing, it may force the club to selling Mascherano and opt for a striker fast, which could well prove to be a blessing in disguise. However if Liverpool FC win under the same conditions, it will not be surprising to see all the money obtained from Mascherano's sale being channelized into RBS as a penalty which they have imposed on Hicks and Gillet if they are unable to sell the club by the end of the transfer window. A process which looks impossible for now at least.

Tough times for the club ahead of the winter window seems a distinct possibility.