An Illustrious Past But an Uncertain Future For Roy Hodgson's Liverpool

Life at Liverpool is not everything Roy Hodgson might have imagined it would be. In fact, his dream job is rapidly turning into a nightmare. Hodgson once spent a season at Inter Milan but following in the footsteps of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley still represented the greatest opportunity of his managerial career.

Hodgson was effusive about the club in the immediate aftermath of his appointment,

"This is the biggest job in club football and I'm honoured to be taking on Britain's most successful football club," he said.

While Liverpool's past might be steeped in glory, their present is looking a little less illustrious. They have not won the league for 20 years and are no longer even in the Champions League, a competition they have won more times than any other English team.

Last season's seventh placed finish was a major disappointment, but Hodgson has been given negligible resources with which to improve on it. The arrivals of Christian Poulson, Raul Meireles, Milan Jovanovic, Joe Cole, and Paul Konchesky have been entirely offset by the sale of influential midfielders Javier Mascherano and Youssi Benayoun.

The man who took Fulham to an unprecedented Euro Cup final last season has found himself presiding over a Liverpool squad which is being depleted in order to balance the books.

Hodgson had hoped that the ownership issue would be resolved before the conclusion of the transfer window in order to give him time and money with which to strengthen his side.

The club has been on the market since April but does not appear any closer to being sold. Managing Director Christian Purslow recently admitted that Liverpool will probably not be in a position to make any significant signings until new owners are found,

"Can we afford to meet our loans, interest costs and bank charges? Just about. Do I wish that every penny spent on interest was available to spend on players? Passionately. We are highly profitable. The issue is that too much of that profit is being used to service loans put into place when the club was bought," he said.

Hodgson himself has expressed surprise that the club is not already under new ownership and is hoping that a suitable buyer can swiftly be found,

"One hopes this matter will be resolved sooner rather than later. The problems with the ownership are well documented and I can't wave a magic wand and make them go away. What I would like to see is what everyone at Liverpool would like to see - a solution to the ownership problem," he said.

On the pitch, Liverpool's start to the season has been nothing short of disastrous. A Carling Cup exit at the hands of Northampton Town was described as a "catastrophe" by Jovanovic, one of a number of first team players in the side which lost to the Division Two squad.

That result prompted Hodgson to apologize to Liverpool fans who are already dismayed by a disappointing start to the season which has seen the team take just five points from five games.

A couple of good performances in the Euro Cup have not been enough to erase the memory of seeing their side comprehensively outplayed at first Eastlands and then Old Trafford.

The two set piece goals which Liverpool scored against Manchester United flattered Hodgson's side who, with Steve Gerrard in an unfamiliar deep lying midfield role, showed minimal attacking ambition. These two goals at Old Trafford actually doubled Liverpool's Premiership total for the entire season taking it to four goals in five games.

The good news for Hodgson is that despite a less than auspicious start, his side are still only three points off the Champion's League places. The bad news is that Liverpool look desperately out of sorts with key men Fernando Torres and Gerrard struggling to find the form which saw them fire Liverpool to second place in the league just two seasons ago.

Hodgson's Liverpool side look a shadow of the one which finished only four points behind league leaders Manchester United in 2008-09. At the heart of that team, which recorded a historic 4-1 victory at Old Trafford, were midfielders Xabi Alonso and Mascherano. Both were subsequently sold and their absence is still keenly felt at Anfield.

Alonso and Mascherano provided a solid midfield base which allowed the more forward thinking Gerrard to become a prolific scorer of Premiership goals. While the jury is still out on Meireles and Poulsen, adequately replacing players of the calibre of Mascherano and Alonso is virtually impossible.

Gerrard's two set piece goals against Manchester United gave a veneer of respectability to a dismal performance but he cut a forlorn figure for much of the game. Asked to perform a more defensive role his major function in the first half was to receive the ball somewhere near the half way line and play a short, lateral pass.

It seems that Liverpool's enforced midfield reshuffle has left Hodgson unsure as to how to get the best out of his midfield talisman, something which the formation he deployed at Old Trafford conspicuously failed to do.

As if to exasperate Hodgson's problems Torres appears to be suffering from an uncharacteristic loss of form. A listless display away to Birmingham City saw the perennially prolific striker come in for widespread criticism.

He will be looking to answer his critics with a return to goalscoring form against Sunderland on Saturday and a second Premiership win of the season is absolutely essential if Liverpool are to arrest their alarming slump in form. 

The problem for Hodgson is that while the gap between Liverpool and the top three is widening the distance between Liverpool and the chasing Premiership pack is rapidly diminishing. Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Manchester City all finished above Liverpool last season and it will be even more difficult for Liverpool to overtake these teams in the absence of Mascherano.

The fact that the club has been on the market for almost six months and a takeover is still not imminent should be cause for concern at Anfield. At present the transfer market is serving primarily to weaken Liverpool's squad while bolstering the club's coffers.

Unless this can be addressed with some substantial investment by new owners Liverpool's wait for another league title is unlikely to end anytime soon.

The question is how quickly Liverpool fans can come to terms with this rapid decline in their side's fortunes. Last season's poor league performance was much more than an aberration, it was an accurate indication of Liverpool's standing in today's Premiership.

The club which was once the dominant force in English football no longer belongs alongside Chelsea, Manchester United and  Arsenal in the league's elite, instead they have become a top seven team with aspirations of finishing fourth.

Even if investment does arrive before the new year the January transfer window is notoriously difficult to do business in. Any radical overhaul of the squad will have to wait until next Summer meaning Liverpool' expensive absence from the Champions League is likely to be extended for at least another season.

With the season barely a month old Liverpool are already 10 points behind league leaders Chelsea. Winning the Premier League is simply no longer a realistic ambition and qualifying for the Champion's League is going to become increasingly difficult as Manchester City continue to evolve and improve at enormous expense. Liverpool may be steeped in history but their future is looking decidedly bleak.