Liverpool are a team in decline, whether the supporters want to hear it or not. The ownership issue isn’t likely to go away any time soon and until it does there’s no real way the club can move forward. On the training ground and on the pitch Hodgson can work his magic but he will always be hampered by what happens upstairs.

Clearly he will build his team around the epic duo of Torres and Stephen Gerrard, now likely to see his career out at Anfield, and will attempt to bring the best out of some of the club’s underperformers as he is so good at doing. The addition of Joe Cole was an unexpected boon, helping the loss of Benayoun to Chelsea, and once Hodgson has got rid of the increasingly disruptive Mascherano there’ll be more scope for moulding a team in his own image.

This is a job that requires time, however, and it seems to me to be unlikely that Torres would be prepared to wait. Yet he has said he will, for another season at least. Has Hodgson promised something then? Like Champions League qualification THIS season? Quite a claim to make, given the current state of the club.

More likely it’s one of those “stay a season, if we don’t qualify I’ll let you go” deals. Because Roy Hodgson is no fool and he must know that rebuilding Liverpool is a task that will require seasons, not season. It’s possible he is shrewd enough to drag the team to fourth spot, his success with Fulham suggests he can, but it is far, far from a given and competition is fierce in the Premier League now.

Getting back to Gerrard, one wonders why he is still at Liverpool. He hit his peak two seasons ago and his standards have steadily dropped since. Don’t get me wrong, he is still a fantastic player and would be a boost for any squad, here in England or in Europe. Nevertheless, his best is behind him, bar an Indian summer, and he must soon regret not moving on from Anfield in pursuit of more success than he has enjoyed so far. We must admire his devotion to the club he supports, but we must also question his desire to stretch himself.

Too late now? Probably, in all honesty. “One more season” he’s been telling himself for at least five years and he has again. Partnered with a fit Torres, Liverpool will be a force – just not one on a par with Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City (but maybe Arsenal). Fail again and Torres will likely depart. What does Gerrard do then? Resign himself to being a hometown hero or attempt to seek that Indian summer abroad? We’ll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, we must see if Hodgson’s magic can galvanise a squad deep in depression enough to finish fourth and potentially retain their two stars. Succeed and the only way is up for Liverpool. Fail and one fears for the future even more.

The odds are against it – but they were against Fulham ever appearing in a European final too…

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Already shorn of captain and talisman Gerrard, it seems a strange decision to jeopardise Torres’ immediate future as far as Sporting Fare is concerned – but then Rafa’s decision making this season hasn’t exactly been brilliant, has it.

Sporting Fare - Serving up the world of sport...with a twist!