Purple Pain

At first we seemed to be well in control, the Italians content to sit back and allow us possession of the ball. They also seemed quite nervous in front of a large, expectant, home crowd. However it did not take them long to begin to step up the pace and begin to ask questions of the Liverpool defence.

Questions we have all been asking and the answers we are getting back are a worry.

Two down by half time to goals from Fiorentina's young striker Stevan Jovetic , we improved in the second half and were a bit unlucky not to get at least one goal back early on from a header by Lucas but really Fiorentina contained us well.

A couple of players stood out for me as having more problems than the rest. Skrtel looks a shadow of himself after his performances last season and Glen Johnson, when not being able to get forward as he likes to do, looks as if he is struggling with his positioning at times.

When the cavalry being sent on to the pitch to rescue the game is in the shape of Babel and Voronin then you begin to understand how General Custer must have felt.

In fairness, Babel did create one or two openings and looked lively but the less-than-divine ponytail Andre Voronin inspires nobody I'm afraid.

To make matters worse, George Gillett was pictured in attendance - presumably he fancied a bit of sightseeing in Florence and thought he might as well watch a "soccer" game while he was in town.

More rumours are surfacing of Hicks and Gillett seriously looking for new investment in the club and maybe selling some or all of their shares?

We can only hope it's true.

However I have no faith whatsoever in that any new money would translate itself into either work starting on a new stadium or more transfer money for Rafa to strengthen the side as long as the Americans continue their association with our club.

Lyon's result last night in Hungary compounded our problems as we now face the French side home and away while Fiorentina have two games against current whipping-boys Debrecen. You would expect the Italians to win both of those games so our clashes with the French side will be crucial. We cannot afford to lose either game and must win at least one of them.

We then go away to Hungary to face Debrecen before finishing off with a home game against Fiorentina at Anfield in December.

This group is now going to be very tight and I wonder how Mr. Gillett's plans for the club would look if we failed to qualify for the Champions League knock-out stages? The money train would be derailed.

Anyway, we have to put last night's game behind us now as we have Chelsea to face this weekend. They have made Stamford Bridge a fortress and it's difficult to see us getting a result there if we play like we played last night.

I would imagine it will be an interesting week for Rafa and the squad up at Melwood.