• Europa League

It's not as gloomy at Liverpool as you think - Hodgson

Roy Hodgson shows the strain during a press conference © Getty Images

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Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson insists it is not all doom and gloom at Anfield despite the club's poor start to the season.

The Reds have won just one league game and are already out of the Carling Cup after the club's worst result since 1959. Increasing reports of unrest surrounding top stars such as Fernando Torres are exacerbated by the continued presence of Liverpool's unwanted American owners, but Hodgson insists things are not as bad as they seem.

"There certainly is not the gloom that you would like to suggest,'' he said. "But at the same time I can't say everyone is delighted with the start we have had because we are not.

"We would have liked to have been sitting near the top of the table with 12 or 14 points and we would have been happy as sand-boys. That's what we wanted but you don't always get what you want.''

The sight of Fernando Torres boarding the plane to Utrecht suggests Hodgson is taking the Europa League slightly more seriously since the home defeat to Northampton, although the Liverpool boss claims otherwise.

"Our priorities have been to do the best in every competition,'' he said. "Although these days I will be accused on not doing that because people will say the [weakened] team I played against Northampton was not the team to win the game.''

Hodgson, who said on Wednesday he had not decided whether to give Torres his first Europa League start against Utrecht, is looking for the victory which will take his side two-thirds of the way to qualification for the knockout stage.

"We saw Utrecht beat Celtic 4-0 so we are under no illusions that we are playing a very good team and we will have to be very good if we are to get a result from the game,'' he said. "Nine or 10 points is probably my guess (of what is required to progress) but don't put any money on it because I'm not very good at predicting these things.''

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