With our talisman out, who’s finally going to step up?

So Stevie is out for three to four weeks at a time we’re being told the squad are just getting accustomed to Hodgson’s style, and he’ll be coming back in contention around a congested Christmas period. It’s a situation that has left Roy “disappointed and a little bit angry” and the squad worryingly lacking in creative talent. Someone will have to step up if Liverpool are going to have any chance of stringing some results together. Joe Cole’s absence, for the next game at least, and Lucas’ suspension, just as he was starting to employ the incisive forward ball with greater consistency , have limited the attacking options even further.

Assumedly Raul Meireles will be used in the central role, in which he is truly world-class, on Saturday afternoon. He has the energy and ability to impose himself and deliver a creative ball from that central avenue that could compliment the tenacity of Kuyt and Torres’ growing ruthlessness if he can just develop some form. Choosing his midfield partner is much more debatable, so sparse is the experience and proven proficiency in the available players.

We’ve been told that the “true” Poulsen is set to be unleashed in the Premiership. I’m sure even the Dane himself would understand why he’s come under so much criticism, but this is a player who’s had the likes of Kaka in his pocket and he has some European pedigree. It may just be that he’s too old to adapt to the pace and rigours of English football; he’s always been more of a positional and economical player in the Italian mould than a defensive dynamo. Unless he starts being more  ambitious and adaptable it’s possible his career could fizzle out fast.

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Lemmy and his band Motorhead at a French bar

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