Source: Daily_Mail
Javier Mascherano exit is price Liverpool pay for missing out on Champions League
The Liverpool fans gathered at one end of the City of Manchester Stadium will no doubt have cursed when they heard of Javier Mascherano's decision not to play for their team. They must understand that this is what can happen when a big club finishes seventh in the Barclays Premier League. [LNB]Examined without emotion, Mascherano's failure to fulfil the terms of his contract deserves scorn. He is Argentina's captain, and should be big enough and professional enough to play until he is employed by somebody else. [LNB] Chasing shadows: Liverpool were soundly beaten by Manchester City at Eastlands [LNB]But it doesn't always work like that. Mascherano kissed his badge after scoring a deflected goal at Everton last season. Now his love for his club has run out. [LNB]To repeat the point, this is what happens when you finish seventh and it serves as a warning for Liverpool, as they seek to return to the top four under Roy Hodgson, and indeed for last night's opponents as they try to get there for the first time. [LNB]Waving goodbye: Mascherano refused to play against City [LNB]In a football landscape where Champions League football stands for so much, Mascherano's attitude is not impressive. Most Liverpool fans will now want him gone as soon as is feasibly possible. [LNB]However, he is not the only Liverpool player to have questioned his future in recent times and that says everything about how quickly Hodgson needs to reestablish his new club as a genuine force in England and in Europe. [LNB]Happily, both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres decided to stay. It is because of this that Liverpool have a fighting chance of bouncing back into the top four that is so important to them. [LNB]Only the foolish or the myopic would pretend that they didn't consider moves elsewhere this summer, though.[LNB] It was not only frustration with life under Rafael Benitez last season that caused Gerrard and Torres to look around. Players careers are short and when their clubs begin to fail them - if that is the right phrase - they consider their options.[LNB] Liverpool's failure to build on their second-placed Premier League finish from 2008- 2009 was pretty lamentable last season and it could yet be a while before we get to see the real cost of that. [LNB] Out of steam: Liverpool look stunned as Tevez scores City's third from the spot [LNB]The team, despite the addition of players like Joe Cole (who was suspended) and Milan Jovanovic, had a familiar look about it in that it seemed over-reliant on Gerrard, Torres, Jamie Carragher and Pepe Reina.[LNB] For the second league game running, Hodgson was forced to field a centre half - Daniel Agger - at left back. Unlike City, his substitutes' bench did not look overly impressive, either. [LNB]Oh, Fernando: Torres was hauled off in Liverpool's defeat [LNB]Over the course of an exacting season, it is these things that make the difference between success and failure and it does, in all honesty, look like being a long campaign for a club who deserve better. [LNB]For their part, City look rather better prepared at this early stage. They have a deeper squad. They, too, know that this season must work out well if they are not to find themselves with a dressing room of frustrated players next time around. [LNB]City, of course, have the advantage of knowing that the wages they pay are so generous that they have an extra tool to use when it comes to keeping their players satisfied.[LNB] Mascherano will perhaps earn a pay rise on arrival at Barcelona in the coming days. With their benefactor Sheik Mansour looking on from the stand at Eastlands last night, City's players know that their big pay day has already arrived. [LNB]As they continue to seek a buyer, Liverpool remain vulnerable in all kinds of ways. They are not poor payers, of course. Gerrard and Torres, for example, will have little need to worry over the contents of their bank accounts. [LNB]Nevertheless, clubs like City, Chelsea and some of the larger European sides can turn heads in ways that are not always connected to what happens on the football pitch.[LNB] It all sounds rather cynical but it's true and to Liverpool - as long as they hang around uncomfortably in a Champions League exclusion zone - the threat remains very real. [LNB]All that Hodgson can do now is to try and offer his players hope and endeavour to convince them that a combination of their ability and his coaching experience will be enough to take them to the heights of two seasons ago. [LNB]It is a huge ask. The damage done by last season's troubles is significant. Liverpool supporters will be quite rightly indignant th at Mascherano is seeking a transfer so crudely. [LNB]Realists may argue, however, that they are fortunate the South American's protest is currently a solitary one.[LNB] Manchester City 3 Liverpool 0: Carlos Tevez and Gareth Barry punish Roy Hodgson's sorry RedsJavier Mascherano pulled out of Liverpool squad as Barcelona make £12m move for unsettled starJ'accuse! Reds boss Hodgson doesn't give foreign kids a go, says MavingaLIVERPOOL FC
