Despite being a lose-lose affair, Liverpool have to beat Rabotnicki to avoid sinking further in the mire

Rabotnicki Kometal v Liverpool, Europa League qualifier third-round first-leg, July 29, 2010

Rabotnicki Kometal 9.02; Draw 4.66; Liverpool 1.23

Liverpool have had as many ups and downs this summer as the Big Dipper.

The off-season started on a low ebb as manager Rafa Benitez left the club following the Reds appallingcampaign last year. After a predictable long list of suitors were linked to the vacant hot-seat, Roy Hodgson was snapped up from Fulham and was immediately faced with the problem of keeping star players Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres at the club while also trying to rejig the squad in urgent preparation for the new campaign.

In the backpages, at least, Woys first few weeks have produced pretty decent results. Steven Gerrard appears a nailed-on certainty to be the Liverpool talisman for yet another season, while the most recent whispers suggest that Fernando Torres will also be convinced to give Merseyside at least one more year of his service. Javier Mascherano remains the odd-one-out as the Argentine appears to be steadfastly pining for a move out of Anfield.

The wider Liverpool squad has also had a face-lift this summer. Whether you consider him a money-grabber or not, many Scousers will be hopeful that Joe Cole can prove an instant success with the Reds, while collecting 5.5 million pounds for Yossi Benayoun was a tidy piece of business for a player whom had become, rightly or wrongly, a bench-warmer.

Other departures have seen Albert Riera head to Greece, Fabio Aurelio is now a free agent, and Emiliano Insua is on the verge of joining Fiorentina - provided they can agree personal terms. Maxi Rodriguez is also mooted as being close to leaving the club imminently.

On the flipside, tricky left-winger Milan Jovanovic has joined from Standard Liege while promising 18-year-old defender Danny Wilson joined the Reds f! rom Rang ers in a two million pound deal. They join 18-year-old midfielder Jonjo Shelvey who penned with the Scousers from Charlton for 1.7m back in May.

With transfer rumours buzzing around Liverpool on a daily basis, fans would be excused for feeling optimistic about the ambitions of the club this season. A new boss, a new side, a new attitude and better results are all being bigged up before the new season gets underway.

Shattering that feel-good factor though has been Liverpools pre-season performances to-date. While there are obvious pitfalls in reading too much into games whose main purpose are to aid fitness, the Reds have so far drawn 0-0 with average Swiss outfit Grasshoppers Zurich while slumping to a poor 1-nil defeat to German second divisioners Kaiserslautern. Taking into account every excuse under the sun, thats a pretty crap return by anyones standards.

With that as the backdrop, Liverpools new season officially kicks off on Thursday night with a humbling Europa League qualifier at Macedonian nobodies FC Rabotnicki.

Manager Roy Hodgson though is no illusions of the difficulty of the task ahead of the fallen English giants. These will be two unbelievably difficult games for us at this stage of the season. Its a lose, lose [situation]. It will be very difficult without our top players but the sports scientists say if we use them now well lose them further down the line.

With all Liverpools World Cup stars still on leave, a completely unfamiliar Reds side will take the field in Skopje. Youngsters Nathan Eccleston, Martin Hansen, Peter Gulacsi, David Amoo, Lauri Dalla Valle and Tom Ince were all selected in the 20-man travelling party. Joining them were more experienced first-teamers Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, along with new boys Jovanovic, Shelvey and Wilson. Curiously neither Alberto Aquilani nor Ryan Babel were picked for the match.

While little is known about Rabotnicki, the hosts have already negotiated two Europa League tie! s to rea ch their dream match with Liverpool. They destroyed Andorran minnows FC Lusitanos 11-nil on aggregate in round one (Brazilian striker Fabio bagged five goals in the two legs while his Brazilian strike-partner Wandeir notch three goals in the tie) before edging Armenian outfit FC Mika 1-nil (Wandeir the only goalscorer) in round two.

Without any more information on Rabotnicki, and taking into account the never-played-together Liverpool team which will take the field, it is safe to say that the Premier Leaguers should win both legs of this tie at a cantor. Liverpool, even with their kids and second-rate stars, are light-years ahead of Rabotnicki as a club and institution. And even if the Macedonians play with eleven men behind the ball and cede complete possession to the Scousers, the Reds should still be able to break their opponents down.

Anything less will only serve to highlight how badly Liverpool have fallen off their perch in recent times.

101gg predicts: Rabotnicki 0 - Liverpool 2

Rabotnicki Kometal 9.02; Draw 4.66; Liverpool 1.23

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