THE freak goal at the Stadium of Light may have been before his time, but manager Roy Hodgson is quickly discovering life is still no beach for Liverpool at present.

Although the Anfield outfit are a work-in-progress, Saturday’s match at home to Sunderland provided an ideal opportunity to give their season a much needed shot in the arm, but instead produced a neat summary of fortunes to date.

Liverpool showed patches of promise but ultimately lacked direction and a constant cutting edge as they once again relied on captain Steven Gerrard to bail them out.

The home side’s late pressure so nearly brought a winner, with Daniel Agger guilty of a glaring miss, but a third goal would have only masked a performance which was rough round the edges and left the fans with a deflated feeling.

Apart from Gerrard’s late intervention, Joe Cole was the brightest light at the weekend but even he only showed bursts of what Liverpool craved on the day – someone to show craft in midfield and provide a service line to the strikers.

Sunderland, to some extent, had this in Steed Malbranque who was superb at always being available and forever wanting the pass, creating space in the midfield.

Steve Bruce’s men, setting up with five players in midfield, were successful in frustrating the home team whose new players have yet to fully strike up the partnerships so sorely needed to back up the threat of Gerrard and Fernando Torres.

Supporters vented their anger at the American owners of the club following the final whistle yet they could be forgiven if some of the displeasure was reserved for a team who continue to frustrate.