I HAD hoped that going on about Xabi Alonso would become a thing of the past once the season kicked off. Because you always know that if you’re talking about players who have left early in the campaign, then you know it’s been a bad start.

The reason I don’t like talking about Alonso is that he engineered his move and there was very little Liverpool could do to stop him moving to Real Madrid. It’s not as if selling him was a decision Rafael Benitez made so you do have some sympathy for the manager – finding someone to fill Alonso’s boots was always going to be difficult.

And that is how it is proving already and no greater evidence was needed than in the performance on Monday night when Liverpool went down 3-1 at home to Aston Villa.

Anyone who thought the Spaniard wouldn’t be missed only needs to look at that game to realise the massive difference from last season.

In midfield, without the quick, accurate passing of the Spaniard, Liverpool all too often ran out of ideas and couldn’t penetrate going forward.

Brad Friedel did make some decent saves but the sustained pressure and relentless moving off the ball was sadly lacking.

And without someone who can deliver the killer pass, particularly against the kind of crowded midfield Aston Villa put out, then it’s always going to be a struggle.

Javier Mascherano can do many things but he’s not one of those players whose first pass is always knocked forward in an instant – he’s there to break things up and a good job he does of that too.

As for Lucas, well Benitez can go on about how much he is improving and learning all he likes, but in comparison to Alonso he still has a long way to go.

And what Monday night showed was that if he hasn’t got the space to keep possession and think about what he’s going to do, then he’s going to get closed down to the point of suffocation in that midfield.

And once again, you find yourself lamenting the fact that you’re looking for everything to come from Steven Gerrard.

He had a rare bad game and he will obviously bounce back but that just exacerbates Liverpool’s problem.

Where does the quality come from?

The issue I had about Alonso departing initially was Gerrard suffering from not being fed in those areas in just behind Torres and I feel that was what caused his frustration against Villa.

He had to go looking for the ball in an area where Villa were ganging up ready to ambush him and he never freed himself up to play the game he wanted to.

But believe it or not, despite all the concerns I have after what was a damaging home defeat, I have to say that it’s not all doom and gloom.

And I definitely don’t think Liverpool’s title challenge should be written off.

Okay, so they might have already lost as many as they did last season, but Manchester United lost twice as many games and still won the league.

The fact is, it was the draws that did the damage and now Liverpool have lost a couple of games, you can cope with that if you get a few more wins rather than draws.

I still believe it’s possible because, as I said last week, when a new season kicks off, everything is magnified.

Defeats are a major crisis, wins mean you’re the best team in the world.

Tottenham have won three out of three and people are asking, can they win the Premier League? Well, no they can’t.

But if Liverpool are to look like convincing contenders again, they need to do what all sides with ambitious of chasing the title do – and that’s respond to defeat in the right way.

They did it last week against Stoke – and they need to do it at Bolton on Saturday to get the Villa flop well and truly out of their system.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to NICK SMITH