THE results in pre-season friendlies, we’re told, are of no consequence.

It’s all about bringing the players to the right level of fitness for the real thing when the Premier League kicks-off for the new season.

Well, by either yardstick, something seems to be going awry in Liverpool FC’s planning over the last few years.

In 2009, a distinctly average sequence of performances set the tone for two defeats in our first three games and proved a portent for what was to come.

Last season was little better – though at least Roy Hodgson had the excuse of players arriving back from the World Cup late in the day – and we all know what happened next.

So I for one was unable to shrug off the fact that we spent mid-summer shipping goals across the globe as irrelevant to the coming league campaign, our performances as disjointed as a 12-year-old Romanian gymnast.

If we accept the line that fitness is the key objective, then at least we can expect the players to be full of energy, stamina and dynamism come the start of the season.

For 45 minutes on Saturday, this looked to be the case, as we snapped into tackles, controlled the midfield and attacked with pace.

In the second half, however, we looked as undercooked as the fare on offer at your local fried chicken takeaway.