The runes of autumn can be misleading. Ask Tottenham Hotspur, who led the Premiership last September, or Manchester United, who languished in mid-table. Yet though the stencilling is barely dry on the back of thousands of new replica shirts the portents for Liverpool cannot be said to be promising. Nine days into the season they are already five points behind Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. United proved last year that this is a small margin, but they believe in themselves. Liverpool are a team of more fragile confidence, their vulnerability not obviously dispelled by the engagement of a psychologist.
Glenn Moore, Independent
Steven Gerrard dropped a heavy hint before this disappointing affair that he considers Champions League football to be an imperative clause in the new contract he is promising to sign at Liverpool. On the evidence supplied at Villa Park yesterday, the England midfielder would be better advised to go elsewhere in search of an admission ticket into Europe's premier competition.
William Johnson, Telegraph
It is 13 years since Liverpool won the championship, the last time that they sat at the top of the pile and looked down smugly on the rest. If that seems an eternity, it is; and if it is reason for the vultures to circle above Anfield already, with the season only two matches old, then so be it. Time is running out, the patience is wearing thin. Gerard Houllier, the Liverpool manager, retains an impressive calmness and dignity under fire. It is impossible not to like him, more so because of his doughty recovery from a life-saving heart operation two seasons ago. Yet the sympathy value attached to that surgery is now tenuous at best and the natives are getting restless. Houllier must deliver and he knows it.
Russell Kempson, The Times
No team's season can be judged definitively after two matches but it is not only Liverpool's points total which suggests the Premiership will be beyond them. Yesterday's display hardly indicated they are capable of taking their first title since 1990. Short of fluency and inspiration, Gérard Houllier's players deserved no more than a point. They came close to a winner in the final five minutes but that would have been harsh on Aston Villa, who can be encouraged by their first home game under David O'Leary.
John Brodkin, Guardian