Liverpool FC News: IF only changing owners could be this simple. Confusion may reign off the field, but on it Liverpool enjoyed another straightforward affair last night.
Takeover talk made way for a walkover as Roy Hodgson's first home game in charge was marked with the expected stroll against Macedonia minnows FK Rabotnicki to book their place in today's draw for the UEFA Europa League qualifying play-off round.
Of course, it won't always be this easy. But the new Liverpool manager will be grateful for the further encouragement and confidence that will be garnered from this result.
From the moment David Ngog continued his goalscoring start to the campaign by heading the opener midway through the first half, this was nothing more than a glorified training session, a chance for many of his senior players to gain much-needed match fitness.
Inevitable, then, that thoughts should drift to the ongoing jostling for position among the runners and riders purportedly ready to take the club off the hands of unloved and unwanted American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Liverpool's board have urged the talking to stop and potential buyers put words into actions with concrete offers, determined to avoid yet another long, drawn-out takeover saga.
And for Hodgson, the shadow boxing of pre-season is now at an end with his team's next outing the Premier League opener against Arsenal on Sunday week.
As well as the new manager, this was a first chance for the Anfield faithful to cast their eyes over the clutch of summer arrivals with Joe Cole under particular scrutiny.
This was a decent start. Playing off striker Ngog – a role he is sure to reprise when Fernando Torres returns to fitness – Cole was given freedom to roam and hasn't taken long to develop an understanding with England colleague Steven Gerrard.
His box of tricks will surely delight a Liverpool support for whom the drudgery that sullied so much of the previous campaign remains foremost in the memory.
Indeed, it was Cole's clever cross that created the goal for Ngog with only the woodwork prevented the former Chelsea man from marking his Liverpool with a deserved strike of his own. A thumbs-up, too, for Milan Jovanovic, the Serbia international who is already fast becoming a crowd favourite with his no-nonsense approach and never-say-die attitude; the left-footed Dirk Kuyt, if you may.
Kuyt, who sat alongside Pepe Reina in the directors' box last night, is among a number of senior players that will go into the campaign without any playing time since the World Cup, a reminder of the less than ideal preparation forced upon the incoming Hodgson.
Those absentees meant there were further chances for fringe players to impress their new manager.
Dani Pacheco has missed much of Liverpool's pre-season preparations under Hodgson having starred for Spain in their run to the final of the UEFA under-19 European Championships. Those efforts, though, have not gone unnoticed and, after making seven substitute appearances last season, the young Spaniard was handed his first starting role.
Pacheco is very much an unpolished diamond but has once more demonstrated enough promise that Liverpool are right to resist overtures from Malaga to take him back to his homeland.
Martin Kelly, impressive in Skopje last week, moved from right-back to left-back with a minimum of fuss, but it is still difficult to put a finger on Ngog.
His 21st-minute goal was expertly taken. After Steven Gerrard's 25-yard shot solicited a good save from Rabotnicki goalkeeper Martin Bogatinov, the resultant corner was fed short by the skipper to Cole loitering by the left edge of the area, whose curled cross was met by a towering header from the unmarked Ngog that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.
But while the Frenchman's hold-up play and movement continues to improve, earning Liverpool the penalty from which Gerrard struck the second, doubts persist over his ruthlessness in front of goal, He was twice put through but dallied too long until the chance was lost.
Rabotnicki confirmed first-leg suspicions that, for all their pluck and vigour, they aren't actually very good. As in last week's game, the Macedonians became tremendously excited at the mere sight of Diego Cavalieri's goal, Wandeir trying his luck from 40 yards and then almost clearing the Kop from nearer in.
Instead, the action was focused primarily around visiting keeper Bogatinov and his defenders.
Liverpool should have been ahead in the 14th minute. A backheel from Cole rolled a Lucas Leiva pass into the path of Gerrard, who instantly put Ngog clear on goal. However, the striker waited far too long, allowing Bogatinov to stretch out a hand and clear the danger.
Bogatinov was then alert to another Cole pass almost releasing Pacheco before the new boy curled a 20-yard effort narrowly over.
Liverpool's second arrived five minutes from half-time.
Rabotnicki centre-back Fernando hauled Ngog to the ground after Lucas had helped on a Gerrard corner, and the captain netted the spot-kick.
Progress effectively sealed, Liverpool eased down the gears after the interval but nevertheless only some good goalkeeping and desperate defending helped Rabotnicki keep the score down.
After Cole's attempted cross hit the bar, a Jovanovic run ended with a shot that was beaten out by Bogatinov. The goalkeeper then twice denied Cole a debut goal at his near post, but could only watch and hope when Ngog's header from a Glen Johnson cross drifted inches wide.
The visitors threw everyone forward in the closing minutes in search of a consolation, only for a brave clearance from Kelly and a shot from Marcio that struck the post from close range to ensure a second successive clean sheet for Hodgson. Not bad. But now for the real stuff.
