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André Villas-Boas is under increasing pressure, while big money signings are still struggling to settle at both clubs

1 André Villas-Boas is already a manager under pressure

It was arguable that, given the summer transfer outlay, Kenny Dalglish should actually have edged into this fixture as the manager under greater scrutiny, though in ensuring he has now gone 12 matches unbeaten against Chelsea while in charge of Liverpool, he left the focus fixed on André Villas-Boas. The 34-year-old has never experienced toils quite this troubling in his fledgling managerial career. Chelsea had never lost successive home league games under Roman Abramovich’s ownership, though three defeats in four league matches is anchoring confidence at this club. Of course, Villas-Boas is charged with more than short-term success. He has to rejuvenate this team while the squad continue to evolve – transfer policy is aimed at more youthful recruits these days – which can only be a long-term project. He needs time to impose his ideas and make his influence properly felt. But Chelsea are understandably terrified of the prospect of ever failing to qualify for the Champions League. Those fears did for Luiz Felipe Scolari in the winter of 2009, though the Brazilian only dropped seven points in his first 12 games in charge. The Portuguese has shed twice as many in the same time.

2 The days of Chelsea’s stingy defence are long gone

To suggest Chelsea are not as watertight as they once were is hardly revelatory. The runaround Arsenal administered here this month in plundering five proved as much, as does the sorry tally of two clean sheets in the Premier League to date all term. Yet this team are contriving to concede increasingly ridiculous goals. Petr Cech’s implausible throw to Mikel John Obi just after the half‑hour provided Liverpool with their opener, Charlie Adam’s snapped tackle and Craig Bellamy’s awareness duly cutting a swathe through panicked defenders. The ease with which Glen Johnson glided past Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda for the winner was ridiculous. Chelsea may be experimenting with a more attacking approach, but they have conceded 17 times in 12 games this season, two more than they did in the entirety of José Mourinho’s first season at the club. And Alex, a tower of strength in the blanks achieved at Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers in two of his three appearances this season, was not even in the 18-man matchday squad here.

3 Liverpool are still a work in progress

This was a result for Dalglish to savour, a victory to make the rest of the division sit up and take real notice. Yet, as this team contemplate a nine-match unbeaten run that has thrust them level on points with fourth place, there will be frustration at the wastefulness that has ensured Manchester City remain so distant at the top. Had Liverpool prevailed in matches they would have expected to win – most notably at home to Swansea City, Norwich City and Sunderland, but also even against Manchester United and Stoke City in games they dominated – they would be title contenders. Their unbeaten sequence suggests consistency, though that is deceptive. They are a team capable of startling results but they remain a work in progress. Even so, under Dalglish, the future feels decidedly bright again.

4 Big money arrivals are still to settle at both these clubs

The dust has settled on the frenzied transfer dealings involving these clubs on the final day of the mid-winter window in January, but Liverpool and Chelsea are still waiting to see any real return on their money. Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres began this match as £85m worth of substitutes, the pair granted a combined eight minutes to impress. Throw in Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, who began on the visitors’ bench, and Raul Meireles among the home replacements at the start, and there are plenty of new arrivals waiting to settle. Yet it is the forwards’ toils that hog the limelight. Torres and Carroll have now contributed seven goals in 41 Premier League games between them since leaving their previous clubs. Villas-Boas had been quick to praise the Spaniard in the build-up to this contest with former employers, only still to leave him out. That said much. As did the decision to introduce Daniel Sturridge at the break rather than the £50m record signing.

5 Yet there was one solid signing on deadline day

The best piece of business achieved on the eve of the closure of the January transfer window still feels as if it was Luis Suárez’s £22m signing from Ajax. The Uruguayan has concerns off the pitch, with a Football Association charge for racially abusing Patrice Evra hanging over him, but his form is impressive. He was at his best slipping Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt, such willing runners, through Chelsea’s obligatory high line in the opening period with clever reverse passes aplenty. His involvement in the rat-a-tat of passes that pre-empted Maxi Rodríguez’s goal was inevitable. The striker was not involved in Johnson’s winner here, but that was bizarre: he feels integral to every attack this Liverpool team muster at present.

Premier League 2011-12ChelseaLiverpoolPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

• Manager angered by Liverpool facing two games in 48 hours
• Warns fans he may field youth team in Carling Cup quarter-final

Kenny Dalglish has branded the decision to schedule Liverpool’s Carling Cup quarter-final at Chelsea just 48 hours after his team confront Manchester City at Anfield as “disgraceful”.

The Liverpool manager admitted he may be forced to field an under-strength team for the match at Stamford Bridge on 29 November and has even urged supporters to bear that in mind before purchasing tickets for the midweek game.

“It is disgraceful in this day and age that players are being asked to play a key Premier League game and then a League Cup quarter-final in London just 48 hours later,” said Dalglish. “It’s understandable with the Spurs v PAOK Salonika match and the TUC rally that the Met Police have said that our game cannot be played on the Wednesday. But it’s surely the duty of the football authorities to think of other solutions which consider the welfare of the players and this clearly hasn’t happened.

“Manchester City are in a similar position to us with their game at Arsenal and it’s for them to argue their case, but it is my job to stand up for the interests of Liverpool Football Club. Here you have two clubs who have treated this competition with utmost respect over the years and they are being treated like this.

“It seems totally irresponsible as well that the quarter-finals are scheduled in the same week as Europa League games. If Stoke had beaten us in the last round and were through to face Chelsea then the tie gets rescheduled for another date – it’s as simple as that. But when we ask the Football League to move our game to a later date, we’re told it’s impossible.

“Where’s the logic in that? What would have happened if all four of the English clubs playing in the Europa League had got through to the quarter-finals? If the Football League want to devalue their own competition, that’s up to them, but they shouldn’t then be upset if people use these games to help in the development of young players.”

Dalglish has indicated that the club’s managing director, Ian Ayre, consulted with the Premier League to explore whether the quarter-final could be put back until the Saturday, an arrangement which would have suited City.

“But, again, we are told by the Premier League that this is not possible either for TV reasons and just to get on with it,” said Dalglish. “Ian Ayre specifically consulted with the Premier League who had some discussion with Sky, but neither were able to accommodate our position.

“The one thing I will say to our fans is to think carefully before buying tickets for the League Cup game because we do not want them spending their money and then we decide there is no other option but to use only young players in the tie.”

Kenny DalglishLiverpoolCarling CupCarling Cup 2011-12Dominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

Today’s junk is using reverse psychology

As a wise old jobbing American character actor in a Burt Lancaster film once said, even a hawk is an eagle among crows. And so it is that in these times of inter-window waffle-scarcity the news that former Liverpool wing mediocrity El Hadji Diouf is on the verge of a foul-tempered and ultimately short-lived return to football appears to qualify as a major transfer rumour. According to the Daily Mail Diouf is “talking to Doncaster Rovers and Wigan”. He is also currently a free agent, having been abandoned midway through his contract by Blackburn Rovers, like an old fridge left at the side of the road with its door flapping open.

Liverpool are all set to send stalled teenage midfield lunk Jonjo Shelvey out on loan. Shelvey, whose best times came in the all-bald era of early Roy Hodgson, could go to Cardiff, Coventry, Birmingham, Hull City or Middlesbrough. Arsenal have had talks with Valencia midfielder Daniel Parejo with a view to a January signing. Parejo, 22, is a Real Madrid academy graduate, had a spell at QPR, joined Valencia in the summer and now can’t get in the team. The Mill would just like to say this: Arsène. The money, Arsène. Spend the money. Don’t fling it about. Don’t buy yourself six cheap anoraks from TK Maxx. Go for a Crombie.

Back in the real world of hurling money wastefully at proven maybes, Parejo will cost £7m and plays in central midfield where he may, or may not, be any better than Denilson or Alex Song or Emmanuel Frimpong. Apparently he wants to play at London 2012. So what? So does David Beckham.

According to Goal.com Liverpool and Tottenham are both in a funk over Brazilian striker Leandro Damião, who has scored 39 goals for Internacional this season. Spurs have already had a £16.5m bid rejected for a player who scored for Brazil last month against Ghana at Craven Cottage. Barcelona, Inter and Porto are also interested, and frankly all seem a bit more likely. Damião is, though, currently out with a hamstring injury, so maybe Liverpool then. According to Goal.com Internacional own 70% of Damião and Damião owns the other 30% of himself. The Mill hopes he got the nice bit that always wants to do good things and help people.

According to the Sun and every other newspaper Dimitar Berbatov still has “a part to play” at Manchester united. Alex Ferguson said: “He’s got a part to play.” He did also say “that applies to players like Mame Diouf, Federico Macheda and Michael Owen.” So a part that may involve appearing anonymously in the reserves on MUTV; spending an entire season quietly grooming his gelled quiff three rows back on the bench; and scoring once a year in the Carling Cup, at which point some old friends in the media will suggest he should be playing for England again.

West Brom are “eyeing a move” for somebody described as “Fiorentina prodigy Maxwell Acosty, 20″.

In the Mirror Dagestan-based oil billionaire’s plaything Anzhi Makhachkala are after Marco Materazzi, who has spent some time hanging around in Russia since leaving Inter in the summer and is currently a free agent. “I will do everything I can to have him at Anzhi because he is a great person,” Anzhi’s sporting director German Tkachenko has said, confusing the phrase “great person” with “expert nipple-tweaking shirt-tugging central defensive clogger in search of a final payday”, which is easily done as the two are very similar in Russian.

Steve McClaren has finally stopped “squabbling” with Nottingham Forest’s board and will now stay at the club having successfully made both his new signings and existing squad feel totally undermined by moaning publicly about not getting some – you know – better players in over the summer.

And pint-sized wing-frustration Shaun Wright-Phillips genuinely believes he has a decent chance of getting back into the England squad after a few encouraging performances jinking about with occasional scattergun effectiveness for his new club. And, frankly, maybe he does too.

LiverpoolArsenalBarcelonaInternazionaleManchester UnitedFC PortoCardiff CityCoventry CityBirmingham CityHull CityMiddlesbroughNottingham ForestWest BromSteve McClarenBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk