ONE of football's more endearing images is that of an ashen-faced manager insisting, in the immediate aftermath of defeat, that the next match simply cannot come along soon enough.

Ideally, the touching up of a tarnished image, the brushing away of the last vestiges of bitter disappointment, should be undertaken away from the prying eyes of any would-be critics and against opponents of rather dubious pedigree.

Consequently, Liverpool's manager, Roy Evans, must fret someone is writing the script for him.

On Saturday, Evans watched disbelievingly as his side's unbeaten start to the season ended at Old Trafford. That Liverpool should have beaten Manchester United, not lost, is now of no consequence.

"That has gone, and as ever we now move on," Evans said. "We were all feeling a little bit low on Saturday, but we now have the opportunity to put things right, albeit in a different competition in a different country."

This evening, in a picturesque stadium that clings to the foot of a Swiss mountain, Liverpool will seek to place a foot in the quarterfinals of this season's Cup Winners' Cup.

Having overcome one unknown quantity, Finland's MyPa-47, in the competition's first round, the Merseysiders run up against another one in the shape of FC Sion.

Sion are a competent enough side, and since they won promotion to Switzerland's first division 26 years ago they can boast an impressive enough record. Even so, they are a big fish in what is a decidedly small pond.

"Liverpool will start as clear favourites and it will be very hard for us to beat them," Sion's phlegmatic president, Christian Constantin, said. "But, if we do not, it will not mean we shall die because it is not as if we are going to war.

Constantine is known in Swiss footballing circles as the smiling assassin, and with good reason. Five games into the season, and without warning, he dismissed Michel Decastel, the coach who led Sion to domestic cup success.

In truth, Sion is a club whose component parts are considerably more impressive than the eventual end product.

Their new coach, Alberto Bigon, has a CV as long as anyone's arm, one that notably includes a Serie A title in Italy with Napoli.

"I have the impression that I have found a coach who will finally be capable of exploiting the potential which is at his disposal," Constantin said.

Liverpool's football lacked a cutting edge to such an extent at Old Trafford that Evans is clearly tempted to recall Robbie Fowler who is almost fit after a three-game absence because of an ankle injury.

With Everton due at Anfield on Sunday afternoon it is. however, a temptation he may well resist.

But, to do so would be to place again an unhealthy burden on Stan Collymore, who has proved himself singularly ill-equipped to handle the responsibility since swapping the corner shop of Nottingham Forest for the super store of Liverpool.

Once Evans has solved his one pressing dilemma, his team all but chooses itself.

"It would be good to collect an away goal, but that is probably stating the obvious," he said, stating the obvious.