ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: LIVERPOOL 6 HULL CITY 1: HULL CITY manager Phil Brown admitted his relationship with his players has come under severe strain after their latest heavy defeat, but felt compelled to heap further criticism on a defence which has now conceded 15 goals in four games.

“Certain people in the dressing-room are backing away from their responsibility. You would have to be a blind man not to see that,” Brown said. “Look at the teenage lad (Liam Cooper) making his debut. They should have helped him but didn’t and he could be scarred for a long time by that.

“The most important relationship in any football club is between the manager and chairman, but the relationship between manager and players is important, too. It has taken a battering to a certain extent with certain harsh words flying around. This is the biggest challenge of my managerial career, but I am confident we can win this challenge.”

The level of regard for Brown in the Hull dressing-room has been questionable since last December, when he elected to berate the team in full view of the fans at half-time during an away defeat to Manchester City.

An hour after Hull City were slain, George Gillett stood proudly on the Anfield playing surface wielding a sword. Those who fear Liverpool’s American owners may one day make a financial sacrifice of Fernando Torres will be consoled to learn that on this occasion the weapon was ceremonial, and in any case Rafael Benitez has already raised a metaphorical shield.

The Liverpool manager claims to have rejected several inquiries about Torres this summer and, though he refuses to name names, a newly-enriched Premier League club 36 miles from Anfield is a safe assumption. It is strange the call was ever made.

All at Liverpool know that to lose Torres, a star settled in its constellation, is to dispense with hope, ambition and reputation. It would require more than a sword, a gift from Gillett’s Saudi guests, to protect whoever sanctioned his departure.

Against Hull, three times Torres was given a puzzle in front of the Tigers’ abject defence and on each occasion he solved it with exhilarating ease. His first came when he switched Albert Riera’s low cross from right to left boot, leaving Ibrahima Sonko’s legs facing in opposite directions before guiding the ball beyond Boaz Myhill. The second, after Geovanni had capitalised on Martin Skrtel’s poor header to equalise, saw him take Yossi Benayoun’s through-ball around Sonko and Myhill once again before flicking the ball over the line.

The hat-trick ended the contest and was an amalgamation of goals one and two, Benayoun again involved, another change of foot and direction and a nonchalant finish into the far corner. In private, Sonko must have joined the applause when Torres departed early.

Steven Gerrard, with a cross that sailed over Myhill, plus the substitute Ryan Babel, with one exquisite team goal and one deflection off a Riera shot, completed the agony for a Hull side that began purposefully and showed spirit yet were just outclassed.

Meanwhile, Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett do not expect a major investment in the club from Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah, despite the Saudi’s claims he is close to paying up to £350 million for a 50 per cent stake.

Both Hicks and Gillett have been scouring the Middle East for potential investors for almost two years and, ahead of his arrival on Merseyside as a guest of Gillett for Saturday’s game against Hull, Prince Faisal claimed he had emerged as the front-runner in that exhaustive search. “We are currently seeking to buy 50 per cent of the shares in the club which is now suffering debts worth £245 million,” said the prince, who is the chief executive of F6, a marketing and investment company in Saudi Arabia, and chairman of a holding company called Fama Group.

Sources close to the Liverpool owners, however, plus Anfield officials, insist the Saudi’s interest amounts to no more than an agreement with Gillett to sponsor the club’s intended youth academies in the Middle East.

“What I know is that the prince attended the Liverpool game against Hull and signed yesterday an agreement with Liverpool to build a sport academy in Saudi Arabia,” said a spokesman for Fama.

(-Guardian Service)