The 2010–11 season was the 119th season in Liverpool Football Club's existence, and their 49th consecutive year in the top flight of English football. Pre-season saw a change of manager for Liverpool, with Rafael Benítez leaving the club by mutual consent on 3 June 2010.
On 1 July 2010, Roy Hodgson was officially announced as new manager.
On 22 September 2010, Liverpool exited the League Cup, going out at Anfield to Northampton Town of League Two on penalties after a 2–2 draw. They also exited the FA Cup losing 1–0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the third round. In the last competition in which they were active in, the UEFA Europa League, they were knocked out in the Round of 16 by Portuguese side Braga, losing 1–0 on aggregate.
On 8 January 2011, Liverpool announced that Hodgson had left the club by mutual consent, and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as manager until the end of the season.
Under Dalglish, the squads' fortunes improved, taking popular wins against top sides Chelsea and Manchester United, and the resurgence saw Liverpool rise up to fifth in May. Despite their resurgence Liverpool eventually finished sixth in the Premier League, having failed to qualify for the Europa League.
The season also saw Liverpool's record purchase and departure, as Fernando Torres left for Chelsea, being replaced by Newcastle United's target man Andy Carroll. Liverpool received £50 million for Torres, and paid £35 million for Carroll's services. Both transfers occurred during a busy transfer deadline day on 31 January, where Liverpool also broke its previous transfer record, paying £22.5 million for Luis Suárez, who was originally supposed to form a striking partnership with Torres.
During the season, Jon Flanagan and Jonjo Shelvey both made their top flight debuts.
Pre-season
On 1 July, Liverpool announced that their fixtures for pre-season would start in Austria against Al-Hilal on 17 July. The game, however, was cancelled due to heavy rainfall days before the match, which left the pitch in unplayable conditions. Liverpool continued with their pre-season preparations with a 0–0 draw with Grasshoppers on 21 July and a 1–0 defeat at the hands of 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 24 July thanks to a first half goal from Iliyan Mitsanski. Liverpool completed their pre-season programme with a 1–0 defeat to their 1977 European Cup Final opponents Borussia Mönchengladbach on 1 August. Karim Matmour's early goal meant that Liverpool completed their pre-season without victory.
Season review (For match reports, see matches section)
August Liverpool started their season with a pair of wins against Macedonian side Rabotnički on 29 July. In front of a largely empty stadium, the side won their first competitive fixture under Roy Hodgson, 2–0, following a double salvo from David Ngog. In the return leg, Steven Gerrard scored from the penalty spot and Ngog scored another to make it 2–0.
On 15 August, Liverpool entertained title contenders Arsenal at Anfield. The away side had the lion's share of the possession, and looked to be well on their way to gaining control of the fixture, when Joe Cole got sent off on his Liverpool Premier League debut for a late tackle on Laurent Koscielny. In the second half, want-away star midfielder Javier Mascherano set up Ngog, who made a blistering run, before firing the ball into the back of the net. At the end of the game, the one-man deficit took its toll, and despite several spectacular saves from Pepe Reina, he eventually fumbled in an equaliser in a rare mistake from the Spanish international. Koscielny then was sent off for receiving a second yellow, before Gerrard fired a stoppage-time free kick just inches wide. Fernando Torres returned from injury and was greeted with a standing ovation while coming on.
On the Thursday that followed, Trabzonspor travelled to Anfield for the playoff round of the UEFA Europa League. A less-than-convincing first half-display from Liverpool turned into a sudden success, as Cole assisted Ryan Babel, who made no mistake with the finish. Cole then had the chance to score from the spot in the second half but blew it, the shot sent straight at the goalkeeper. Cole later admitted it was his first ever penalty kick as a professional. Christian Poulsen made his debut for the club, the Danish international being signed from Juventus for £4.5 million. At the same time, Italian playmaker Alberto Aquilani went in the other direction, in his case on loan with a public buyout clause.
On 23 August, Liverpool travelled to Eastlands to face Manchester City. Prior to the match, Mascherano handed in a transfer request and was dropped from the squad. Just days afterwards, he was presented at Barcelona. In the wake of the Mascherano saga, Liverpool struggled against Manchester City, who won 3–0, a score that could have been even higher. The goals were scored by Gareth Barry and Carlos Tevez, two former Liverpool transfer targets.
The poor season start looked to go from bad to worse as Trabzonspor scored the opener in the return leg thanks to Teófilo Gutiérrez, but thanks to a late own goal and a strike from Dirk Kuyt, Liverpool managed to just scrape through to the group stage.
On the Sunday, Liverpool capped the week off with a second win, narrowly defeating West Bromwich Albion, who surprisingly dominated the possession in the first half. Liverpool got out of jail thanks to a moment of genius from Kuyt and Torres, Kuyt playing in a nice cross which Torres rifled into the corner for the winning goal. In spite of the victory, the performance was criticised by the fans, not content with the way Hodgson set up his tactics. The response was the signing of Raul Meireles for half of the money received for Mascherano. The Portuguese international made his first foreign foray, following four Primeira Liga titles with Porto. On deadline day, Liverpool landed Paul Konchesky from Fulham.
September In September, Liverpool struggled and recorded a winless month in Premier League matches. On 12 September, the away match against Birmingham City ended goalless, with Pepe Reina named Man of the Match following several key saves in a match where Birmingham had the upper hand. Liverpool could have won, however, as Gerrard had a penalty claim waved away in the first half.
Four days later, the side started the group stage phase of the Europa League with a comfortable victory against Steaua București at Anfield. Inside the first minute, Joe Cole took advantage of a defensive slip to score the opening goal. Despite Steaua drawing level within a quarter of an hour, Liverpool cruised to victory in the second half, with Ngog scoring twice, including his first ever penalty for the club. Lucas also scored his first of the season.
The following Sunday (19 September) was the first North West derby of the season, with Liverpool travelling to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. Two goals from Dimitar Berbatov, including a bicycle kick, saw United go into a 2–0 cushion with half an hour left, when Fernando Torres won a penalty, being pulled down by Nemanja Vidić. With Gerrard scoring from the spot, Liverpool's hopes were reinvigorated, and when Torres was pulled down outside the box, Gerrard took the free kick with great precision, drawing Liverpool level, kissing the TV camera in celebration. The Liverpool joy was short-lived, as Berbatov scored his third goal from a header less than ten minutes from time. This meant Liverpool had only five points from five games, but with two home matches against unfancied sides coming up next.
In mid-week, Liverpool lost to Northampton Town in the League Cup at Anfield. It was the first time ever Liverpool had lost to a fourth-tier team, and the team was heavily criticised by the fans following the display from what essentially was the second XI. The loss was on penalty kicks, following 1–1 at full-time and 2–2 after extra time. Following Ngog's late equaliser, Liverpool were lucky to scrape through to the shootout, where Ngog missed his penalty and the side went out in humiliating fashion.
As courtroom battles over the right to sell the club to new investors intensified, Liverpool at least got a gift against Sunderland at home, as a brief touch on the ball by a Sunderland player was deemed enough for referee Stuart Atwell to let the play go on. Torres snapped up the ball and assisted Dirk Kuyt for a controversial goal. Atwell was not awarded with any more Premier League matches for the rest of the calendar year as a result of the goal. Sunderland turned the deficit thanks to a brace from Darren Bent, one of them from the penalty spot. Liverpool was spared the embarrassment of a third consecutive defeat thanks to a header from Gerrard following Torres' second assist of the afternoon. Controversially, Gerrard and Torres celebrated the goal on separate locations, sparking further rumours of differences between the two. A few days later, Liverpool claimed a clean sheet and a point away from home against Utrecht in the Europa League.
At the end of the month, the prospect of the club going into administration was dismissed, and even if the Royal Bank of Scotland had taken over the shares, the side would not be docked the nine points as stipulated by the Premier League.
October The crisis continued with a shock defeat to Blackpool, where Fernando Torres limped off with a groin injury in the first half. One penalty kick and a defensive mistake caused a 0–2 deficit at the interval, and in spite of Sotirios Kyrgiakos header, and a big chance for Joe Cole a minute later, the pressure faded, and Blackpool had no problems holding on. The defeat left Liverpool in the relegation zone.
The imminent takeover looked to stall, in spite of Fenway Sports Group agreeing a fee with chairman Martin Broughton, who along with Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre had a majority in Kop Holdings, the group in charge of selling the club, where co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett also held seats. Hicks and Gillett took the other board members to court, and on the Friday prior to the Merseyside derby, the High Court in London, declared that the process was against British law, and that the juridical process in Texas was not going to stop the affair taking place. New owner John W. Henry immediately travelled to Liverpool, watching the derby in attendance, being joined by future chairman Tom Werner.
The derby itself saw Liverpool sink deeper into the relegation mire, with Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill scoring Everton's goals. Following the defeat, Hodgson praised the performance in the second half, which led to demands of his resignation from prominent supporter groups. Henry and FSG gave Hodgson a vote of confidence, in spite of fan demands of Kenny Dalglish to be appointed in a clean slate following the shift of ownership.
An under-pressure manager went to Naples to face Napoli, with a B-spec side. Napoli was fighting in the top of Serie A. In spite of Liverpool being tipped by fans and media alike to lose heavily, a goalless draw was eventually a fair result. Three days later, the side also turned a corner, by winning against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield. It was not quite enough to escape the relegation zone, but the performance was relatively convincing, and Torres's winner came as an immediate response to an own goal from Jamie Carragher that took Blackburn right into the match.
October ended with Hodgson's only domestic away victory with Liverpool, when the side scored a late winner at Bolton Wanderers. The match did not provide much spark until a flick with the heel from Torres put Maxi Rodríguez through five minutes from time, and the Argentine blasted the ball in with a toe-hit. In the same match, Cole got injured and was set to miss out on a whole month. The most important effect of the two-match streak was that it meant Liverpool left the relegation zone for good, albeit they were never in a safe distance from it until 15 matches later.