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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

New owner John W. Henry immediately travelled to Liverpool, watching the derby in attendance, being joined by future chairman Tom Werner.

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.

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.

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.

Liverpool recovered from the defeat though, with a deserved 3–0 victory against West Ham United at Anfield thanks to three first-half goals from Glen Johnson, a penalty from Dirk Kuyt and header by Maxi Rodríguez.

Liverpool stormed to their fourth consecutive home victory, a 3–0 Monday night win against Aston Villa via first half goals from David Ngog and Ryan Babel.

Some home fans even joined in the away supports chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning" and booed when David Ngog was substituted for Ryan Babel, despite the Frenchman being Liverpool's best player on the night.

As well as cheering ironically when Paul Konchesky was substituted for Fábio Aurélio, the fans booed at the final whistle and the contempt for Hodgson was stronger than ever.

On 8 January 2011, just one day before Liverpool were due to kick off their FA Cup campaign against Manchester United, the club announced Hodgson had left by mutual consent.

The news was welcomed by most Liverpool fans and the FA Cup game somewhat took lesser importance given Dalglish had not even had a days training with the squad he had inherited.

Liverpool lost their third round FA Cup game to Manchester United at Old Trafford thanks to an early penalty from Ryan Giggs; the spot kick was awarded after Dimitar Berbatov had gone over from a Daniel Agger challenge.

A few days later, Torres and Meireles helped out stressing John Paintsil into botching a clearance that resulted in Liverpool winning 1–0 at home to Fulham, this in spite of being struggling throughout the game.

Carroll was unavailable for another month, while Suárez had been suspended due to biting Otman Bakkal in the ear in Eredivisie and therefore lacked match fitness.

Gerrard's free kick hit the wall and bounced favourably for Meireles, who tucked in a close-range shot to ensure Liverpool took the lead.

In the first half, Maxi Rodríguez had missed an open goal, whereas Chelsea struggled to create any significant chances at all on Liverpool's compact five-men defensive line, in which Glen Johnson had been moved to left back due to Fábio Aurélio's injury.

This included a spectacular and rare strike from Hammer's figurehead Scott Parker, while Demba Ba and Carlton Cole also found the net against a five-defender line that looked out of place the entire game.

The trio's mobility put large holes to display in United's defence, with a stunning solo raid from Suárez enabling Kuyt to nick an open goal on about 20 minutes time.

In the second half, Suárez fired a free kick that Edwin van der Sar was powerless to keep in his hands, and Kuyt pounced on the rebound to make it a hat-trick and sealing the win for Liverpool.

As it was, the second half was a much less heated affair, and even though Javier Hernández scored a late consolation goal for United, Liverpool's win was never in doubt.

Kuyt converted the spot kick to send Liverpool ahead, and Suárez clinched the victory with a hard shot from a tight angle that goalkeeper Simon Mignolet could not save.