As Liverpool’s players trudged from the St Andrew’s turf on Sunday afternoon, there was little glimpse of a smile on their collectively stern faces.
But Daniel Agger is convinced the laughter has returned to the training ground at Melwood since the arrival of Roy Hodgson.
Regaining the feelgood factor has been a buzz phrase around the club ever since Hodgson’s appointment as successor to Rafael Benitez sparked what Liverpool hoped would be a turning point in a summer of disillusionment.
Results on the pitch have pointed to the fact it will take time for the Anfield outfit to truly replicate the form that made them competitive for much of the Spaniard’s reign.
But away from the playing field, Denmark international Agger believes the change in players, coaching staff and training methods has already started to have a positive effect.
“It’s a new team with new players, young players, new staff,” says the defender. “You can see on people’s faces they’re a lot happier.
“The training sessions are different. When you get a new training session, new staff, new methods, it gives more energy somehow.
“Obviously the sessions have to be good and in the right way. But for me it’s important for a team to be happy to play football. For me personally it’s important to be happy to play football. I can perform better and I think it’s the same for everybody.”
When asked if he felt the squad had grown stale under Benitez, the 25-year-old adds: “I think we have to look at the future not the past so I don’t think it’s relevant.
“In every training session we focus on the future, we don’t look at the past.”
The recent past, though, has seen Denmark’s Agger pushed into an unaccustomed role in Liverpool’s defence.
With injuries having forced the Dane to become a makeshift left-back during the death throes of Benitez’s reign, Agger has found himself still in the position at the start of the Hodgson era.
The arrival of Paul Konchesky from Fulham last month has increased the pressure on the Dane, who, unable to dislodge either Martin Skrtel or Jamie Carragher from the heart of defence, only emerged as a substitute during the goalless draw against Birmingham City at the weekend.
And while content to serve the team, Agger admits his talent is best served at centre-back.
“Both me and the boss know I’m not a left-back and if I could decide myself I wouldn’t play there, but I’ve got to do what the manager tells me,” he says. “At a club like this you have to play in the position the manager puts you in.
“That’s the same for me. I’m happy to be in the team and that’s the biggest part of it. I’m never happy to be on the bench, so if I have to play left-back, I play left-back.
“I feel my qualities are in the middle and I feel I give more to the team in the middle.”
Indeed, given the lack of creativity shown by Liverpool at the weekend and the struggle for goals this season, it is noticeable that Agger’s ability to bring the ball out of defence at centre-back has been missed.
With Anfield manager Hodgson ready to rotate his resources, Agger is almost certain to be handed a starting role in his preferred centre-back position when Liverpool host Steaua Bucharest in tonight’s Europa League Group K opener.
The competition is well behind the Premier League in Liverpool’s list of priorities this season but Agger, who has yet to win silverware since arriving at Anfield almost five years ago, is taking Europe seriously.
“I came to this club to win trophies and we haven’t won anything for the last four years,” he says. “For me and the team it’s important, and it’s also important for the squad because we have a lot of players and everybody wants to play.
“We’ve got 25 players and they can’t all play, but we get more games because of this tournament, so it’s important to progress to keep more players happy.”
Asked whether the Europa League represented their best hope of silverware, Agger adds: “It’s the quickest way to success, isn’t it? Obviously the Premier League is very strong. Like last year, we want to win this.
“Steaua are a typical Eastern European team. We played in Macedonia earlier and obviously Steaua are a bigger club and a stronger team, but they’re similar kind of players.”
Liverpool have lost only one of 11 previous games against Romanian opposition, and progressed from their previous meeting with Steaua in the UEFA Cup in November 2003, following a 1-1 draw in Bucharest with a 1-0 home triumph.
Hodgson can also claim victory in his previous meeting with Steaua coach Ilie Dumitrescu, who played for Romania when Hodgson’s Switzerland won 4-1 at the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States.
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