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Rapid Vienna's Atdhe Nuhiu (left) and Aston Villa's Stephen Ireland battle for the ball

AFTER an impressive but misleading win against West Ham at Villa Park on the first day of the season, all of the wheels seem to have come off at once for poor Kevin MacDonald. First Villa take a 6-0 battering at St James’ Park, then bogey team Rapid Vienna knock them out of Europe for the second season running. Villa controlled the first half but lost their way and practically invited Rapid to make a comeback, which the Austrians duly did, with a little help from the unconvincing Brad Guzan. Stiliyan Petrov’s tame penalty (not to mention Emile Heskey’s scuffed follow-up shot) was the turning point.

Time now for Randy Lerner to hire a big-name manager? Yeah, I think so – K-Mac has done a decent job in trying cicrumstances, and he’s done it with dignity and good grace, but he’s probably not the man to take Villa forwards, although for now, sideways would suffice.

                          

THE Europa League balls came out in this completely random order:

Group A: Juventus, Man City, Salzburg, Lech Posnan

Group B: Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Rosenborg, Thessaloniki

Group C: Sporting, Lille, Levski Sofia, Gent

Group D: Villarreal, Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb, PAOK

Group E: AZ Alkmaar, Dynamo Kiev, BATE Borisov, FC Sheriff

Group F: CSKA Moscow, Palermo, Sparta Prague, Lausanne-Sport

Group G: Zenit St Peterburg, Anderlecht, AEK Athens, Hadjuk Split

Group H: VfB Stuttgart, Getafe, Odense BK, Young Boys

Group I: PSV Eindhoven, Sampdoria, FC Metalist Kharkiv, Debreceni

Group J: Sevilla, Paris St Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Karpaty Lviv

Group K: Liverpool, Steaua Bucharest, Napoli, FC Utretcht

Group L: FC Porto, Besiktas, CSKA Sofia, Rapid Vienna

Phew, that’s a hell of a lot of football right there. Group L!? Twelve groups! Ridiculous really.

First thoughts? FC Sherriff have a brilliant name, Napoli vs Liverpool will produce an AMAZING atmosphere (as will Besiktas vs Rapid Vienna), and Man City will win the whole thing. Tough group for Liverpool, mind.

Your thoughts?

                          

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Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips (number 8) celebrates with his team mates after scoring the opening goal.

Photos: PA

THIS was soooo easy for City – like watching a big cat toy absent-mindedly with its prey.

Goals by little SWP and big Dedryck Boyata got the job done, and – BREAKING NEWS ALERT FLASH – as I write it looks like City have been drawn in the same group as the not-so-mighty-anymore Juventus. That will be more of a test then Timisoara gave them, at least.

                          

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JOE Cole’s dream start to his Liverpool continued against plucky Trabzonspor. Joey stepped up, in front of the Kop, to take a penalty which – had he scored – would have made the score 2-0 and sealed the tie.

Except, as he admitted openly in a post-match interview, Cole hasn’t really taken a penalty since he was 13. So why jeopardise Liverpool’s campaign in Europe by taking one last night? To prove that he has the balls to be a Liverpool player? To improve his ratings? Simply to get off the mark? Whatever way you look at Cole bravely ‘putting his hand up’, ultimately it reeked of selfishness – which is ironic, as Cole is not by nature a selfish footballer. Give the ball to Torres. That’s the professional thing to do, no? At least Cole gained some credit by setting up Ryan Babel for the only goal of a poor game.

So calm down, Joe – you don’t need to try so hard to impress Liverpool fans. They like you. Well, most of them.

Other thoughts on Liverpool’s display: Christian Poulsen looked rusty, Babel was terrible until he scored, Torres looked sharp when he came on, Trab aren’t as bad as most English pundits thought, and they would have scored but for a fine Pepe Reina reflex save.

So, it’s 1-0 with a trip to Turkey ahead – that’s a slender lead indeed. One away goal for Liverpool in the second leg should be enough to clinch progress, but if Trab score early, look out.

                          

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PHEWS all round for Celtic. A two-goal lead and a clean sheet in the first leg against Utrecht should really be enough to see them through to the group stages of the Europa League. Celtic’s goals came from Efrain Juarez – who looks a solid signing – and the mercurial Georgios Samaras, who had a fine game.

The goals (sorry for poor video quality):

                          

PHOTOS of Liverpool training ahead of this evening’s Europa League first-leg match against Trabzonspor at Anfield. We broke into Melwood disguised as a hedge. Snap snap bosh:

Looks like the Gerrard-Carragher-Cole clique is coming along nicely.

                          

By OIlie Irish

A nice video of Joe Cole’s sterling work against Dr Robotnik at Anfield:

Video via 101GreatGoals

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Joe Cole, Liverpool

Phew. I think Liverpool and Joe Cole are going to get along just fine. Ditto Uncle Woy.

Cole delighted the Anfield faithful with a joyous, unshackled display of the sort he was rarely allowed to produce at Chelsea – and he wasn’t even taken off. As debuts go, this was rather special, even if the opposition was anything but.

Cole spoke afterward: “It was good, I was nervous before the game but it’s always like that when you go to a new club.

“It was good to get 90 minutes in and get the win in the end. The main difference [as a Liverpool player at Anfield] is that I wasn’t getting too much stick! That’s different.

“I enjoyed it, I needed the 90 minutes. I ran out of petrol a bit with 20 minutes to go but it was needed. It would have been nice to have scored but I’m sure that will come soon.”

So Liverpool are safely through, thanks to Cole’s superb contribution and goals by David Ngog and Steven Gerrard (who seemed to relish playing with Cole). Ngog headed home after 22 minutes, from a Cole cross, then Gerrard notched a penalty, in the 40th minute. Job done and you can almost smell the optimism on Anfield.

Rate Cole’s debut:

                          

By Ollie Irish

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Shamrock Rovers fans prior to the UEFA Europa League Qualifing match at Tallaght Stadium, Dublin, Ireland.

No fairy tale in Dublin last night, sadly, as I always like to see Juve lose. Amauri put the Serie A side 1-0 up after just three minutes, which in terms of the shape of the game was perhaps the worst thing that could have happened, as Juve could then play keep-ball.

After that nervous start, Rovers settled and gave Juve a decent game, until Amauri’s powerful header midway through the second half doubled the lead and effectively ended the tie.

Full match report

                          

By Ollie Irish

This racist Rabotnicki fan still lives with his mum. And he won’t have the internet yet, so I can defame him all I want. Look at his ‘special needs’ face!

Two goals by David Ngog earned Liverpool a comfortable 2-0 win in Macedonia last night, in Roy Hodgson’s first competitive match in charge of the Reds. Ngog looks sharp, which is a real bonus for Uncle Woy.

So the tie is over, but not before it was spoiled by a minority of Rabotnicki fans, who aimed monkey chants and gestures at Liverpool’s black players. I suppose this is what passes for entertainment in a two-cow, redneck nation like Macedonia. Idiots.

Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos also took some fearsome stick – Macedonians don’t like Greeks, apparently.

I hope Liverpool DESTROY them at Anfield. And I also hope Uefa grows some balls (doubtful, I know) and blast Rabotnicki with a fine bigger than Macedonia’s GDP. €25 ought to do it.

Returning to the football, Liverpool did a very professional job, especially considering all the star names who weren’t playing: the likes of Torres, Gerrard, Carragher, wantaway Mascherano,and new signing Joe Cole. An encouraging start to Hodgson’s tenure.

Highlights: