It's a mixed bag in the comment sections of the press this morning with no real theme running through, apart from the start of the Formula One season, which you can follow on ESPN , of course.

Liverpool's struggles, having lost to Wigan and Lille this week, has caught the eye of Patrick Barclay in The Times, who points out that this time last year the Reds were heading in the opposite direction, having just beaten Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford.

"Was it really only 364 days ago? Everything was so different. The refereeing, for instance: if Nemanja Vidic committed a ?professional? foul, he was sent off. Other sepia-tinted memories are of Steven Gerrard performing with a swagger, Fabio Aurelio bending it like Beckham and Andrea Dossena lording it with a late lob. Nor (though United were less emphatically outplayed than the score might suggest) was this a freak result. Liverpool beat Aston Villa 5-0 next and the only points they dropped in the rest of the Premier League season were to Arsenal in a 4-4 draw majestically dominated by Andrey Arshavin.

Had they promptly sold Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina and Javier Mascherano without buying replacements and supplanted Benitez with Lily Savage, who appointed Harry Enfield's Scousers as his assistants, put David Ngog in goal and announced that the new central midfield partnership would consist of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the decline in their fortunes could hardly have been more radical.

If new owners came in tomorrow, maybe then it would be a happy anniversary after all. But there would still be a race against time, for a new stadium is overdue as the club slowly spiral downwards, rendering unrealistic the hope in the hearts of those who envisage a new era of achievement under, say, Jose Mourinho, who yearns to return to England and says that he would be just as happy in Liverpool or Manchester as in London."

However, the Daily Mail's Des Kelly thinks it unlikely that Mourinho will ride to the rescue at Anfield as there is another, more high-profile, club that may need rescuing in the summer. Real Madrid may not have fallen to the depths that Liverpool have, but following their failure in the Champions League, and the £240 million spent on new players, manager Manuel Pellegrini is a dead man walking.

Mourinho could be the man for the job.

"The arrival of £80m Cristiano Ronaldo, £60m Kaka and the rest has changed nothing. Madrid remain the most expensive folly in the game. In Europe, they are Los Grandes Elefantes Blancos, the great white elephants. And now the indignity looms of seeing rivals Barcelona crowned European champions in Madrid's Bernabeu stadium on May 22. It's all too much. Something has to be done. So you lean forward, pick up the telephone and press the speed dial button. It's time to find a new manager, someone who can finally draw the best from the array of stars you've assembled. A director who practically guarantees box-office success.

The phone rings... A voice on the other end of the line says: 'Hello. This is Rafa Benitez.' I know, ridiculous isn't it? What a crazy idea. But with Arsene Wenger refusing to entertain any Madrid talk, and sir Alex Ferguson and Barca's Pep Guardiola complete nonstarters on the job front, there is only one man left in the frame - Jose Mourinho.

When I was in Milan last month, everyone was gossiping that contact had already been made between his Mourinho's people and Madrid. From the way he is talking before the Champions League return against Chelsea on Tuesday night, Mourinho is already preparing the ground for his departure."