Napoli 0 Liverpool 0: Weakened Liverpool earn point in Naples

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson's gamble in leaving at home a handful of his senior players – including Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard – paid off in some respect as his side claimed a well-earned League draw against Napoli in the Stadio San Paolo.

Many tipped the hopelessly out-of-form Reds for defeat after taking a weakened side to Naples, but they withstood long spells of pressure to leave with a point.

The closest they went to conceding was in first-half added time when Paul Konchesky cleared Marek Hamsik's shot off the line in the nick of time, and Ryan Babel could have snatched victory with 20 minutes to go but shot too close to goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis.

Hodgson had admitted in his pre-match press conference that the Barclays Premier League had to take priority because of their woeful start to the season, with just one win in eight games leaving them 19th in the table, and that was why he had rested Torres, Gerrard, Raul Meireles and Lucas Leiva.

At least this performance, unlike the Merseyside derby defeat last weekend, showed some grit and determination and keeps Liverpool on course for progress to the knockout phase as they have taken five points from their three group matches so far, and still have home games against Utrecht and Napoli.

It is a competition which has so far been much kinder to Hodgson but, unfortunately for him, if he cannot turn around the team's domestic form, no number of good performances in Europe are going to ease the pressure on him.