By Alan Hansen BBC Sport football expert

Liverpool's FA Cup defeat at Portsmouth - coupled with standing 26 points behind Premiership leaders Arsenal - has left manager Gerard Houllier under severe pressure.

Houllier's side are too negative and have no pace in crucial positions

I have never ever said any manager should be sacked and I am not going to start now.

I have witnessed first hand how hard that job is, and never having been a manager, it is not fair of me to suggest one should lose his job.

But realistically, if Liverpool do not get into the Champions League, the Anfield board will be under tremendous pressure to make a change and Gerard himself will also be under unbelievable pressure.

It is now about how Liverpool react in their next match against Levski Sofia in the Uefa Cup at Anfield on Thursday.

It will be very interesting to see how the crowd react. It will be understandable if they are getting edgy after 20 minutes if it is not going well.

It is very important Liverpool start well, but this is not easy after a defeat like they suffered at Portsmouth.

Houllier faces salvage job

The Champions League is vital to Houllier's future now - and if Liverpool's players want to back up all the nice things they say about their manager, they should try to save him by getting a top four Premiership place at all costs.

But Liverpool have got real problems and I would pinpoint two areas of serious concern.

I think at times they are far too negative and I also think they lack pace in the key areas of the two central defensive positions and in the holding midfield player.

Basically, there is no-one who can run when you examine the crucial trio of Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz and Dietmar Hamman.

Let's take the first point about negativity. Liverpool played Michael Owen and Emile Heskey up front against Portsmouth, but Heskey spends too much time in the middle of the park.

I actually think Houllier knows that if Liverpool go on all-out attack they would get hammered Alan Hansen

He can go past people with power and pace, but I've lost count of the number of times I've looked up and seen him stuck on the halfway line.

I also think there have got to be times when you have to put teams under tremendous pressure, and Liverpool do not do it enough.

When I watched the game against Manchester City recently, when the Anfield crowd voiced their anger at Liverpool's attitude, Jamie Carragher and Steve Finnan got the ball two or three times on the halfway line.

They looked forward for options and there was only Michael Owen up there on his own.

It was a case of "where's everybody gone?"

It's too negative and brings us back to the issue of that crucial lack of pace - I look at the situation now and think Scott Parker would have been a good buy for Liverpool.

I think Liverpool would have had a better chance of success if they had signed Parker, then told him that at times he could get forward but mostly he should spend his time just roving around in midfield holding things together.

I also think Liverpool will now have to change one of the central defensive positions and get some pace in there.

Parker would have suited Liverpool

Of course people will say it worked well enough when they won three major trophies in 2001, but they were getting six or seven behind the ball and they were keeping clean sheet after clean sheet.

If Liverpool got a goal you wouldn't get one back. They were a very defensive team but they were winning trophies.

This season people said Gerard Houllier should attack a bit more, so he did. But as they attacked they were getting cut up on the break because they lacked pace in key areas.

I actually think Houllier knows that if Liverpool go on all-out attack they would get hammered, so now they are stuck between trying to defend and trying to attack and the results are not good.

It is a tough one to solve, but the truth of the matter is that Houllier desperately needs Champions League football or it is inevitable his future will be a matter for debate.