Hodgson, who left Fulham last month to succeed Rafa Benitez at Anfield, told reporters on Friday his team could not yet match champions Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal, the perennial front-running trio.
"After seven training sessions with what I regard as the key players it is pretty obvious to all we are a long, long way from being a team like United, Arsenal or Chelsea who have been working under the same coach for at least a year," he said.
"I don't even pretend the team after six or seven training sessions are going to be anything like the team we want to be," added Hodgson ahead of Sunday's season-opener at home to Arsenal.
"It would be ridiculous to suggest we can be at the top of our game now in terms of how I want the team to play."
"I can quite categorically state there has been no offer from any club for Javier Mascherano," he said. "As a result I don't see why I should put his loyalty or desire to play for the club in doubt every day.
"I don't want to let Javier Mascherano go. At the moment Javier Mascherano has shown no signs of going so it's not a question of replacing him."
