On a day when most top teams in the EPL strolled to wins over their opposition, Liverpool were beaten by Stoke City by a solitary goal at the Britannia Stadium. The result pushed Liverpool out of the top four in these, the early days of the season.
It was an unexpected result for a team which had shown a lot of promise in the first three games of the competition before the break for the international fixtures. Both teams had gone into the match unbeaten, but Liverpool were ahead with their two wins. By the time the game ended, Stoke City were up to eight points from four games while Liverpool had seven. They are tied with the Wolves and Newcastle United, both of whom have seven points but Newcastle have one game in hand.
Peter Crouch was given a start for the game, playing in his first match in the Stoke City colours after having plied his trade for Liverpool for three years between 2005 and 2008. He played alongside Jonathan Walters as a striker. Rory Delap was also a part of the starting line-up having got better from his fitness woes and made things easier for Crouch.
On the other hand, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish brought on to the park the same playing 11 that had beaten Bolton Wanderers at Anfield. Andy Carroll did not start out, nor did the new-comer Craig Bellamy.
It was a penalty in the 20th minute that allowed Stoke City to go 1-0 up, after Jamie Carragher brought down Stoke striker Walters. Walters drilled the ball into the goal from the spot and pushed Stoke City to a 1-1 lead. Liverpool never managed to recover from this early goal and failed to find any kind of form for themselves; giving away many a free-kicks and were propelled back by both, the home crowd and the physical nature of the opposition’s football.
Credit must also be given to the Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who made three successive saves at the stroke of the hour to ensure that Liverpool continued to be thwarted at Britannia. It was Jose Enrique whose sleek pass to Henderson beat everyone in the defence but the goal-keeper.
Squads for the Liverpool v Stoke match
STOKE: Begovic, Huth, Upson, Shawcross, Wilson, Pennant, Whitehead, Delap, Etherington, Walters, Crouch.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Enrique, Skrtel, Carragher, Agger, Adam, Lucas, Henderson, Downing, Kuyt, Suarez.
In some of the other games of the day, Chelsea beat Sunderland 2-1, Manchester United relied on a second successive hat-trick from Wayne Rooney to beat Bolton 5-0, Arsenal began their campaign with a scratchy 1-0 win over Swansea and Manchester City defeated Wigan Athletic 3-0.