LIVERPOOL 1
Sturridge 37'
STOKE CITY 0
LIVERPOOL // Whenever life after Luis Suarez begins, for Liverpool, it is increasingly clear they will be equipped to handle it.
The unsettled Uruguayan retains his ability to appear in the headlines, yet the reality is that his club have scarcely missed him, on the pitch, during the first half of his 10-match suspension for biting Branislav Ivanovic.
Liverpool have won four of those five games and Daniel Sturridge has scored six goals in that time.
The latest overcame Stoke City, a 1-0 score proving deceptive in a game that Liverpool could have won by a far greater margin.
The important thing for Liverpool, slow starters in recent years, was that the three points were secured and that the Suarez saga certainly did not seem to affect a team who played with vim and vigour.
That they won, however, owed as much to goalkeeper as goalscorer.
Simon Mignolet marked his Liverpool debut with a magnificent double save, blocking a penalty by Jonathan Walters as well as Kenwyne Jones's shot from the rebound.
"A wonderful double save," said Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager.
It was a game with an awkward start and an exhilarating ending for the £9 million (Dh51.6m) goalkeeper.
Mignolet flapped at Glenn Whelan's cross, sending the ball to Robert Huth, whose forceful volley bounced back off the bar to the relief of the Belgian goalkeeper.
Liverpool, too, struck wood through a central defender. Kolo Toure was inches from marking his debut with a goal, heading Steven Gerrard's corner against the upright.
The captain's high-quality set pieces twice almost yielded a breakthrough.
He eventually broke the deadlock, but only after Asmir Begovic had made three fine saves to deny Jose Enrique, Jordan Henderson and Sturridge.
Eventually pressure told, Sturridge drilling a low shot through Huth's legs and into the bottom corner. "He continues to score and that is why he is here," Rodgers said.
The surprise was that Liverpool's domination did not yield a second goal. Henderson came close, drawing a wonderful save from Begovic and then hitting the post. The persistent Sturridge kept on shooting and Begovic did brilliantly to repel a Gerrard free kick.
Stoke have been rebranded, too. They are less direct than they were under Tony Pulis.
Their supporters, all too aware of their reputation, happily sang: "We're Stoke City and we're passing the ball."
They are more aesthetically pleasing but remain at their most threatening with the aerial ball. From Matt Etherington's corner, Ryan Shawcross had a header cleared off the line by Lucas Leiva.
It was all witnessed, from an executive box, by the man it is impossible to escape. Suarez was on the pitch in his club tracksuit beforehand, holding his daughter and waving to strangely forgiving fans. "The supporters are a class act," Rodgers said.
Follow us
[ @SprtNationalUAE ]
