Liverpool 0, Hull City 0: Five things learnt

1. Joe Allen isn't championship material.
Well, he would be great in the Championship, but Liverpool will never win anything starting him.  He's good for a mid-table club, but if we are going to be serious contenders, we need players who can take us to that level.  I like Joe Allen and think he's about as good as he can be, but it still isn't good enough.  Seriously, would he be anything but a reserve at Chelsea or Man City?

2. We can play defense.
Hull is not a top five side, but they are far from the relegation discussion.  They are capable of scoring goals, but today, even with Ben Harfa starting they were hardly a threat.  I just hope this positive, one of the few we can take from the match, is a trend for the future.  Still, I think Skrtel and Lovren went too far forward at times and that will hurt us against better clubs.

3. Balotelli is useless as the lone striker/forward.
The game tilted completely in Liverpool's favor once Lambert came on.  Prior to that, Sterling and Balo tried to team up, but it just wasn't working as Sterling wants to stay on the flanks and it appears to confuse the Italian.  Lambert may be the perfect companion for Balo as his passing ability gives Super Mario chance after chance.  The problem is the 32-year-old lacks the ability to be effective more than 30 minutes on the pitch so using him as a 60 minute sub is our best bet, unfortunately that means an hour of watching Balotelli play defence.

4. Coutinho is a highly effective second half sub.
He was gangbusters when he came on today and was the major catalyst in giving us a chance to win.  If only Balotelli would have converted that last second goal...

5. Manquillo is better than Glen Johnson.
If you didn't know that by now, then give it up.  Johnson turns over the ball consistently and can't play defence while Manquillo is a positive force on both sides of the ball.  At least when the Spaniard makes mistakes we can cough it up to youth, Glen Johnson is just rubbish.  Sell him in the transfer window, Rodgers... if anyone will take him.

Wanted: Yaya Sanogo, for impersonating a footballer (Match day 3 morsels)

 - Aaron Ramsey created 6 chances for Arsenal against Leicester, though none resulted in goal.  He had all of zero going into the match.  He also had a redonkulous 134 touches, was 101 of 116 passing (87.1%), 11 of 14 on long balls, a shot-on target, one tackle, 3 interceptions, and 2 clearances.

- Arsenal had 19 chances created total at Leicester, 4 less than Man United has produced all year, as many as Burnley has managed thus far, and two more than the Villans this season.

- Yaya Sanogo took seven shots, two on-goal, one busted a windshield in the parking lot, one woke up an old Arsenal fan who resumed knitting her grandson a cap, another landed in the cotton candy machine, and there are missing persons reports being filed for the other two as I write this.

- Villa were so dreadful that Fabian Delph was named second best player of the match.  Also, they went down in defence rankings to dead last despite playing at home to Hull.  Poor Alan Hutton.

- Nemanja Matic put in a player of the week performance with a goal, an assist, 2 chances created, 3 successful take-ons, 5 tackles, 2 interceptions, a clearance, and a blocked shot.

- Andy King completed 31 of 35 (88.6%) passes, created 4 chances, 4 tackles, 2 interceptions, 1 take-on and one blocked shot.  The rest of his side created 5 chances total.

- Southampton's Dusan Tadic created 5 chances, completed 92.2% of his passes (47 of 51), had 4 tackles, an interception, and a shot-on target.

- Patrick van Aanholt and Phillip 'Beaker' Jones became the first members of the 10-10-10 club (10 tackles, 10 interceptions, 10 clearances) for the season.  Javier Manquillo is only three clearances away and Hull's Andy Robertson is currently a member of the quite rare 9-9-9 club.

- Kaspar Schmeichel was 12 on 31 long balls giving him a league-leading 35 of 96.  The next nearest on completions is Burnley's Tom Heaton who is 29 of 60 and the next in attempts is Hull's Alan McGregor with 79.

- Antonio Valencia was 0 for 12 on crosses against Burnley pushing Man United to dead last in the league with a 11.7% completion rate (9 of 77).

- Mike Williamson & Graziano Pelle are tied with 20 aerial duels won, only it took the Newcastle defender 21 less attampts to do so (24 to 45).

Six things learnt from LFC 2, Southampton 1

1 - Sterling can put on a Suarez-esque performance and make it meant something.  Our pint-sized powerhouse notched home the opening goal on a scintillating pass from Hendo and then got the game-winning assist on a header on to our poacher extraordinaire, the Studge.  Of all the goals and assists Suarez had last year, 31 and 12 just in case you forgot, only one assist gave Liverpool 3 points.  It took Sterling just one match to equal that this season.

2 - Sterling can put on a Suarez-esque performance, but that's not always a good thing.  His true turnover index was 17, which is about what his former teammate averaged per 90 minutes last season, but nobody cares as long as you produce goals.  The thing is Sterling is a better passer and he's 19.

3 - Speaking of cloaking a poor overall performance with a flash of brilliance, Jordan Henderson completed just 78% of his passes today (He's a career 83% passer and posted a career best 87.1% last season), was 0 for 2 on crosses, 2 of 6 on long balls, had 2 shots though none on-target, and was dispossessed 3 times.  That assist though and his tackling were enough to keep him off the shortlist for the Golden Rubbish Bin.

4 - Gerrard hasn't lost a step.  Our captain had a tackle, an interception, two clearances, created a chance, completed 89% of his passing, and was successful on 10 of 13 long balls.  Without him playing back, we would have probably allowed more goals.  Once again he proved his commitment and sacrifice to his club are unparalleled.

5 - Mignolet can be boss.  Let's hope he wants to be for 37 more league matches.  The save on Ward-Prowse's free kick and the tip that sent Pelle's shot off the post were simply class.  He did surprisingly well on set-pieces and corners as well, even though he seemed shaky at times.

6 - Manquillo is a bad ass.  His first Prem match and he commanded the right side of pitch like a ten year veteran.  He recorded 6 tackles, 5 clearances, 4 interceptions, a blocked shot, and completed 86% of his passes.

The return of Robo-Skrtel

Liverpool 2, Southampton 1: The match in stats
- Martin Skrtel had 20 clearances.  He led Liverpool and the league last season with 11.5 per 90 minutes and is well on his way to doing so again this season.  Lovren was second with 11 and Manquillo was third with 5.

- Skrtel also led the side in touches with 111, Manquillo was second with 109, and Lovren third with 86.

- Skrtel won the most aerial duels as well with 7 while Lovren was second with 6.

- Lovren led all players with an absolutely ridiculous passing rate of 96%, Skrtel was 2nd at 91%, and Gerrard third at 89%.

- Manquillo led the side with 6 tackles, Jordan Henderson was 2nd with 3.

- Gerrard completed 10 of 13 of long balls.  He lead all outfield Prem players last year with 257.

- Daniel Sturridge attempted 20 passes the entire match, Joe Allen attempted that many in 31 minutes.  Sturridge, a career 80% passer, completed 17 while Allen, a career 90% passer, completed 16.

- Raheem Sterling dribbled past 5 opponents, but was dispossessed 6 times.

-Rickie Lambert had more tackles, one, than Glen Johnson and Lucas Leiva combined.

- Every starter had at least one interception except Sturridge.  Lovren and Manquillo led the team with 4 a piece.

- No Liverpool player committed more than a single foul.  Thank you, Clattenburger.

- One of Glenn Johnson's shots landed in a rubbish bin, the other knocked an ice cream cone out of a six-year-old girl's hand.

- Lucas had a shot on target, created a chance, and dribbled past an opponent.  Either he passed a few bills to the statistician before the match or it's his Uncle Joenihno recording the numbers.

- The only other player to do as Lucas did above was Raheem Sterling, he had 3 shots on target and 2 key passes though.

Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 0: 5 things learnt

1. Dejan Lovren is the new Boss.  And a much needed one.  He took command of the defence and dared Borussia to attempt attack.  He is what we needed last season when Skrtel and Sakho doted around the field masquerading as defenders who really wanted to just score goals.  That's a bit harsh, but it's nice to be reminded what a centre back who is actually committed to playing defence looks like.  He reminds me of Carra except more athletic.

2. Coutinho is becoming Gerrardinho.  Is it just me or were some of those passes/flicks from the Brazilian very Gerrard-esque?  He's definitely been paying attention to his captain's methods of ball conveyance.  How he did not get chosen for his country for the World Cup is beyond me, but I'm glad he didn't get picked.  The time off probably did him some good.

3. Manquillo is probably already better than Glen Johnson.  No need to beat a dead horse, but me Uncle Joe is probably better than Glen Johnson.  I can't say I was impressed with Manquillo's performance even given the circumstance of just joining the club a couple of days ago, but at least he didn't turn over the ball every time he touched it.

4. We didn't need Gerrard to dictate attack.  And that is huge.  The less our captain has do on the attacking end of the pitch, the better we will be as a side.  If Sterling, Sturridge, Hendo, and Coutinho can dissect defences without the help of Stevie-G, he can concentrate on controlling the middle-third.  I don't think he'll ever be completely cut out of the picture, which nobody wants, but he's also not 26 anymore.  He has plenty of long passes and through balls in store. Though the only stat that should matter to him at this point in his career is league titles. Glory over goals.

5. Aubameyang was playing? The 25-year-old Gabonese striker was invisible today at Anfield.  He scored 13 goals in 26 league matches after coming over from AS Saint Etienne.  In France, he was finally coming into his own, scoring 35 goals in his last two seasons there.  I thought he might be a player worth looking at, before today, I'd pass.  It may have been a friendly, but he was inexistent today and failed to make even the slightest impact.

Liverpool 4, Dortmund 0: A lovely little pass around

What started out with the intensity of European football, slowly drowned itself in the atmosphere of a true friendly.  Most of our side glistened save the ever turnover prone and utterly useless Glen Johnson who refuses to let the match come to him and forces error after error.  He needs to benched, sold, drawn, and quartered.  Keep him off the pitch, Rodgers, please, at least until he returns to his form of three years ago.  He doesn't play defence and it's like being a man down every time he gifts the ball to the opposition, which is entirely too often.  Opposing managers must smile every time they see him take the pitch, he is always a counter goal waiting to happen.

The passing, for the love of Xabi, was absolutely brilliant.  We picked apart their defence like the Visigoths on Rome.  Pass after scintillating pass came from the feet of Gerrard, Sturridge, Coutinho, and Sterling, who found a better form in the second half, though far from his best.  That one looping lob from Gerrard that found Sterling down the left was harken of our captain's finest displays and the entire episode leading to Sturridge's assist to Hendo was artful, though the ball did go out.

Lovren was solid in the first half, but not really needed in the second.  In fact, we could have filled the back four with Salif Diaos and it wouldn't have mattered.  Fans seems to be smitten with Manquillo's performance, but I guess harder to impres because for me, he didn't do anything spectacular.  He was adequate and far better than Glen Johnson, but so was the hot dog man, me Gran, and that baby elephant. (It even looks like Glen Johnson, don't it?)  I'll withhold a verdict until he plays in a match that matters.

The bottom line is the matches don't count until next Sunday, but if we can play as we did today, natural-like and calculating, we will win a lot of matches.  The loss of Suarez put us at an advantage of sorts, defences won't know how to stop us.  Before, if you could stop El Conejo Loco, you had a good chance of beating us, but now we are more of a team.  If you stop Sturridge, we've got Sterling, then Coutinho, then Gerrard, then Hendo and so on and so forth, and we score on set-pieces, even more now with Lovre.  That's just scary.  If we are going to win the league though, we must not let one thing beat us, ourselves.  When the opposition scores and they will at times, we must maintain composure and believe we will still win no matter the circumstance.