Liverpool have got a chance to get the season on to a bright start after their unexpected loss to Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend. The loss of midfielders Alonso and Arbeloa just might be hitting the team harder than they thought. This seems to have left the team weaker, and it's likely that they will be exposed if Carragher, Gerrard or Fernando Torres are out for a long period.
With the issues in MF, Gerrard will be relied on to do more work in there, which could result in Torres being mostly isolated up front. Not too good for the attack.
Liverpool's best bet now is to keep their defense tight and concede as little as possible till Benitez can properly beef up his squad.

Stoke city got off to a good start over the weekend with a 2-0 win over Burnley.  .  .and they put up a pretty good performance too. Manager Tony Pulis is chasing five new signings before the end of the transfer window.
Pulis hopes to further strengthen his squad to ensure his team puts up a good fight this season. And, they've got a good chance of getting the better of Liverpool going by the Scousers' current depleted form.
This one wll be interesting to watch.

walk on,walk on with hopes in your heart and you'll never win anything,you'll never win anything

perennial underachievers

na every year Pool go dey give us stories of why they wont win another championship
last year, it was cos Torres and Gerrard got injured a couple of times, this season it wil be cos they sold Alonso.

next season it'll probably be cos of some infighting amongst players
retards

as for today
3-0

I expect Benayoun to start this game .
Skrtel and Carra should be fit as the boy Ayala will be too light-weight.

Of course, I expect a win.

i pray benitez heeds the voice of reason.

i still fail to understand why we ddnt use the flanks properly in the 1st match knowing fully well we were depleted. and without anything against lucas, i just dont think he has the liver to wear a liverpool shirt yet.

benitez should rather field azhar than a lucas and if he likes he should bench behayoun, i'l call for his sack str8 away ni.

rauising one's BP beyond normal even before season kicks off.

YNWA

@coolguyz.

Any time we lose a game, most Liverpool fans immediately think Lucas had something to do with it.

Lucas is not Alonso,and he did OK against spurs. I am sure Benny will start tomorrow.

Looks a Draw to me. Resilient stoke vs clueless liverpool.
Liverpool are yet to beat stoke since they came aboard the premiership last season. I dont expect different.

bgees,

well, i guess its just that after all these years, lucas hasnt still been able to put a solid foot on the ground and his wrong steps have cost us vital points and matches (even last season). his mates they started have grown to be better.

by the way, wats with the state of aurelio's injury?

just thinking too - has benitez utilised these guys to their potentials - benayoun, babel, el-azhar and insua that are used as ''fringe'' players?

count down to our 1st win tonite!

YNWA

Who scored?

mykali:

Who scored?

Torres and Glen Johnson

Chei liverpool don vex oooo. Omo see 4-0 trashing(torres,johnson,kuyt and ngog)

What a good look!This is Anfield babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

This thread no even pass page 1?

Sha Congrats to The Lillypools. Back to winning ways eh?

After reading comments from knee-jerkers like Grizzly, Otokx, Coolguyz and chic2pimp, I was grateful for some sane comments from Bgees. Lucas has been one of the best performers so far this season and he's barely 22yrs and filling the void left by the one of the best passers of the ball, Alonso.

Also saying Liverpool haven't beaten Stoke since they arrived at the EPL is a joke! They've met just twice and Stoke haven't even scored against the Reds yet (scored 3 against Chelsea and Utd, and beat Arsenal!) This doesn't make these three teams 'clueless', does it?

MOTM----Glen Johnson
OUTSTANDING----Lucas, Insua, Gerrard, Yossi and Kuyt
Exciting Talent----Ayala

Let's wait till the great Aquilani arrives and the skies would be the limit!