Liverpool 4-0 Stoke

Liverpool bounced back from their opening day defeat by thrashing Stoke 4-0. The first half was dominated by Liverpool, with Stoke only providing sporadic threats from set-pieces. Daniel Ayala was given his first start for the club in place of Skrtel, and it was Fernando Torres who opened the scoring after good work from Gerrard in the 4th minute. Glen Johnson scored his first for the club with an acrobatic bicycle kick after Sorensen had parried Kuyt's goal-bound header in the 45th minute to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead. Stoke started the second half far better, with Reina forced to save well from a Roy Delap throw, err, shot, but Liverpool quickly regained control of the match, with Johnson dominating the right flank, Benayoun and Gerrard looking dangerous, and Lucas doing very well in the middle of the park. In the 78th minute some beautiful short play on the right side between Gerrard, Mascherano, and Johnson led to Kuyt poking home Gerrard's cross. To finish the scoring, Johnson's excellent play down the right led to a slightly deflected cross that Sorensen could only palm on to N'Gog's head, the ball going in off the bar. It was a confident performance from Liverpool, plenty of chances created, and very good outings from Gerrard, Johnson, Lucas, Benayoun, Kuyt (who could have scored 3) and Insua.