Long road ahead for new Red Rodgers

If Brendan Rodgers was under any illusions as to the task facing him at Liverpool, then they were eradicated in 90 painful minutes here.

Antrim’s Rodgers is a man for whom the glass is always half full, but this was a setback which will have punctured even his confidence as the Reds slumped to their heaviest opening day defeat in the top flight since 1937.

Admittedly, everything that could have gone awry for Liverpool did. Had Luis Suarez converted a headed chance which looked a formality then it could have been an altogether different story.