Rodgers’ delight as Pool hit five

Stoke City 3 Liverpool 5

After leading through a Ryan Shawcross own-goal and a Luis Suarez effort, Brendan Rodgers’ side let their advantage slip with old boys Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam pulling goals back before the break.

Marc Wilson was penalised for a challenge on Raheem Sterling — described by manager Brendan Rodgers as a “Spanish penalty” — allowing Steven Gerrard to clip in Liverpool’s third but even Suarez’s second could not kill Stoke.

Jonathan Walters drove in Stoke’s third and looked set to set up a tense finish before Daniel Sturridge, who had come off the bench for his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury in November, showed coolness to fire in a fifth.

Liverpool’s defence, and Martin Skrtel in particular, yet again looked ill-suited to this kind of test as they coughed up at least two goals for the seventh time in their last eight matches, while some may over blow Gerrard’s performance in the new role of anchoring midfielder.

But having started the day in sixth spot, and with every other team in the top seven, bar Arsenal who play tonight, having won by the time they kicked off at a stadium where they had never won in the Premier League, this can only be taken as a significant day for Liverpool and their hopes of ending their exile from the Champions League.

“Liverpool had never won here in the Premier League and we were under a little bit of pressure because a lot of teams around us won so we knew we had to put in a performance,” Rodgers said.

“To come here and get five goals and be that inventive and creative was fantastic so great credit to the players.

“We’re getting better and improving all the time. We’ve shown enough over the course of the season that we’ll be challenging.

“That’s all we’ve ever wanted to be. We’ve never stated that we’re going to win the league. To jump from where we’ve been we just needed to be in the conversation and this was a massive game.

“We just have to control our own destiny. As a team we really came together and this is where you have to show your mentality and desire to get a result.”

That did not look necessary after they were gifted a two-goal lead. Aly Cissokho’s drive flew in off Shawcross after four minutes while Wilson and Shawcross failed to deal with a routine long ball from Skrtel to allow Suarez to roll in a second.

Crouch angled in a header from Marko Arnautovic’s cross to give Stoke hope and Adam drove in after Jordan Henderson had coughed up possession just before the break.

Stoke manager Mark Hughes felt the turning point was the award of the penalty on Sterling shortly after the interval. Firstly the hosts felt that Sterling handled Wilson’s attempted clearance and then went down under minimal contact from the Irishman before Gerrard stroked Liverpool ahead once again.

“Whether that would have been given in the other penalty box in front of our fans I’m not sure,” Hughes said, who is close to signing Stephen Ireland on a permanent basis from Aston Villa to free up another loan.

“The reaction of the player, he looks towards the referee and that’s always a giveaway from my point of view and the fact there were 3,000 Liverpool fans behind that goal reacting. Unfortunately the referee bought it and it was a poor decision.”

That incident will receive plenty of attention no doubt but what followed will prove to be more important to where Liverpool end up this season.

Sensing that Geoff Cameron was having too much joy against Philippe Coutinho down Liverpool’s left, Rodgers withdrew the Brazilian and threw on Sturridge.

The England striker immediately looked a threat on the break and produced a wonderful reverse pass to allow Suarez to curl in his 22nd of the season for Liverpool’s fourth.

Still Stoke refused to die and, seconds after his header was pushed away by Simon Mignolet, Walters prodded in his team’s third to spark hopes of another revival. But this time Suarez supplied Sturridge with a fine ball and, after the latter was initially denied by Jack Butland, he took two touches before tapping in Liverpool’s fifth.

They are certainly in the conversation and the chatter is getting louder and louder.

STOKE (4-4-1-1): Butland 7; Cameron 6, Shawcross 5, Wilson 4, Pieters 6; Walters 7, Nzonzi 6 (Ireland 81, 6), Whelan 6, Arnautovic 7; Adam 7; Crouch 7.

Subs not used: Sorensen; Muniesa, Pennant, Palacios, Etherington, Shotton.

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Mignolet 6; Johnson 7, Toure 5, Skrtel 5, Cissokho 6; Gerrard 7, Lucas 6; Sterling 8, Henderson 7, Coutinho 7 (Sturridge 65, 8); Suarez 9.

Subs not used: Ward; Alberto, Aspas, Moses, Ibe, Kelly.