Liverpool 4 Stoke City 0

Following on from my piece about the ludicrously short-sighted overreactions of some supporters, Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Stoke on Wednesday was probably the most satisfying win since we beat the Scum at Old Trafford last season.

Glen Johnson – a waste of money apparently – was awesome and brought the attacking threat from wide areas that was sorely missed in fixtures such as this. Lucas – a waste of space apparently – had a fine game and showed much more attacking intentions than he has done in the past. Torres – anonymous against Tottenham – found the space to poach the crucial opening goal and generally looked a lot sharper.

There was further pleasure to take from the performances of some of the youngsters. Insua now appears so well established that it’s easy to overlook the fact he is only 20 years old and was making only his 20th appearance for the first team. Once again he brought attacking width on the left and was solid at the back.

Many, including myself, considered it a big risk to field 18-year old Daniel Ayala in the absences of Skrtel and Agger but the young central defender acquitted himself extremely well on his full debut. When on the ball he played it simple (something Carra has been doing for years, at times frustratingly so) and consequently made no mistakes in possession. He also dealt as well as any of his more experienced teammates with the ugly sustained aerial assault from Stoke’s throw-ins and set pieces during the first half. With Kyrgiakos now in the squad, it may be some time before Ayala gets to trot out with the first team again but with two first team games now under his belt and no goals conceded during his time on the pitch, we can all have a little more confidence in the Spaniard the next time Rafa needs to call on him.

Rafa has brought Andrily Voronin off the bench in both games so far this season but 20-year old David N’gog’s cameo against Stoke issued a clear statement that he should be ahead of the tired old Ukranian in the pecking order. It wasn’t just that N’gog scored the fourth goal but his whole approach to the game in contrast with Voronin's. An experienced pro, Voronin came on at 3-0 with the mindset that the game was won and with the intention of playing out time. N’gog came on at 3-0 wanting to get on the scoresheet himself – and he made sure he did.

That’s what supporters want to see. We want goals. We want our team to attack until the final whistle. If we’ve scored 3, we want 4. If we’ve got 4, why not go for a fifth? At the back end of last season, we were annihilating teams at Anfield, just like last night, and it looked as though every Liverpool player was enjoying his football and wanting to get on the scoresheet. That gives the players and supporters confidence that their team will get the goals and will get the win – even if set-backs are suffered along the way. We need to keep that mentality and avoid at all costs reverting to cagey first halves, trying to cling on to 1-0 leads as early as the 60th minute, negative passing from the back and all the other frustrating elements that led to us drawing 7 home games last season.

Having young, hungry players like N’gog come off the bench will help sustain that. Bringing on crusty old Ukranians with silly blonde pony tails is akin to stating “We settle for what we have.” No thanks.

I’m looking forward to Liverpool versus Aston Villa tonight. I was especially pleased that the game had been moved to a Monday night as I’ve been on a stag weekend and would have missed it had it been played on the Saturday. I think it’s as good a time as any to play Villa. They’ve had a rotten start to the season and, while there’s always the risk of a backlash, I expect our players to go into the game with greater confidence and greater hunger to get the 3 points. Given Villa’s 5-0 spanking at Anfield last season, an early goal for Liverpool could see their confidence disintegrate. I'm confident Liverpool will win tonight.

There were no big surprises in the weekend’s other results. Man Ure, Arsenal and Man City all had easy fixtures and won. Chelsea’s win over Fulham came as no surprise and West Ham v Tottenham could have gone either way. Everton’s defeat at Burnley was predictable given their start to the season.

I saw Michael Shithead’s goal for Man Ure against Wigan. His journey towards the Dark Side is complete. The man has no sense of honour as his pathetic goal celebration – blowing kisses at the Scum’s supporters – showed. What a little turd.