"Thoughts from Leicester 1 Liverpool 3" by Paul Natton

1. That was nervy until the third went in, wasn't it? Leicester showed a lot of character - especially with a one man/one goal deficit - and were going right at us. As in life, reputations are hard won in football but very easily lost and ours from last season has been wiped away like a brief shower on a car windscreen: teams quite clearly think we are there for the taking and are not intimidated by us in the slightest. Still, that's what happens when you go months on end with barely a goal, a porous back line and a team-wide inability to win or use the ball with anything approaching effectiveness.

2. That said, we built on the improvements from the weekend last night: the tempo was there again, the pressing was more consistent and we attacked in numbers. For me, those are the hallmarks of our game under Rodgers and are fundamentals that must be on show every week or we're just not Liverpool. The fact that our work rate has so obviously increased since the whistle for the second half on Saturday is bewildering to me. As I mentioned in my piece after the Stoke game, I do have a theory about our training regime that leaves us heavy-legged in autumn but fit and raring to go from December onwards. That said, I cannot discount the fact that confidence has also been a factor. The way we just clicked into a different mental gear from the 46th minute at Anfield onwards is reminiscent of Raheem Sterling's sudden improvement after a tackle near the Kop end against West Ham at a similar point of last season. Let's just hope that from now on we can have a collective momentum comparable with his.

3. The team selection from the weekend appears to be forcing itself into something approaching a plan. Lucas built on his excellent showing from Saturday with another performance of maturity, composure and nous and has, barring some unforeseen collapse in form (or, more likely in the case of our luck this season, fitness), cemented his starting place for the foreseeable future for me. Furthermore, Ricky Lambert, while not getting on the score sheet last night, has earned his continued selection by doing what you want from a lone centre forward: working the opposing centre halves, tirelessly showing for the ball and using it intelligently when he gets it. The (what was starting to appear) mythical Southampton connection between him and Lallana reared its head for the first time in a red shirt in the former Saints captain's wonderfully classy strike for our second and we now need to see other Liverpool players start looking for that link too. As I said after Saturday, once the myriad forward-thinking midfielders we have on our books start to understand the big man's game, there could be a rich seam of threat to exploit. Now Lallana has shown the way, others need to follow.

4. And one such player who won't require much encouragement or indeed direction towards goal is the skipper. Stevie made a mockery of the naysayers last night with an imperious, typically Gerrardian (yes - that is a new adjective, folks) man of the match performance. A mate sent me a one word text last night in relation to our captain - hero - which sums him up perfectly. It defies belief that anyone could write him off after his Herculean career, but that actual Liverpool fans could do so seems, well, so very typical of the TV generation of supporter. At his best, Stevie has always been a forward rather than a midfielder anyway, so it comes as absolutely no surprise to me that he was all over our best play last night and directly involved in two of the goals while becoming our top scorer for the season. Brendan's deployment of him last season was canny and effective in the context of our other resources and maximising their impact, but he's shown his admirable pragmatism again recently in recognising that tactical plans can't be forever and you have to adapt to what's in front of you. I'll happily state right now that I don't think the captain will see much bench time in the near future; he's still the man even in his mid-30s.

5. Loathe as I am to criticise after what was, in retrospect, a very enjoyable performance, Simon Mignolet cannot escape unscathed. I take no pleasure in writing a player off but this guy is just not good enough for us, in my opinion. Is he a top class shot stopper? Absolutely - our last two matches have provided fulsome evidence of that fact. However, history shows time after time that the biggest clubs destroy anyone but the biggest of characters between the sticks; it is so mentally attritional to play in goal for Liverpool that you have to be a Brucie, Clem or Reina type of mental giant to cope with the scrutiny and pressure even at your best. However, when you have significant flaws, the focus becomes crushing as the paucity of his kicking seems be showing right now with our current incumbent. I'm losing count of the number of high profile kicking mistakes we've seen from him this season but I do know that it leaves our entire back line vulnerable and nervous and we need to address this as soon as possible.

6. Despite the panic Mignolet seems to be inducing in his defence, I still think they've got a very long way to go themselves, both as a unit and individually, before they can escape scrutiny for our atrocious goals against column. We are clearly trying to be more solid as a team with a more circumspect deployment of the full backs, Lucas and at least one other shielding, and moves to banish the pass it out from the back lottery that's got us into trouble almost every week. However, the mistakes are still there to see and I would like Brendan to hire a genuine organisational expert like Tony Pulis - even if only for a few weeks until he gets his next job - as a consultant to give him a little nudge in how to improve us on the back foot. It's never going to happen of course, but I think it'd be a show of strength rather weakness were he to do so.

7. Lee Mason is a joke.

8. A win against Sunderland would be superb both for confidence and points and I see no reason why that can't happen.

9. Come on you Reds!!!