LIVERPOOL -- Part of the script suited Liverpool: a side deprived of their leading forward conjured victory at Anfield. Sadly for them, it was Aston Villa. Their start to the season has been so startling that the injured Christian Benteke can go almost unmentioned.
But when Liverpool fail to score, something that had only happened once in the previous 31 league games, and when they fail to draw a meaningful save from Brad Guzan, it is only natural that thoughts turn to absent finishers. This was not just a taste of life without the "SAS" (Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge). Liverpool began without the "SASASAS."
Not since December 2012 had they lined up without both Suarez and Sturridge. The most prolific strike force in Premier League history were sold and sidelined respectively. They contributed a record 52 goals last season. The rested Raheem Sterling and the injured Martin Skrtel, the scoring centre-back, chipped in with a further 16.
Between the four of them, they scored more than two-thirds of Liverpool's record 101 goals. Without the explosive and outstanding, they had the new and novel. The front three were all expensive arrivals. Mario Balotelli, Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic joined for a combined sum of 61 million pounds in the summer spending spree. Each made his Anfield bow. Each still awaits a first Liverpool goal.
"The players we have brought in are very good players, and I am delighted with them," said manager Brendan Rodgers in his news conference.
It is far too soon to question his analysis of his dealings. The concern was that, with each an uncertain presence in his new club's colours, Liverpool were uncharacteristically subdued.
"We just failed to open them up," Rodgers admitted. "We just lacked that wee bit of quality. We have seen many games here where we ended up with 15-20 shots on target, but that didn't happen."
It certainly didn't. Philippe Coutinho rattled the post. Guzan was a spectator then, but then he was for much of the match.
"Defensively we were immense," said Villa manager Paul Lambert, whose side protected Guzan, frustrated Liverpool and have only been breached once in four games.
They have made few shots on target go a long way, but Gabriel Agbonlahor's early, scrappy strike was the prelude to an illustration of organisation and defiance. There is an uncompromising element to Villa nowadays. Deemed too naïve in the past two seasons, they are more experienced and more pragmatic now.
Philippe Senderos was fortunate to escape sanction for tripping Balotelli off the ball. Alan Hutton floored him with a forceful challenge. Rodgers had no complaints.
"It is a man's game," he rationalised.
And Balotelli remains the most enigmatic of men. His debut display against Tottenham was promising. With a greater responsibility on his shoulders now Sturridge's thigh has removed him from contention, this was an anticlimactic introduction to Anfield.
The one occasion when it seemed Balotelli might score, Markovic beat him to Javier Manquillo's cross and headed wide. Thereafter the Serb was subdued by Aly Cissokho, last spotted at Anfield adding his name to a lengthy list of undistinguished left-backs Liverpool have signed, but proving excellent for Villa.
Meanwhile, given the ever-present focus on Balotelli, it is easy to forget that Lallana, not the Italian, was Liverpool's biggest summer signing. Balotelli's name was read out last, to the loudest roar, as Luis Suarez's had been. His arrival generated a flurry of sales of replica kits, whereas it has gone unmentioned if "Lallana No. 20" is stencilled on the back of shirt after shirt.
This was scarcely a display to increase sales in the club shop. Lallana looked what he is, a player who has been deprived of first-team football by injury. The 25 million-pound man was cautioned for a late challenge on Tom Cleverley and replaced when he seemed to be growing into the game.
He exited as Sterling was summoned. Rodgers' thinking, that he doesn't want to burn the teenager out, was logical. The difficult element is deciding which matches he can win without the winger who, barely two years into his career, is arguably already Liverpool's best player. "This was a game I felt we could do that," said the manager. It proved a miscalculation. With the benefit of hindsight, he might have been better selecting Sterling against Villa and not when Ludogorets form Tuesday's opposition.
Squad rotation was not required last season. It is now. "I need to trust all the players that I have," Rodgers added. Like the return of Champions League football to Anfield, it is a sign things are changing. Yet some constants remain. "We have found a problem with Aston Villa in my time here," Rodgers said. Indeed, he has lost two and drawn one of three home games against the Midlanders.
Set piece problems are another common denominator. It was a reason Liverpool conceded 50 times last season and Ashley Westwood's ploy of aiming for Senderos proved profitable. From his header, Agbonlahor scored the only goal.
Villa began with a Rodgers-esque midfield diamond, as they did in January's draw at Anfield. It is a formation they revisit whenever they encounter Liverpool. Perhaps the Merseysiders will deem imitation the sincerest form of flattery, but the immediate task is for Balotelli, Lallana and Markovic to perform convincing impressions of Suarez and Sturridge.