Liverpool 3, Cardiff 1: First Thoughts

Liverpool 3: Suarez 25' 42', Sterling 45'
Cardiff 1: Mutch 58'

• Cardiff were mighty impressive to start--whatever Spurs were last weekend at White Hart Lane, Malky Mackay's side were the opposite, pressing Liverpool tirelessly. A quick break nearly gave Craig Noone a dream goal and a lead for the visitors, but they couldn't take advantage of the fairly level opening fifteen minutes.
• Then Liverpool found their foothold and started to dominate, and then Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez. That's a chronological account of the first-half events. Look it up. Clever passing led to a lovely lofted ball from Henderson to Suarez for a volleyed opener, then Henderson sprung a break that ended with Suarez laying off for Sterling, and the bloodletting ended with another Henderson backheel to Suarez that finished in a manner reminiscent of what the Uruguayan did at Stoke after nutmegging Ryan Shotton.
• As fun as all that--and the first five minutes of the second half--was, stupid set-piece defending conspired against Liverpool again. Nobody was marking Jordon Mutch at the far post, and the midfielder was left completely alone to head past Simon Mignolet to make it 3-1. Don't know what it's going to take, but Liverpool can't keep doing this. Or they can, and we'll just have to acknowledge that they're pretty shit at set piece defending.
• The Malky Mackay support was a nice touch from all involved. Vincent Tan looked wonderfully villanous, though, so fair play to him for that.
• Cardiff's goal gave them all the momentum, and Liverpool mostly looked tired as they saw out the match. Martin Skrtel should have conceded a couple of penalties, especially while draped on Steven Caulker, and for as good as they were in the first half, Liverpool were pretty dire in the second. Martin Kelly didn't break, though, which was good.
• DANIEL AGGER SIGHTING!!!1! For Philippe Coutinho, which was weird.
• Hey, top of the league! Be happy, nerds.

We'll be back shortly to take an in-depth look at everything that happened in today's game with the full recap. Until then, let us know your take on the ups and downs of the match in the comments, and if you haven't already, join the community on the Liverpool Offside, where we'll have full coverage and lively in-game discussion for every match this season.