West Brom 1, Liverpool 1: First Thoughts

West Brom 1: Anichebe 67'
Liverpool 1: Sturridge 24'

• That first half was abysmal all around, with Daniel Sturridge's goal--and the delivery from Luis Suarez--the only bright spot for either side. West Brom were physical enough to cause problems in the middle of the park for Liverpool, and neither the counter-attack nor the possession game were coming off for the visitors.
• That being said, Aly Cissokho had one of his better halves of football, making a few decent runs and looking generally competent defensively. Not overwhelming praise, but good enough to look stable on the left. Raheem Sterling put in a similarly impressive shift on the right covering for a slightly off Jon Flanagan.
• Simon Mignolet was back to his best with a couple of terrific saves, first from a towering header and next on a cutesie free-kick that Chris Brunt tried to curl low around the wall.
• He was helpless on Victor Anichebe's goal, though, as Kolo Toure played an absolutely terrible pass along the deck from the left, leaving the striker all alone in the middle of the pitch to slot past the Belgian. A catastrophic error, but an equalizer that had been coming given how poor Liverpool were.
• Luis Suarez had the only good chance in the second half after shaking Diego Lugano, but Ben Foster made a terrific save to deny the Uruguayan. Expected more from him, but he looked off all day long.
• The lack of response from Liverpool was extremely worrying--whether it was down to tired legs or derby hangover, it was not nearly good enough for a side looking to capitalize on poor results from their direct rivals yesterday.
• Really disappointing after the optimism midweek and watching Spurs and United drop points yesterday. Deflated and entirely self-inflicted. Didn't show up and got deservedly punished. Embarrassing.

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.