Three things we learnt from Liverpool's demolition of Hull City

By Sam Leveridge

After two defeats and a draw from their last three league games, Hull City could be forgiven for arriving at Anfield a bit fearful of what lay ahead for them against a free-scoring Liverpool side. A midweek victory over Stoke City in the EFL Cup renewed confidence and helped to boost hopes, but it didn’t take long for the Reds to dismantle any hope that Mike Phelan had, with Adam Lallana and Phillipe Coutinho in superb form.

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Coutinho set up Lallana to open the scoring early on in the game, only for Ahmed Elmohamady’s sending off as he conceded a penalty on the half hour mark to effectively put the tie to bed. Vice-captain James Milner coolly stepped up to extend the Reds’ lead, only for Sadio Mane to add his third strike of the season before half-time.

Hull changed things at half time with Harry Maguire introduced to avoid an embarrassing score-line. David Meyler’s fortunate strike was enough to bring his side back into the game, even if they stood no chance of a comeback with 40 minutes still to play.

It took just 60 seconds for Liverpool to send the Tigers crashing back down to earth with an incredible finish from the magical feet of Philippe Coutinho, before Daniel Sturridge won a penalty only a minute after coming on in place of Adam Lallana. James Milner notched from 12 yards for the second time in the afternoon in an incredible display of free-flowing attacking football to see Hull drop into the bottom half of the table after a promising start to the campaign.

Read on over the next few pages to see what we learnt from the game…