Is Sturridge Liverpool's New Lead Man?

Liverpool had the honour of hosting the first game of the new Premier League season as well as the first ever game to air on the new BT Sport channel.

And it was Daniel Sturridge who scored what proved to be the winner in a hard-fought game at Anfield, signalling his intention to be Liverpool's new lead man.

With the off-field troubles surrounding Luis Suarez, the former Manchester City trainee has been quietly recovering from an injury sustained while playing for England against Ireland in May which has dogged his pre-season.

However, with Brendan Rodgers taking a firm line on Uruguay's prodigal son, Sturridge was somewhat fast-tracked into the starting XI, partnered up from by new signing from Celta Vigo, Iago Aspas.

Aspas had a splendid debut at Anfield on Saturday

Yet, there was nothing makeshift about the Sturridge-Aspas partnership - or rather trio when Philippe Coutinho is included. Indeed, Liverpool's new attacking force caused Stoke's defence plenty of problems with the likes of Robert Huth bowing to media stereotype and forced to adopt "rugby" style tactics to stop their threat.

Sturridge got his goal, and it was a classy one at that too - through the legs of Huth and the only shot that Asmir Begovic couldn't get to all game.

Indeed, without their Canadian/Bosnian keeper, Stoke would have been well out of the game by half-time.

However, it was Liverpool's new Belgian keeper, courted from Sunderland, who would be the star keeper by the end of the game. Simon Mignolet became the first goalkeeper in Premier League history to save a penalty on his debut - he saved from the luckless Jon Walters late in the game to ensure Liverpool would start the season with all 3 points and a clean sheet.

Mignolet's arrival had somewhat been overshadowed by the drama surrounding Liverpool's long-time stalwart Pepe Reina who had wanted out for some time. Pepe didn't quite go to Barcelona to replace Victor Valdes, ending up reuniting with his old boss at Napoli, meaning Mignolet was effectively first choice at Anfield by default - whether Mignolet would have been number one still even with Reina still there, we'll never quite know.

Nevertheless, Mignolet has definitely earned the favour of Liverpool fans with that penalty save and that will surely boost his confidence. The qualities of one of Belgium's rising football stars were already well known - he was already widely considered one of the better keepers in the Premier League while on Wearside. Now with confidence, Liverpool fans might very well be asking "Pepe who?"

It's too early to say if Liverpool's threesome and Mignolet can take the success-starved club back amongst the Cities, Uniteds, Arsenals, Tottenhams and Chelseas of the league. There is definitely much work that needs to be done now but if anything, this is a sign that Liverpool's future is bright.

Last season, conceding late goals scuppered any chance of Liverpool making a decent tilt at Champions League football. However, Liverpool did improve late last season - a sign perhaps that Brendan Rodgers has instilled a stronger mentality in his young charges.

In this game, it may not have been evident in all players but at least in Mignolet, they appear to have a keeper with nerves of steel - and that is often all that is difference between getting just a point and all 3, especially when the rest of the team is a bit nervous about trying to make a good start to the season. This will definitely inspire the young guns, Sterling, Coutinho, Sturridge, Aspas, Henderson, etc.

The champions are due later in the month and who knows, it might very well be for top spot in the league.