Clean: Exeter 1 - Liverpool 3

Well, not totally, but we'll get to that.

Anyway, that's the word I kept coming back to after Liverpool's League Cup win yesterday. There was nothing they could do that would make us stand up and get dizzy with fever. After all, this was just Exeter in a round of the Cup we're still slightly sheepish about being in in the first place. All Liverpool really could do was worry us with a dispirited performance. Thankfully, that didn't happen. They were clean. Took it to the inferior side from the off, never looked under threat, put it away when they had to, and moved on. That's about all you can ask from ties like this.

-Luis Suarez is going to be a challenge for us non-professional writers if he keeps this up. I'm already at a loss for what else I can say about him. Essentially, a player of this quality and simply this ridiculousness really shouldn't be allowed to suit up against a League 1 side. If this keeps up, and maybe this is said somewhat out of spite, but Suarez might be the most exciting Liverpool player to watch since I picked up the fandom in the mid-90's. He's not the lethal finisher and blunt force that Torres was, but is more dynamic. And while he might not be the Act of God that Steven Gerrard could sometimes produce, Gerrard never possessed this sort of....I guess football charisma that Suarez has. Too much control, too much creativity, just too much.

-There are a few theories out there on why Dalglish had Suarez and other first teamers like Meireles, Henderson, and Adam out there for this opening Cup tie. One is that Meireles and Suarez needed the fitness, which could be true. Another is that Kenny wants an actual Cup run, or at least more than one game, and you can't discount that. For me, I think it was a case of getting another opportunity for this team to gel. There's been a lot of changes in the top squad, and giving Adam, Suarez, and Henderson another chance to figure out how to play together makes a lot of sense. Or at least it gives them time to figure out to give the ball to El Pistolero and get out of the way.

-Hey, Henderson contributed something! Baby steps to the elevator!

-The only downside, well big one, is Meireles's injury. While his shoulder reportedly popped back in while he was on the pitch, once these things get wonky they tend to stay that way. May not require surgery, but if it doesn't there's always going to be the risk that he'll have to pull a Detective Riggs on a nearby pillar regularly.

-A couple small complaints: What I feared with Charlie Adam's signing was a tendency to fire off Chicks-dig-the-long-ball passes that would break down moves. What we got more of yesterday was the opposite, where Adam eschewed the simply square ball in order to try and beat a man in midfield, and never doing so. He's not Leo Messi, and should stick to the passing. Secondly, when Carroll came on and the ball found his feet, the pace of that particular move was sapped out as he took too many touches or got bogged down by defenders. He didn't seem able to keep play moving with one or even two touches. He took his goal awfully well, but even that came after boggling up a pass with one or two less than ideal touches. This isn't how it's going to be, is it?

-The backline looked fine, even with the three kids, until everyone when shotgunning up the pitch to go get them some. That'll happen when up 3-0 in the final throws.

-Transfer news: It's finally over. Alberto Aquilani is off to Milan, and that's a good move for him. He'll always go down as a "What Might Have Been" character, as he could not have arrived at a worse time. I still think we'll rue this one day, especially if Meireles can't stay fit and Gerrard begins to show his age (more than he has). But still, Aquilani was clearly not in the plans, and he'll probably flourish in Milan's 4-3-3. Ah well.