Anfield was bouncing late Saturday evening after the irresistible Reds ran rampant against the hapless Hull City Tigers. Jürgen Klopp's men executed the game plan so well that veteran Hull center-back Curtis Davies remarked after the game, "They didn't give us chance to breathe."
Adam Lallana put in one of his best performances in a Liverpool shirt, offering a constant option for his teammates, triggering the stifling Liverpool press, and always threatening in the box. Philippe Coutinho was also vibrant throughout, and showed technical ability that made him unplayable at times.
Those two combined to open the scoring in the 17th minute, when Coutinho took a pass in stride from the left side, dipped his shoulder and left the Hull player marking him in the dust. His slick dribbling took him into the 18-yard box, where he squared the ball to Lallana. With a quick turn and brilliant side-footed effort, Lallana caught Hull goalkeeper David Marshall off guard and the ball had enough pace to find the back of the net.
Liverpool took 32 shots throughout the 90 minutes, 12 of which were on target. One of the shots, fired in by Philippe Coutinho, was handled by Ahmed Elmohamady on the goal line late in the first half. Sadio Mané got in behind the Hull City back line on the right hand side and his cross into the box was met by Coutinho, who attempted to find the net with a powerful right-footed effort.
For his goal-saving heroics, Elmohamady was quickly rewarded with a red card from match referee Andre Marriner, and James Milner coolly slotted home the ensuing penalty, to make it 2-0 in the 31st minute.
Liverpool were flying from the start, but when Hull went down to 10-men, the team found all the space it needed to completely dominate the rest of the game to the tune of 74% possession.
Milner was active down the left side often throughout the game, starting the offensive move that led to Lallana finding Sadio Mané in the middle of the Hull City area. The lightning-quick Senegalese winger promptly spun and fired into the goal to extend the Liverpool lead to 3-0 after 37 minutes.
After the break, Hull City pulled one back from a set piece. Milner, who is still learning his trade at left back, could not control a wayward cross and his poor touch with nobody around gifted the opposition a corner-kick. The Reds failed to make a clearance on the ensuing kick and David Meyler, who was first to react, finished from point-blank range.
The Anfield crowd of 53,109 did not have to wait long for a response. Less than a minute later, Coutinho took two touches from a Lallana pass and fired an unstoppable blistering effort into the corner of the Hull goal to make it 4-1.
Second-half substitute Daniel Sturridge dribbled past a few Hull defenders and was taken down in the box for Liverpool's second penalty of the game. Milner stepped up again and rolled the ball into the same corner as he did previously to make it 5-1 and complete the scoring for the home team.
Liverpool certainly looked unstoppable on the day, and the three points earned at home moves them into the top four early on in the Premier League season.