This was a classic case of After the Lord Mayor's Show. Rafa Benitez and his team had recorded notable victories over United and Marseilles in the space of four days, only to be frustrated by Stoke's resolute defence. The outcome would have been very different but for the officials' contentious decision to disallow Steven Gerrard's second-minute "goal", which would have been his hundredth for the club.
With one minute 57 seconds on the stadium clock, the midfielder took a curling, right-footed free kick from the left that evaded everybody, Thomas Sorensen included, before nestling inside the far post. It looked a good goal, and Gerrard and his teammates celebrated it at length before it was pointed out that the referee's assistant had his flag raised, indicating that Dirk Kuyt, who had followed the ball in, was offside.
Benitez was appalled. "How can the referee explain that decision? He can't. He told Carra he disallowed the goal, not the linesman, but he was in a bad position, so how could he disallow it? It was a key decision."
The referee, Andre Marriner, confirmed he had ruled Kuyt offside, but this was on the mistaken impression the Dutchman had made contact with the ball, which he hadn't. The goal should have stood.
Instead of a flying start, Liverpool hit a brick wall in the shape of Stoke's massive defenders. The match was played almost entirely in and around their penalty area, and their response bordered on the heroic, auguring well for their hopes of survival.
Liverpool dominated, but their final ball was often found wanting, and when it wasn't, their finishing was. Benitez admitted as much: "Sometimes you need a bit of luck, or a bit more ability in the box. We had 25 to 30 attempts on goal and on any other day we would have scored." The last time Stoke played Liverpool, in the League Cup in November 2000, they lost 8-0, and their last win at Anfield was in 1958.
Against such a background, their unadventurous approach was understandable. They had lost three of their four previous Premier League games, and they lack the resources to try to play the opposition off the park at places like this. What they did was park their bus in front of Sorensen's goal and challenge their opponents to find a way past Ibrahima Sonko, Abdoulaye Faye and Leon Cort, all of whom were outstanding.
The best of Liverpool's myriad goal attempts came from Xabi Alonso, whose shot from 18 yards appeared to be heading for the top corner until Sorensen's reaching intervention. That apart, Fernando Torres should have scored when he headed wide from Alvaro Arbeloa's right-wing cross, Kuyt and Gerrard were close from distance and poor Robbie Keane twice volleyed straight at Sorensen close in.
The £20m signing from Tottenham is enduring a torrid start with his latest club, and when the Stoke fans taunted him with "What a waste of money", there was, pointedly, no supportive reaction from the Kop. The Irishman needs that first goal, and soon.
Tony Pulis accepted his team had been lucky over the goal that wasn't, but felt they deserved their fortune. "Nobody was offside," he said. "We've got a point and a decision at Anfield, which can't be bad. This was a big result for us, psychologically."
Liverpool will look to do better in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park next Saturday.