Had that superiority been translated into goals in the first half, when Aston Villa were on the rack, Liverpool would have won with something to spare. Instead, Nolberto Solano came up with an equaliser for the home team at a vital time, enabling Villa to regroup, assess where they had gone wrong and prove more purposeful opposition after the interval.
Villa remained second best, but such was their persistence and perseverance that who was to argue that the point gained was not deserved?
Manager David O'Leary summed it up perfectly. 'We got out of jail in the first half,' he said. 'The bottom line was that we were totally outclassed. It was a bit of a mismatch. They should have scored more than once.
'I worried all week about Hamann, Alonso and Gerrard and we couldn't live with them. Whether they were shot in the second half from giving us such a bashing, I don't know, but we certainly made it much harder for them. You can't give quality players like that time and space. You have to get close to them.'
Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez also questioned whether some of his players had taken too much out of themselves. 'They ran a lot in the first half and perhaps there was tiredness,' he said.
'Villa had more time in which to play, without creating many chances. We had eight to 10 chances. But you need to score to win. The important thing was that we increased our level of play away from home.'
Benítez, who will be grateful for the imminent return from injury of Milan Baros, gave a first Premiership start to Antonio Núñez, who arrived at Anfield as part of the deal that took Michael Owen to Real Madrid, but who has been been on the sidelines for much of the time since with a knee-ligament injury.
The Spaniard shaped Liverpool's immediate grip on the game, launching Neil Mellor for a run and shot that was deflected wide. John Arne Riise ventured forward to test Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen with a shot whipped towards the near post.
So it was no surprise when Liverpool went ahead from Steven Gerrard's far-post free-kick after Olof Mellberg's foul on Dietmar Hamann. Jamie Carragher knocked the ball back into the middle for Harry Kewell to head in his first goal of a so-far disappointing season and his first in the Premiership for 10 months.
There was almost a second after Gareth Barry had been hustled out of possession by Núñez and Hamann. The latter picked out Mellor in the middle and Sorensen had to dive to his left to make a one-handed save.
Villa were exposed again as Gerrard volleyed a diffi-cult chance over, then bounced a shot off Soren- sen. But with the interval approaching Carragher was penalised for a challenge on Gavin McCann and Solano drove the resulting free-kick from 22 yards high into the top corner of Chris Kirkland's net for his fourth goal in successive home matches.
When Sorensen pushed out the all-action Gerrard's free-kick from similar range and Steve Finnan was unable to squeeze in the rebound, Liverpool looked to be back in charge.
But with 19-year-old Steve Davis earning praise from his manager for the way he began disputing midfield areas, Villa competed with far greater effect.
Liverpool continued to create the better openings, yet it was Solano who almost had the final say with another probing free-kick that Kirkland tipped over at full stretch.