A new-look Liverpool side had to settle for a point in its opening match of the season after being held 1-1 at home by Sunderland on Saturday.
Luis Suarez blazed a fifth-minute penalty over the bar, but the Uruguayan forward made amends in the 12th when he nodded home a free kick sent over by Charlie Adam, one of four players making their debuts for Liverpool.
Another newcomer, Stewart Downing, cracked a shot against the crossbar and Andy Carroll had a strike ruled out as Liverpool dominated the first half.
However, the Reds paid for the missed chances when Ahmed El Mohamady floated over a cross from the right and Sebastian Larsson met it with an acrobatic volley just before the hour mark on the Sunderland midfielder's debut.
Kenny Dalglish, starting the season as Liverpool manager for the first time since 1990, felt the result might have been different had Kieran Richardson been sent off for a foul on Suarez which led to the penalty after five minutes.
Suarez charged down Richardson's pass on the halfway line and then was clipped by the Sunderland defender as he rounded goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Referee Phil Dowd gave the penalty, but only showed a yellow card to Richardson.
''I suppose nine-and-a-half out of 10 would have given Kieran (Richardson) the red card,'' Dalglish said. ''But we need to know where we stand and how they are going implement the rules and word them in the books - that is what we asked for.''
Dalglish, though, had no complaints about the scoreline after Liverpool's initial dominance faded, and not surprisingly, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce agreed.
While Liverpool fielded four new players, Bruce gave debuts to Larsson and defender Wes Brown, while David Vaughan came off the bench.
''We got away with it a little bit in the first 20 minutes as we gave the ball away badly but the longer the game went on the more belief we had and posed a bit of a threat,'' Bruce said. ''All-in-all it was a good performance.''
