The way Lazar Markovic stifled Sunderland on Saturday with constant pressure from the front brought Brendan Rodgers as much satisfaction as the Serbian's mesmerising fleet-footed approach play.

That Markovic illuminated the Stadium of Light with his finest performance in a red shirt to date was undoubted - he was Liverpool's key man right from the first whistle.

A trademark surge through the Sunderland ranks drew a tackle from Wes Brown which the visitors felt warranted a penalty and while the referee, Craig Pawson, disagreed, the No.50 was undeterred.

Shortly after, he scooped the ball from the tumbling Fabio Borini and made an almost identical foray into the box before prodding deftly through the legs of Costel Pantilimon to open the scoring.

But for Pantilimon's crossbar, Markovic might have been celebrating a Goal of the Season contender in the 26th minute when he sent an acrobatic kick dipping viciously towards the back of the net.

Attacking menace aside, the former Benfica man was equally impressive when it came to fulfilling his defensive duties, closing down opponents and regaining possession, allowing Liverpool to press forward.

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"I've been delighted with Lazar," Rodgers told Liverpoolfc.com in the tunnel following the final whistle. "We brought him here because he's a top talent.

"It's never easy for players, especially the young players who are coming into the team and into the country. So he's adapting very, very well.

"His strike that hit the crossbar was incredible technique and he scored his goal. But I thought overall his ability to press the ball when we didn't have it was very good.

"He was strong, he was physically hard to beat. And then when we had the ball, we asked him to be creative and I thought he was outstanding."

While Markovic thrilled going forward, dovetailing with the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Steven Gerrard, before the captain was withdrawn as a precaution, Liverpool's defence kept Sunderland in check at the other end of the pitch.

Simon Mignolet capped another return to his former club with the Reds' sixth clean sheet of the current campaign - and the manager was keen to praise the manner in which his players dealt with the Black Cats' physical threat.

"No matter how much domination you have of a game, you're still going to be asked to defend," said the Northern Irishman.

"This is a team that is strong at set-pieces. They've got a lot of big players who attack the ball well. But that was pleasing.

"That was football for me and for us - possession, creativity of chances and then, especially away from home, when you have to defend, you're resolute and strong and you don't concede. It was an outstanding result for us as well as a performance.

"We started the game with good control and domination of the game. Our only disappointment in the first half was that we didn't have more goals.

"We made a bright start to the second half. Our passing in difficult conditions was very, very good. We created chances.

"We just had a spell when, I felt, they had the man sent off, for 10 minutes then, it threw us more than it threw them. But once we got back into the rhythm again and got our positions on the field, we kept the ball much better and I thought overall it was an outstanding team performance."