"Liverpool players train on Friday before their Merseyside Derby clash against Everton on Sunday" (Credit to Liverpool Facebook Page).

Fun fact of the day, learned from the Fox Sports broadcast team: the stadium that hosted Liverpool and Rubin Kazan Thursday night was the site for a swimming championship over the summer. The turf was ripped off and they (Vlad Putin personally, I’d imagine) plopped an Olympic sized swimming pool at midfield.

I mean, I’m no architect nor landscaper (other things that I am not include but are not limited to: an astronaut, tall, or a healthy-eater) but I don’t reckon the introduction of a pool is the best way to prepare a surface for a season of matches including continental games. I feel cautiously optimistic that I’m somewhere in the general area code of being correct.

Anyway. Liverpool earned their first triumph and clean sheet in the Europa League in their fourth try this season, breaking their sequence of three successive 1-1 draws by beating Rubin Kazan 1-0.

Jurgen Klopp demonstrated how seriously he takes this competition with the strong XI he named. He made just four changes from the side that won at Stamford Bridge over the weekend, even with a tricky match against Crystal Palace on Sunday to follow.

Liverpool player ratings ahead. Don’t be shy in telling me how many times I was wrong.

GK: Simon Mignolet, 6: Boring day for Mignolet to be quite honest. One would hardly remember he was there.

RB: Nathaniel Clyne, 7: Seriously, the man is everywhere up and down the right flank the entire game and he never seems to be breathing heavily. It’s truly a medical anomaly.

CB: Dejan Lovren, 6: *whispers* Lovren played quite well…

CB: Mamadou Sakho, 6: Not as much work for Sakho as expected playing alongside Lovren. The entire back line wasn’t put under much pressure. A clean sheet nonetheless.

LB: Alberto Moreno, 6: Moreno gets up and back similar to Clyne. Though he does show signs of heavy breathing once in a while, reminding everyone that he is a human being. His pace masks errors and marking deficiencies that he’ll need to clean up.

DM: Emre Can, 5: Not very good from the German and he’ll look to bounce back on the weekend if he retains his place in the side.

DM: Joe Allen, 6: Doing all the thankless dirty work, Joe Allen’s beard provided the beauty that his game lacks. He pressed well and made influencing runs off the ball.

AMR: Jordon Ibe, 8 (MoM): Ibe’s first senior goal in a competitive match was the difference against Kazan. Apart from the goal, Ibe was direct in his runs and hardly ever lost the ball. Great stuff from the 19-year-old.

AMC: Roberto Firmino, 7 (OFF 81′): A lively day from the Brazilian leaving fans salivating for more and anticipating the days when he hits top form. It’s coming. He’s percolating.

AML: James Milner, 7 (OFF 61′): Milner breaks his run of poor games with a good performance in Russia. His standard industry was matched with quality. He was unlucky to not score early on in the first half when he fired past the keeper but shook the bar.

ST: Christian Benteke, 7: One Belgian striker replaced another Belgian striker since the last time Liverpool played Kazan and Benteke was an improvement on Divock Origi. Benteke’s influence in the build up to Liverpool’s attacks have been underrated and not talked about enough as his aerial prowess seems to take all the talking points. He’s looked more of a complete striker than most thought when he was at Aston Villa.

SUBS:

Adam Lallana, 6 (ON 61′): The Englishman didn’t get on the ball a great deal in his half hour, adding to the attack whenever he could.

Lucas Leiva, N/A (ON 81′): Lucas didn’t have enough to do in his 9 minutes plus stoppage time to render a rating.