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Liverpool fans, there's a narrative building and you don't have to buy into it.

It's a narrative that suggests your success last season was purely down to a combination of luck and Luis Suarez, one that must be particularly infuriating given the sweeping positive changes made to the squad by Brendan Rodgers.

After six games, there is very little cause for concern, if you take a step back to analyse Liverpool's start to the season, it's hardly a disaster.

If anything, a slow start this season was purely predictable given...

1) New player blues

Very rarely do you add a swathe of new players to a club and see an instant impact. In fact, you very often see the opposite effect.

A prime example of this could be seen against Everton, when squires Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli did their very best to play the Liverpool way, often at the sacrifice of their own personal playing styles.

Lallana's an incredibly talented player who isn't very far off fitting into Rodgers' style of attacking build-up play, but his performance at the weekend was hampered by slow decision making, caused by having to adjust to new team-mates and a new (if not radically new) philosophy.

Balotelli, on the other hand, looked dangerous when he was doing the job Rodgers asked of him, until his frustration started to get the better of him and he started to go maverick.

And then there was...

2) Lazar Markovic - the workhorse

(Image: John Powell)

Markovic also suffered the same fate as Lallana and Balotelli against Everton, and for fans of rival Premier League clubs who haven't seen Markovic in action during pre-season or earlier in his career, it'd be easy to jump to the conclusion that he's not up to scratch.

But this point has two sub-points, the first being that Markovic is a player of outstanding natural quality and creativity, even if he hasn't shown that in the Premier League yet. He will show it, but he's young, in a squad undergoing transition, and he needs time.

But secondly, the huge positive Liverpool fans can take out of Saturday's game is his work rate. He often tracked back deeper (and faster) than Henderson and Gerrard, and showed huge energy and commitment to the team, even when it was clear his passing game was falling apart.

Give him time.

3) Playing catch-up with Sterling

(Image: Getty)

When the rest of the Liverpool squad wakes up from their pre-season slumber and realises the Premier League season has kicked off, Sterling's incredible form will be further amplified.

The fact he's now being mentioned in the same breath as Real Madrid shows just how far Raheem has come in 18 months, if it wasn't for his naturally small frame he'd be virtually unplayable.

But he needs two or three attacking players around him who can give him the service he needs, and can benefit from his service. At the moment it's a bit of a one-way relationship, and Balotelli hasn't made the most of it so far.

He also needs...

4) The return of Daniel Sturridge

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He's *almost* back, and that means two things:

The return of a 20+ goal per season striker

The return of player who works well with Sterling, and can also help bring players like Markovic and Lallana up to speed.

5) Goal difference isn't a disaster

Despite some questionable displays of defending, Liverpool have only conceded two goals more than Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal.

Those teams are all doing far better when it comes to goals scored, and that's something which should come back with the return of Sturridge, and when some of the new attacking players bed into the team properly.

When Liverpool's attack starts firing on all cylinders again, confidence will grow. To play football the way Liverpool do, you need a team full of confident (and able) players.

The squad is brimming with ability, it just needs a bit of confidence. And that will come by getting points on the board.

Speaking of points...

6) It's a game of small margins

At this point in the season, the league table is starting to take shape, Chelsea are on top, Arsenal are comfortably in their home sweet home of fourth place, and newly promoted teams Burnley and QPR are in the relegation zone.

But only six games have been played. A win at the weekend would have put Liverpool up into 7th place (above Manchester United) instead of the 13th place they currently find themselves in.

If Liverpool are still in 13th place after 10 matches, then it might be time to start worrying, but not yet, it's still very early days.