A 28-minute debut against Stoke City is no basis for judging a £22.8m signing but Luis Suárez has already helped Liverpool kick Fernando Torres into history. Like El Niño four years ago, Suárez scored on his Anfield debut and enlivened a crowd who had become obsessed with departures rather than arrivals.

With one new forward returning from a seven-game ban for biting and a second with a conviction for common assault, Liverpool's new strike force is guaranteed to unsettle defenders. In a more legal sense the whole frontline will, when Andy Carroll and Suárez are hunting in front of Steven Gerrard and Raul Meireles.

"I think the idea is to frighten a few people who come to Anfield. They are four really good footballers and they'll complement each other pretty well," said Kenny Dalglish, their manager. The new attacking Liverpool started to become visible as Gerrard and Meireles lined up in advanced midfield roles behind Dirk Kuyt. When Suárez disrobed it took him 16 minutes to locate the net in front of the Kop before his adrenaline wore off and the emotion drained him.

Carroll, dressed like a lawyer in a smart grey suit, was watching from the stands. Suárez had spent the previous day completing his work permit application and had yet to train with the squad. In the half-hour or so he was on the field he was imprecise at first but then speedy, agile and quick to exploit space, as befits a player who made his name in Holland.

On this meagre evidence he will torment centre-backs, who will fear his spearing runs, and confuse defensive midfielders, who will have to track his deeper moves. His goal, Liverpool's second, was fortuitous: an angled scuff which was rolling towards the line when Stoke's Andy Wilkinson tried to clear it and deflected the ball in off a post.

A formula to accommodate both Gerrard and Meireles, who scored the opener, behind the two new strikers could be problematic but football is not really about formations. The point is that Dalglish now has a quartet of foragers who will swing plenty of tight games his way. By an unforeseeable twist, losing the most expensive player to wear the Liver bird has broken the dependence on two star turns: Torres, who probably left months ago, in his head, and Gerrard, the over-burdened embodiment of all things Liverpool.

Gary Neville retires and two new goalscorers march into Anfield: how much better could it be for a Liverpool fan? A lot, you would have said at kick-off time, because Anfield was still subdued. Splodges of empty seats were testament to hard times in the local economy, tough times in the heart.

Carroll was cheered on to the pitch before the start and Suárez treated to a standing ovation from the Kop. A lusty roar marked his arrival in place of Fábio Aurélio. There was no rash of adulatory banners. Perhaps the Alberto Aquilani memory is still too strong. Aquliani had been drawn as a Roman conqueror. After the painful Torres episode, when allegiance was shown to be a highly elastic concept, recruits may have to work harder and stay longer to earn the kind of reverence bestowed on the manager and his golden generation.

Dalglish was always a clever dude, but no one could have guessed he would resume as manager after 20 years with such a sure touch. In three weeks he has smoothed the flight of Torres, spent £58m on replacements and coasted through his media engagements. This was his third straight win, with three clean sheets.

The Liverpool programme makers were slow off the mark. Torres was still listed on the back pages, Kuyt was the front-cover shot and there was no mention of the new acquisitions. In the club shop downtown, though, Carroll and Suárez shirts filled the window displays. Torres was wiped from the story.

In formal club gear, the hulking Carroll might have been reporting for duty with Martin Johnson's England ahead of the Six Nations opener in Cardiff. Built like a flank forward, and with an apparent fondness for hand to hand combat, Suárez's new accomplice, Andy Carroll, will punch plenty of holes when he is fit to touch the "This is Anfield" board.

Suárez spoke of the "energy and spirit" of English football. In his orange boots, he lined up to the left of Kuyt but was soon slipping off the front to demand the ball. The cost of biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal on the shoulder was apparent in his early mis-controls, but his speed and mobility were instantly appealing.

In less than a month Dalglish has lost a household name but rebuilt the front of his side. Just to see Suárez on the pitch in his old No7 shirt must have felt reassuring. No longer is Liverpool's time spent worrying about who will leave next. Instead all eyes are on the new boys, the future.