THE feet did the talking at Anfield last night. And the message coming from Liverpool was loud and clear.

After the false start of opening-day defeat at Tottenham Hotspur, Rafael Benitez’s side kick-started their Premier League campaign in emphatic fashion.

On a day when the rumour mill had the Spaniard having left the club in mid-afternoon, his players responded to their title aspirations being called into question by taking out their frustrations on Stoke City.

The Potters were the only Premier League team Liverpool failed to score against last season, holding out for a stalemate at Anfield last September.

It was the first of a series of damaging home draws that ultimately undermined the championship challenge of Benitez’s side, a shortcoming that the manager acknowledges must be addressed.

This, then, was a step in the right direction. Having been told by his manager to cut out the complaining to defenders after an ineffective performance White Hart Lane on Sunday, Fernando Torres took just four minutes to show he had learned the lesson by putting Liverpool ahead.

Glen Johnson, making his Anfield debut, added a spectacular second on the stroke of half-time before Dirk Kuyt and substitute David Ngog completed the win with late strikes.

Johnson has been bought to add more attacking threat from right-back, and has now scored half the total his predecessor Alvaro Arbeloa managed during his Anfield career.

More will surely follow. As was already evident at White Hart Lane, the England international has added an extra dimension to Liverpool’s forward play, and that £17m already appears money well spent.

Barely days into the season, the annual speculation over Benitez’s future led one media outlet proclaiming that a bookmaker – who just so happened to be one of their major sponsors – had stopped taking bets on the Spaniard leaving the club.

Needless to say, it was complete nonsense, but that the rumour was given such credence underlined the difficult few days Benitez has been forced to endure with the opening-day defeat compounded by the revelations concerning his transfer budget.

Such problems were enough for one supporters’ group to hand out red cards to fans outside the ground that told the club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett exactly where to go. Many were waved vigorously before kick-off.

Of course, one win won’t mask the justified concerns going into the campaign, just as defeat on Sunday didn’t mean their title hopes should be dismissed.

But this victory means Liverpool are actually two points better off from their respective fixtures last year. Indeed, Manchester United’s defeat at Burnley is further evidence the championship race may be more closely fought than in recent years.

While Jamie Carragher – resplendent in black head bandage – was passed fit to make his 400th league appearance, Martin Skrtel was ruled out by the crack to the jaw he suffered during the collision with his fellow centre-back on Sunday.

With Daniel Agger still out with a worrying back injury, it meant a full debut for Danny Ayala, who had replaced Skrtel for the final 15 minutes at White Hart Lane.

The 18-year-old centre-back, cajoled throughout by Carragher and given generous support by the home crowd, refused to be intimidated by the experienced strike-force of James Beattie, Richard Cresswell and later Ricardo Fuller.