Riera, who made his second successive league start following his transfer deadline day, is also unconcerned by Liverpool’s failure to hit their stride.

They are still unbeaten with 11 points out of 15 and the former Manchester City loan star is confident that the team will improve as the season progresses.

“It’s still very early in the Premier League,” Riera added. “It’s only the beginning and we will have many more matches that are better than today.

“It’s a long season and we must be patient. I’m sure we will get better but the most important thing is how we finish.

“Physically, when it comes to December and January teams can dip a little bit – you can’t be the same physically throughout the whole of the year. But we are progressing well and I’m sure we will be better. We lost two points today but and we’ll see what the other team do but it’s okay – where we are at the end is when we have to be judged.”

Dirk Kuyt, meanwhile, has added his voice of support to Torres, who he partnered up front towards the end of the draw with Stoke.

“He did really well and he was a bit unlucky, just like me, with his chances today. We were all a bit unlucky,” said the Dutchman. “But I’m sure he will start scoring goals really quickly because you can see the quality in every game.

“I’m sure he will be back to scoring goals – he played a really good game today but just didn’t score.

“He had an injury, he had a European tournament so sometimes you need a bit more time when you don’t have a real pre-season.

“We were beaten in the quarter-final at Euro 2008 unfortunately, so I’ve had more time to have a full pre-season.

“You’d have to ask the Spanish lads how they feel but they went all the way to the final and were in it to the end. But Fernando is fit now and even if he doesn’t score you can see he is a top quality striker, so no worries about him.”