Liverpool were held to a disappointing draw at home to Steve Bruce's side.
The reds did manage to keep their 2nd clean sheet in 19 matches, and end a 7 month wait for an Anfield league shut-out.
Mario Balotelli was given another chance to impress - Henderson, Coutinho and Glen Johnson all dropped to the bench.
The reds were poor for vast swathes of the opening 60 minutes - Lovren having the best chance - heading from a corner but it was headed off the line.
In the 61st minute Coutinho and Lambert were sent on - the reds switching to two up front and immediately the reds upped the tempo; Coutinho in particular being a revelation.
Liverpool went close in injury time - Coutinho saw a shot tipped over and Gerrard powered through the area only to be tackled at the final minute.
But ultimately it was too little too late. The reds fall to 7th this weekend and with almost a quarter of the season gone can only point to one impressive performance out of the 9 league games.
Liverpool have not pushed on since last season and the recruitment strategy over the summer appears to have taken Liverpool backwards.
Next up a visit from Swansea in the League Cup before a trip away to a rejuvenated Newcastle United.
They didn’t go with two up top. They stayed at 4-3-3 with Rickie as the #9 holding the ball up. Balotelli was moved to #11 and Sterling to #7. This worked better because Balotelli is useless at holding the ball up, but Rickie was able to get the ball and bring others into play.
Balotelli, looked quite dangerous when playing in tandem with Lambert. The scene changed sharply with Rickie and Coutinho coming in. I think we do have a positive from this match, clean sheet, improved relentless attacks in the last thirty minutes: the glass is not half empty but half full.