90+ mins: One last chance for Stoke as Walters and Jones nearly break through but they don't have the ball under control.
90 mins: There will be three minutes added time, and there's a bit of a ruckus between Steven N'Zonzi and Coutinho. A raised hand from N'Zonzi, and he could well have gone for that slap at Coutinho.
89 mins: Here comes Walters.... MIGNOLET SAVES! Jonathan Walters drills it low to Mignolet's right, not a great pen but not terrible. Mignolet pushes it away. And he does even better with the follow up! He manages to get his legs in the way of the shot as Jones follows in. Stoke clear the corner. Mignolet the hero on debut!
87 mins: PENALTY TO STOKE Oh my days! A long ball pumped into the area for Stoke, Daniel Agger attempts an utterly bizarre karate kick and is hit on the hand. Penalty.
85 mins: Break from Liverpool and, not for the first time in this match, Coutinho tries a lame shot when there are team-mates perhaps better placed. He's what we used to call a hogger.
84 mins: The pressure is from Stoke now, several balls into the Liverpool box they cannot get clear.
82 mins: Of shirt-pulling in the area, Mark Halsey says: "They're all doing it in there, you don't go looking for trouble. It's very difficult for the referee" i.e. you don't give penalties for it. An unintentionally revealing insight into the thought-process of a top referee.
80 mins: Ridiculous shot from Enrique from pretty much on the left touchline. Well wide, obviously. Nice hand for Crouchy. Kenwyne Jones is on. "He's very laid back," says Owen. "If you get him riled, get him in the mood, he is unstoppable." Mark H has no further subs.
79 mins: Agger heads for goal and Kolo Toure gets in the way, stabbing it wide. I'm not sure that wouldn't have gone in, had he just left it. Toure has his head in his hands, which rather suggests it might have.
78 mins: Loving this Begovic. Gerrard strikes a superb long free kick, and Beggo pulls off yet another super save to push it over.
75 mins: Raheem Sterling bursts through, I thought he might have taken a dive there, but he stays on his feet and the ball runs away from him. Stoke scramble clear. Liverpool could have had six goals today.
73 mins: Tony Pulis wants Stoke to get more bodies into the box. Yeah, I'll bet.
71 mins: Iago Aspas comes off, gets a warm hand from the fans, Raheem Sterling comes on in his stead.
68 mins: But despite being all over Stoke, Liverpool are not safe yet. Huth muscles a bit of space after a corner and through sheer brute strength forces a ball through, beating Daniel Agger's block and drawing the save from Mignolet. He looks a good shot-stopper. Worries for the Liverpool fans as Steven Gerrard goes down, but he looks okay to carry on.
66 mins: All hands to the pump for Stoke as they bundle another corner away. Kolo Toure trying to chip the ball into the six-yard box.
64 mins: Another fantastic shot from Liverpool as Jordan Henderson lets fly, and Begovic produces another quite wonderful save, leaping full length to get a tiny tip on it and send the ball crashing onto the post. The Stoke keeper has had a superb afternoon so far.
62 mins: Stoke bring on not one but two former Liverpool players: Charlie Adam and Jermaine Pennant into the action. Matthew Etherington and Glenn Whelan give way.
60 mins: Aspas wins a header from the corner but there's nobody to pick up the flick on at the back stick.
59 mins: Here's Sturridge with yet another bursting run after yet another nice ball from Coutinho. "Second touch was poor," says Owen. "He gave himself no chance with that." Easy for Beggo to turn that behind.
57 mins: Pressure down the right from Liverpool, they're keeping the ball quite well, trying to make Stoke work. It feels like both sides are taking stock.
55 mins: No real direction to the game since the half, plenty of good tackles and energy but other than those two Liverpool shots, not a lot to tell you about.
52 mins: Great overlapping break from Liverpool, they've got men pouring foward and this looks highly dangerous. Sturridge fluffs the shot but it breaks to Henderson, who lets fly. A magnificent save from Begovic!
48 mins: Enrique and Cameron in a thunderous challenge, it ends with Cameron in the first few rows of the crowd! Wilson Palacios, who was in the starting XI for Stoke was a late withdrawal with illness and had to go to hospital. Hope he is okay.
47 mins: Coutinho allowed to break down the left, no Stoke challenge comes in, Huth backing off and despite having two runners to his right, Coutinho goes it alone and shoots as he comes into the box, putting it wide at the far post.
46 mins: Second half underway. All the pundits on BT Sport reckon that Aspas has had an excellent game so far and that he'll be hard for Rogers to leave out even if Suarez does come back in.
13.45 Pretty standard half-time chat from what I saw of it on BT Sport. Anyhow, on with the football.
13.40 Fun start to the season then. Liverpool fans will be encouraged, but I fancy Stoke to get one back here. Also going on at the moment is the big West Yorkshire game in the Championship, where it is one goal apiece between Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday.
GL. Bred Jones
DF. Jose Enrique,Daniel Agger, Andre Wusdom, Glen Johnson
CDM. Geoffrey Kondogbia, Steven Gerard(C)
CAM. Arda Turan
LW. Suso
RW. Raheem Sterling
ST. Daniel Sturridge
Subs. Leandro, Filippe Coutinho, Sebastian Coates, Fabio Borini, Conar Coady,Danny Ward,Jon Flanagan. That is my Champions League place getting team."
HALF TIME Liverpool 1 Stoke City 0 An enjoyable half of football. Liverpool look handy going forward, Coutinho and Sturridge running dangerously at the Stoke back-line. New boy Aspas has been decent if on the quiet side. At the back, Liverpool are dodge. Mignolet not at all convincing under the admittedly stern test provided by Crouch and company in the air. Stoke playing more of a passing game than we saw last season.
45 mins: A deep ball in from the right leads to a bundled shot-deflection-shove-type-thing from Stoke at the back post, Huth I think, and it is scrambled off the line with Mignolet beaten. Now a deep ball into the Liverpool box and the keeper has come off second best against Crouch. Dangerous times for Liverpool but they just about manage to hold on, and they go into half-time with a deserved lead.
44 mins: First booking of the season and, natch, it's Steven N'Zonzi. He's got into it with Lucas and goes in the book. Stoke finishing the half the stronger. That was all a bit confusing, I thought initially that Lucas had been booked. Six of one, half a dozen of the other for mine, but there you have it.
43 mins: More good work from Sturridge, he's giving the Stoke back like a bit of a roasting. A corner drifts harmlessly over everyone.
41 mins: Bit of head tennis between Crouch and Jonathan Walters on the edge of the Liverpool box, the Reds cannot clear, and it drops for Walters. Lash! A super strike from JW and Mignolet produces an excellent diving save to his left. I hope that will give him some confidence.
40 mins: Michael Owen: "Stoke have played well but Liverpool deserved the goal, they have looked really dangerous when they attack. The interchanging has been excellent."
37 mins: But there's no stopping that one! Sturridge gets the ball a few yards outside the box, shifts it, and hits a very good left-foot striker right into the corner and Begovic cannot get across.
35 mins: Now it's Sturridge, and it's another superb save from Begovic.
33 mins: Ooh, big chance! Ball is slipped through to Jordan Henderson, but Begovic, in the words of Micahel Owen "has made himself big to deny Henderson." Quite so. Old Beggers is having quite the game between the sticks. Imagine what he'll be like when he's fully grown (see David James interview earlier.)
32 mins: More shots of Suarez in the stands, clutching his child. Wonder if this is a calculated PR move?
28 mins: Excellent forward play from Liverpool now draws a smart save from Begovic. Coutinho and Aspas combine well to free Enrique, Begovic gets it half clear. Gerrard with the Hollywood effort but miles over.
26 mins: Something of a lull after an enjoyable first quarter of the match. Liverpool quite handy going forward, but defensively a bit shaky. Mignolet looks dodgy. Aspas not done a great deal but Sturridge and Coutinho have had their moments. Stoke, on this limited evidence, appear to be more inclined to play football.
24 mins: Stoke, dare I say it, are actually playing some quite neat passing football at the moment.
23 mins: More attractive approach work from Liverpool but Coutinho has lashed the shot miles over.
22 mins: Michael Owen notes that N'Zonzi is playing in a more advanced position than during his own time in the Potteries. "Top player, but he's got a temperament," says Michael. "He's a bottle of pop, he can blow."
20 mins: Nice run from Coutinho, pace and lots of swerve as he cuts Stoke open, but he has overhit his through ball and it makes what could have been a good chance for Aspas into a very hard one. He sticks out a leg but can't direct the shot.
18 mins: Two fouls involving Crouch, he's penalised for a tackle down the left on Agger, harshly I though, and now finds himself sandwiched between two Liverpool defenders in the box. Searching long ball in, and Mignolet should have come for that rather than watching it bounce on the six-yard line. Lucky for him that the ref felt Crouch was looking for the foul.
16 mins: Been a very good game so far, both number fours have hit the bar, and Liverpool have played some nice football.
15 mins: Michael Owen notes that he himself would have gone down in that situation to win the penno, as would have many strikers. Begovic hurled himself at the feet of Sturridge and it looked to me that there was a bit of contact. Certainly Sturridge could have made more of it.
13 mins: Coutinho drifts between the lines and slips it to Sturridge. He does well to go round the keeper and stay on his feet but Begovic has done just enough to drive the forward wide, and although Sturridge flicks a nice ball into the box with the keeper nowhere, Stoke have enough men back to scramble clear.
12 mins: Liverpool get a corner, another superb ball in from Gerrard and Kolo Toure rises majestically to power a header onto the crossbar. Sturridge scoops the rebound well over.
11 mins: Great ball in from Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge with the header and it's in! But the linesman has his flag up and it's ruled offside, correctly on first look.
10 mins: Silly freekick conceded by Stoke on the edge of their own box as Glenn Johnson is tugged down going nowhere.
7 mins: Stoke make a good break and win a corner. Half cleared, Peter Crouch making a nuisance of himself, Liverpool cannot clear and now Huth has a go! He's hit the bar. New keeper Mignolet didn't look like he enjoyed duking it out with Crouch and company much.
6 mins: Johnson bombing down the right now, Liverpool over-running Stoke at the moment.
5 mins: Stoke have hardly touched the ball yet which, y'know, is just the way they like it. But territorially it's all Liverpool as their fans roar them on.
3 mins: Good start from Liverpool, lots of energy, and Stoke are really having a hard time getting out of their own third.
2 mins: Gerrard has a chance to play a deep freekick into the box but Ryan Shawcross defends solidly. But Sturridge has now wriggled down the right and Stoke having a hard time clearing. Tries to find new boy Aspas but the ball's behind him.
1mins: Some ball down the right for Sturridge, but his cross is blocked.
12.45 Let's play! Wilson Palacios out, Marc Wilson in for Stoke. Late change.
12.44 Mark Atkinson is the man in charge. You'll Never Walk Alone rings around the ground. Exciting!
12.42 Tough test for both sides, you would say. Stoke not really the side you'd pick to start against if you are trying to bed in a new, untested forward. Obviously the Suarez situation muddies the waters, but you have to say: it's quite remarkable for a club of Liverpool's standing and ambition to be opening their campaign with an untested (in this league) new recruit leading their attack. Good luck to Iago Aspas.
12.40 Anyhow. Enough TV. We've got football. Actual Premier League football is back.
12.35 Okay, well, my first impressions of this BT Coverage are that it is pretty good. There are a few innovations, new bits and bobs like the giant pitch and the goal-line business, so many pundits and interviews that if you don't like one, at least there'll be another one along in a minute. (Contrast the extended exposure to Shearer of the BBC for instance.) It's probably a bit busy for some tastes, but they can always ditch the bits that aren't working. Humphreys is a bit puppy-ish for my taste, but is not unlikeable. On current evidence there isn't someone in the studio with real gravitas. But all things considered, I think there's reason for optimism.
12.32 Owen Hargreaves says Coutinho could be "potentially the best player in the Premier League this season."
12.29 "I look to get as much attacking talent onto the field as possible. Kolo Toure has been outstanding in pre-season. His experience and willing mentality are exceptional. Out of respect of to all the other players I am not going to mention Luis Suarez. All I will say is he is smiling and happy and he's in the group."
12.26 Anyway, football will soon be breaking out. Blimey, another interview with Brendan Rogers. This time in the tunnel with Ray.
12.24 David James has got a jacket with a pen in the pocket. "You look the part as a journalist, Jamo," says Humphrey. That tweeting man down below must be having a fit.
12.20 I'm going to be knackered by the time the football starts at this rate. Next treat in this veritable feast of preview is an interview with Mark Hughes by Ray Stubbs. Respectful to the point of reverential from Ray: "you're one of the most experienced managers in the Premier League, do you think people sometimes forget that?" Woah, easy there, Paxman.
12.16 Wow. BT Sport are really going for it! They've got a huge model pitch in the studio, upon which Tony Pulis is now explaining how he set up his Stoke side against Liverpool last season, telling them to press up early when keeper Pepe Reina had the ball, which led to an early goal. We've gone tech crazy! We're living in the future.
12.11 Interview with Brendan Rogers there. Blah de blah all about the fans blah.
12.09 Hilarious interview from David James now. He's grilling Asmir Begovic on whether he has grown or not. I don't mean like, as a player. Or as an artist. As in "have you got any bigger?" David asks: "do your boots and gloves still fit?" Humphrey and McManaman agree that James must do all the pre-match interviews from now on, and I heartily agree. Here's an alternative view from a chap on the Twitters.
12.04 BT Sport have so many toys that I can hardly keep up. Now we're having a chat with Mark Halsey, and I think I am right in saying that BT Sport plan to have a referee at every match, so that should be interesting. Meanwhile, over at Anfield they're up to much the same sort of caper as Macca, Jamo and Humphreyo have just been: testing out the goal-line machine.
Referee Martin Atkinson tests out the technology
11.58 Early season outing for "linesman - or assistant referee as we should call them" from Jake H. Oh, Jake. You're only like 23 or something. No need to pretend to be an old fogey. Richard Keys and Andy Gray are dead, baby. This is your time.
We were rudely interuppted by the team news there so I didn't get a chance to tell you that BT Sport have set up a goal in their studio so Steve McManaman and David James can demonstrate the new goal decision system. Sports bants alert! "Macca" trying to strike the ball so it bounces off the underside of the bar over (or not over) the line. He can't! Ha ha ha bants. "Jamo" instead has to drop the ball on the line. Jake Humphrey's watch goes off and flashes "GOAL", so that all seems to be working pretty well.
11.55 Who better than Tony Pulis to run the rule over what is basically his team? He notes that the wingers defend well outside but can be attacked on the inside But he sees the N'Zonzi and Palacios central core to be very strong, and expects a no-nonsense, solid start from Stoke.
11.53 Team news. Mignolet in for Liverpool, no Joe Allen. Iago Aspas starts. No Suarez, as we expected.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Johnson, Enrique, Toure, Agger, Lucas, Henderson, Gerrard, Coutinho, Aspas, Sturridge.
Stoke City: Begovic, Pieters, Huth, Shawcross, Cameron, Whelan, N'Zonzi, Palacios, Wilson, Etherington, Walters, Crouch.
11.50 Of course, no mention of Liverpool is complete without some intrigue and debate over Luis Suarez. We hear he is back training with the firsts.
A tantrum-prone toddler there, and also a child one presumes is Luis Suarez's daughter
11.45 Hello everybody. Hello Premier League football. And hello BT Sport, who have begun their first live match with a rendition of the BT Sport, er, anthem, 'Come Together', performed live in the studio by Primal Scream. In the studio are Tony Pulis, Owen Hargreaves and Steve McManananananaman, all under the affable yoke of young Jake Humphrey, who looks suitably excited and clean-cut.
And now we're off to Anfield where Ray Stubbs has found David James in the changing rooms (a pre-planned meeting, I should add - the former Liverpool goalkeeper isn't just lurking there randomly). And here's Michael Owen, to give Ray a tour around that famous tunnel, down the 13 steps under the 'This Is Anfield' sign and then up ten onto the pitch. Good start for BT, drawing the viewer in, and it's all quite exciting as we prepare for not just for Liverpool v Stoke City but for the Premier League season ahead.
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