'The boss had to be hard at half-time'

Having raced into a two-goal advantage via a Ryan Shawcross own goal and yet another Luis Suarez effort, the Reds allowed former players Peter Crouch and Charlie Adam to level the score before the break.

A Steven Gerrard penalty paved the way for Suarez to add his second, while substitute Daniel Sturridge notched from close range to ensure Jonathan Walters' late finish meant little in a 5-3 victory.

The away side's response when the action resumed at the Britannia Stadium can be attributed to a forthright message from the manager, according to Kolo Toure, who admitted the Northern Irishman needed to be 'hard' on his team.

"He went hard on us and told us the right thing, because he knew that we were going to score more goals but we had to defend better - which we did in the second half," the Ivorian told Liverpoolfc.com.

"When you play against a Stoke team, they have Peter Crouch, who is very tall, and they put the ball high and he goes for it.

"In the second half, we did better with that. We know our strikers can score goals at any time and that's great for us.

"It was important to win this game because it's always difficult to come to Stoke; that was their second loss at home. For us, it was vital we got the three points here. Now we are back in the top four and we are really happy with that."

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With vice-captain Daniel Agger absent through injury for the trip to the Potters, Toure was selected for a first Barclays Premier League start since the disappointing defeat by Hull City on December 1.

An honest and committed performer, the 32-year-old accepted that room for improvement remains despite his side climbing back into the top four of the standings with the win in Stoke.

He said: "It wasn't easy, especially at Stoke. I'm very happy that we won but there were a few mistakes there - we are going to work on that and get better."