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• Liverpool manager happy with the attitude of fringe players
• Joe Cole and Christian Poulsen could go to bring in fresh funds

Kenny Dalglish has praised Liverpool’s fringe players for their contribution towards the club’s upturn in fortunes, although that will not prevent a cull of the squad at the end of the season.

Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, David Ngog and Christian Poulsen have rarely featured since Dalglish became manager in January and Liverpool are likely to consider to offers for all in the summer. Cole has started just two Europa League games under the new manager and Jonjo Shelvey was preferred to the former England international when Dalglish was forced to withdraw the injured Andy Carroll against Arsenal last weekend.

Despite the club reportedly securing the biggest kit deal in English football with a £25m-a-year contract with the Boston-based Warrior Sports, Liverpool are looking to raise additional transfer funds in the summer and will offload players currently out on loan, such as Alberto Aquilani, Emiliano Insúa and Paul Konchesky. Yet Dalglish says he has had no problems from those he has overlooked.

“The important thing for us are the players who aren’t playing because their attitude is really important. They have been brilliant,” the Liverpool manager said, speaking ahead of Saturday’s home game against Birmingham City. “They came in on Monday morning and trained fantastically well. Most of them are forward players, apart from Christian, and it’s difficult for us to get them a game because our injuries are at the back. They are deserving of a game because of their attitude and the way they have gone about their work.”

One player who has voiced his disaffection at Liverpool is the Serbia international Jovanovic, who admits he “made a mistake” in moving to Anfield on a free transfer last summer having been signed by Rafael Benítez. But Dalglish countered: “I don’t know what’s going to happen with Milan. He’s been injured and still has a problem with his knee so if you are not fit it’s difficult to be selected.”

The Liverpool manager believes there is a new-found belief in the squad since his arrival, with the signings of Carroll and Luis Suárez instrumental in lifting the mood of the club. He said: “I had belief in them [when he took over] but they had to get belief in themselves. The first game at Old Trafford after they went down to 10 men after giving a penalty away in the first minute to the same referee we’ve got on Saturday [Howard Webb], it was fantastic the way they hung on in there.

“OK, we lost at Blackpool, but you could see they were determined to get something out of the game. They’ve been fantastic in training, their approach and their attitude, and I think getting Luis and Andy was a big thing in January. That lifted everyone. I think also bringing the youngsters in, if they’re good enough to play, in a strange way gives the other first-team players a lift seeing some young faces in there.”

LiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Captain is still recovering from a groin injury
• Raheem Sterling could become Liverpool’s youngest player

The Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, was not included in the squad which travelled to the Czech Republic to face Sparta Prague as he continues to recover from a groin injury.

The centre-back Daniel Agger was also left behind with a similar problem but the manager, Kenny Dalglish, did include the youngster Raheem Sterling.

The forward, who scored five goals in Monday’s 9-0 FA Youth Cup demolition of Southend United, will become the club’s youngest player aged just 16 years and 71 days if he gets on to the pitch on Thursday.

Other youngsters Conor Coady, John Flanagan, Tom Ince and Jack Robinson – who set the record as the club’s youngest player against Hull City last May – also travel.

The midfielder Christian Poulsen misses the clash at the Stadion Letna after his wife went into labour. However, Joe Cole returns from a knee injury and fellow midfielder Raul Meireles has recovered from the sickness that saw him withdrawn at half-time against Wigan on Saturday.

Team from:

Reina, Jones, Gulacsi, Johnson, Flanagan, Aurélio, Robinson, Kyrgiakos, Wilson, Carragher, Kelly, Skrtel, Meireles, Cole, Rodríguez, Jovanovic, Lucas, Coady, Ince, Sterling, Pacheco, Kuyt, Ngog.

LiverpoolSteven GerrardEuropa Leagueguardian.co.uk

The scriptwriters guild joined the process of erasing Fernando Torres from Liverpool’s consciousness tonight. It had begun with the £57.8m outlay on his replacements on Monday night and was accelerated against Stoke when Luis Suárez emerged from the substitutes bench to seal victory on his Anfield debut. Even the new Liverpool No7’s name scanned into the song that was once reserved for the man from Madrid.

Suárez, the £22.8m signing from Ajax, had only been on the pitch 16 minutes when he latched on to Dirk Kuyt’s through-ball, rounded Asmir Begovic in the Stoke City goal and rolled his shot into the Kop net. That Andy Wilkinson, the Stoke defender, made a vain attempt to clear on the goal-line and succeeded only in converting in off his own post was dismissed as inconsequential. Suárez, quick and alert in the penalty box, was granted the dream start for a shot that was goalbound anyhow, and who in their right mind was really going to take that from him?

Liverpool exist between extremes at present. A team on the rise, according to Kenny Dalglish, and able to make Andy Carroll the most expensive British footballer of all time, and a team that are unable to compete for the highest honours due to a lack of investment, according to the actions of Torres. They are also a club mourning the loss of a great if brooding talent while captivated at the arrival of a new £57.8m attack that was restricted to a seat on the bench due to recent inactivity (Suárez) or in the directors’ box due to injury (Carroll). In the meantime they must make do and mend, as a drastic change in formation and slow-burning display against Stoke demonstrated.

The great consolation for Anfield as Liverpool began minus Torres, Suárez and Carroll is that their team will not always be so limited in attack. Their opening providing a galling vision of what life would have been like had Tom Hicks and George Gillett remained in charge and been spending £50m transfer windfalls at the bank rather than on the pitch, and was not one Dalglish will want to revisit too often.

Liverpool’s manager responded to the loss of his leading striker and the obvious threat posed by a Stoke side containing John Carew by stringing three centre-halves across his defence, Kuyt up front on his own and pushing both Steven Gerrard and Raul Meireles up in support. The immediate response was uncertain, with the visitors threatening down either flank though often leaving Carew isolated when delivering into the Liverpool area.

For all their possession Stoke failed to test José Reina in the first half and it was Begovic in the visiting goal who produced heroics to prevent Liverpool capitalising as their performance improved. Salif Diao, the long and deliberately forgotten former Liverpool midfielder, cleared off his own goal-line from a Sotirios Kyrgiakos header early on in the game but Stoke were comfortable until the final stages of the opening period.

Dalglish responded to the lethargy by sending out Suárez for a warm-up and rapturous reception in the 36th minute. His impact was remarkable, although then again he did cost £22.8m. Within seconds Martin Kelly swept an inviting cross from the right on to the head of Glen Johnson but Begovic kept his effort out with a fine one-handed stop before Robert Huth hooked clear.

A similar routine, this time involving Gerrard and Kuyt, resulted in a glancing header wide from the unmarked Dutch international moments later – Carroll must have been cringing in the Main Stand – then Kuyt sliced over after his captain headed into his path. The Liverpool striker finally hit the target following slick passing on the edge of the Stoke penalty area but again Begovic saved well.

The Bosnian keeper was beaten within two minutes of the restart as Liverpool refused to allow the half-time interval to disrupt their momentum. Diao’s foul presented Gerrard with a free-kick 30 yards from goal that deflected off the Stoke wall and into the path of Kyrgiakos. The Greek defender controlled as a true centre-half would, but his wayward touch fell perfectly for Meireles to drive home his third goal in four games from 12 yards.

Meireles has been instrumental to Liverpool’s recovery under Dalglish and, with Paul Konchesky despatched on an emergency loan to Nottingham Forest, Christian Poulsen withdrawn moments before kick-off with a back spasm and Joe Cole not involved, he was also the only Roy Hodgson signing involved here.

With the exception of the odd foray by Jermaine Pennant and an angled shot just wide from Carew, Stoke offered minimal threat from open play or set pieces. Tony Pulis sought to address that with the introduction of Rory Delap and Ricardo Fuller, then quickly lost Abdoulaye Faye to a hamstring strain, and their night continued to deteriorate.

Premier LeagueLiverpoolStoke CityAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk