A few points about last night.

Watching the match back now, and a few things are sticking out.

First of all, our forward line is showing real evidence of cohesion. Sterling's first goal was a textbook case of Suarez as a false nine causing trouble in a deeper area that distorts the opposition back line, with the right wing forward making a run for a through ball.

Also, there were a few times where Suarez dropped out right and Sterling made intelligent runs through the centre; Suarez's first goal was a prime example, he out-muscled Cuellar on our right flank and turned infield, driving into the box. Sterling had read the situation and made an excellent run towards the penalty spot, and Suarez arguably should've fed him, considering the angle he was at.

A similar but less obvious instance occurred during a counter-attack in the first half. Suarez broke down the right and fed Henderson in the centre, who in turn fed it first time out to the left to Downing. Downing ended up taking a pretty ambitious shot on, but he actually had Sterling motoring through the centre to support him. In effect, during this breakaway, Downing was in his nominal position of left wing forward, but Suarez dropped out to right wing forward, Henderson advanced into a centre-forward position, and Sterling busted a gut to get forward into an attacking midfield position to back up the play.

The fluidity, intelligence and willingness to recognise which positions needed be filled in order to attack effectively was impressive, and with Sturridge coming in to offer pace, power and goal threat to that right-wing position, we should only get stronger. As soon as himself and Suarez strike up an understanding with their movement, they could be tremendously difficult to deal with. Sunderland just never got to grips with the interchanging of positions.

We also seemed to grow into the game more when we could push the defence a bit further forward. This allows the process of the centre-backs splitting and Lucas dropping between them to occur more comfortably (rather than in front of the 18 yard box), and allows the other midfielders more opportunities to pick their supporting runs better.

We've had some trouble with teams pressing us high, so I think we shouldn't be afraid to go more direct and push up as a unit if teams adopt this tactic; we can then trust ourselves to win the ball higher up and then fall into our attacking shape. There's no point in faffing about in increasingly deeper areas if we're going to have to pump it long eventually with our centre-backs near the corner flags.

Joe Allen actually looked outstanding as an advanced midfielder when he came on. I thought Suso, whilst quiet enough in that right-sided role which won't be his favourite, still displayed an ability to pick up good positions. I think he remains a definite option for a central attacking role, especially if we go with someone playing at number 10. He dropped into the centre at one stage and nearly constructed a carbon copy of Sahin's winner at The Hawthorns in the League Cup. He picked the ball up and ran at the defence with his head up, causing the defence to contract, before feeding it out to Downing (it was Assaidi at WBA) who crossed. In this instance a defender got a touch on it and then Allen had a shot blocked, but Suso looks so comfortable playing in front of the opposition defence.

Our next league game is at Old Trafford, and whilst I'm not confident, I hope that no matter what the result is, we can build on the fluidity we've shown in recent weeks, because we're looking pretty good.