Liverpool - 3 Southampton - 0 The league table pinned to the notice board was accurate for barely two hours but, as the name of Anfield's new idol echoed round the emptying arena, Liverpool's support hardly cared.
"I said El Hadji Diouf was something special," smiled Gerard Houllier. "No one here had heard of him before the World Cup. Everyone has now."
With the theatrical timing of a man who announced himself on the biggest stage by ripping the champions France to shreds in the World Cup's opening game, Diouf conjured up a similarly spectacular display to mark his Anfield debut. A pair of poacher's goals blew away Southampton and took Liverpool briefly top.
"He's got so much quality I'm not surprised to see him playing so well at a club the size of Liverpool," said the visitors' winger Fabrice Fernandes, who played alongside the Senegal striker at Rennes. "When I was at Fulham he told me he'd come to England when the next opportunity cropped up. I don't think anyone can doubt he'll make an impact."
Diouf already has, albeit assisted by Southampton's inadequacies. Houllier spent £10 million on a raw talent this summer, a 21-year-old who was still playing as a goalkeeper for his local amateur team in Senegal a few years ago and whose career in France had been tinged with controversy.
His spell at Rennes ended after Diouf earned a criminal record for crashing a team-mate's car when driving without a licence. Then the Lens coach Joel Muller, a man who handled the tearaway better than most, lost him for over a week after the African Nations Cup earlier this year as Diouf opted to celebrate in Dakar. Given Houllier steered clear of signing Nicolas Anelka, his decision to turn to the self-styled "Serial Killer" prompted raised eyebrows.
"He won't cause Liverpool a problem," said Fernandes, who swapped only his shirt with his friend on the final whistle after promising a full strip should Diouf score twice. "When he was 18 or 19 he had a few difficulties at Rennes but now he understands how to be a professional footballer. He loves football but he loves life too."
The African footballer of the year took six minutes of the World Cup opener to dump Marcel Desailly on his backside. Against Southampton he took less time to make his mark, sprinting into the box after three minutes to chest in the excellent Emile Heskey's whipped cross from the left. Paul Telfer's slip in the build-up to that goal scuppered the visitors' game plan, based primarily on containment. Any back-up was wrecked by their inability to deal with Abel Xavier's throw and Heskey's flicked header just after the interval, with Diouf leaping to nod in his second.
The brace suggested Liverpool have finally uncovered a forward to relieve the goalscoring pressures placed on Michael Owen, though others doubt it. Diouf scored 10 times for Lens in France last season, meaning that in almost four seasons of league football he has scored fewer than 20 goals.
Diouf may not find other Premiership opponents as accommodating as Southampton, whose manager Gordon Strachan went ballistic after the second concession. By then his team were without the hamstrung Claus Lundekvam and had been outmanoeuvred in midfield for long enough to suggest that the home side would prise out a comfortable win.
Wayne Bridge's crude trip on the substitute Bruno Cheyrou allowed the outstanding Danny Murphy to crunch home a third at the end as consolation for striking the woodwork in the first half.
Guardian Service
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Xavier, Hyypia, Henchoz, Traore, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard (Cheyrou 85), Heskey, Diouf (Smicer 81), Owen (Riise 72). Subs Not Used: Kirkland, Carragher. Goals: Diouf 3, 51, Murphy 90 pen.
SOUTHAMPTON: Jones, Delap, Lundekvam (Michael Svensson 44), Williams, Bridge, Telfer, Anders Svensson, Marsden, Fernandes, Pahars (Tessem 57), Beattie. Subs Not Used: Oakley, Moss, Ormerod. Booked: Williams.
Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).
