Kenny Dalglish admits he was disappointed not to see Liverpool collect three points as they drew 1-1 with Sunderland at Anfield, but acknowledged a draw was a fair reflection of the contest.
The Reds took an early lead through a Luis Suarez header moments after the Uruguayan had missed a penalty.
Andy Carroll then had a goal ruled out for a foul, before Sunderland claimed a share of the spoils with a fine strike by Sebastian Larsson midway through the second half.
Afterwards, Dalglish told reporters: "I think over the game, even though Pepe only had to catch a couple of headers, for the effort and commitment they (Sunderland) put into the game, a draw was probably about right.
"We might have had a few more chances and were a wee bit unlucky in getting Andy Carroll's goal knocked off, which would have put us 2-0 up, but Sunderland made it difficult for us, they worked really hard and I think they deserved a point."
Sunderland could perhaps consider themselves somewhat fortunate not to have gone down to 10 men with the score still goalless when Kieran Richardson hauled down Suarez from behind inside the box after the striker had attempted to round Simon Mignolet.
Dalglish reflected: "You don't want to see people sent off. I don't know what the rule book says (about players being sent off), but if it's a clear goalscoring opportunity then you don't see any clearer than Luis Suarez one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
"If they say you're taking the ball away from the goal and so it's a yellow card (offence), well if you're in the middle of the goal and want to go around the goalkeeper, it's very difficult not to go away from goal, isn't it?
"We don't want to see anybody sent off, but we need to know where we stand and how they (referees) are going to implement the rules and the wording of them in the books. That's all we ask of them."
Liverpool handed no fewer than four players their Barclays Premier League debuts for the club, including Jose Enrique who only completed his transfer from Newcastle United on Friday morning, as well as Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson.
Dalglish admits he was satisfied with the performances of his new boys - but expects them to improve as they continue to settle into Anfield life.
"It's a big ordeal to come out and play your first game, especially for Jose who only signed yesterday," said the boss. "We weren't anticipating playing him because Fabio (Aurelio) was in last week, but he got injured, so we had no choice but to put Jose in.
"It's bad enough building up to your first competitive game at Anfield, but it's another thing being thrown in after just 24 hours.
"But I thought they all did something you'll remember them for in the game and all things considered, we're happy with them - but between now and the end of the season we'll be looking for an improvement."
As has been common in recent Liverpool versus Sunderland matches, today's contest was packed with incident and talking points.
Dalglish joked: "That's about four games a row now that something (talking point) has happened! There was the beach-ball goal, the free-kick here last season when Michael Turner kicked it towards the goalkeeper to take a free-kick and we went forward and scored.
"Then we had the penalty kick last season up at the Stadium of Light, which was outside the box.
"Maybe it's just this game!"
Meanwhile, journalists quizzed Dalglish for his thoughts on the partnership of Suarez and Carroll who played for 75 minutes together against the Black Cats.
He said: "They never had much chance to play together last year. Andy came to the club injured. He looks a lot fitter now. They'll be alright.
