Two Up, Two Down: Positives & Negatives From Sunderland’s Trip To Anfield

Lars Knutsen says…

Talbi was the goalscoring star, but this was another fantastic team performance. We at least matched Liverpool in terms of pace, shape and determination. To go ahead at Anfield, home of the current Champions, was almost a “coming of age” for this Sunderland team. We are back, we are competing and deserve our elevated position in this league. And Wilson Isidor nearly nicked a victory for us at the end.

In the first half, we did well for long periods against a strangely anonymous Liverpool side. Alisson looked anxious throughout. Liverpool dominated at the start of the second, but overall, they failed to convince and did not create many chances. Their late, deflected equaliser was welcomed by the home fans, but overall we defended extremely well, and had six shots on target to the home team’s four.

We failed to hold on to our lead. This would have been a historic victory, as we now have now not won at Liverpool in nineteen games. Not a real criticism, though, because we played a huge part in an exciting game of football, and the sense was that the Sunderland team loves to defend and are generally very well organised.

Seven players will be leaving this squad after the Newcastle game, a fact which was focused upon by the commentators. We have a large squad, but the loss off so many quality teammates will mean that the coaching staff will have to plan ahead carefully to elevate more players who served us so well last season.

John Wilson says…

That’s another game where adjectives and superlatives run out. The fact that we’re disappointed that we couldn’t hold out for a win tells its own story. It was great to see Luke come on for his Premier debut, and to see everyone fighting for each other. Of course, it could have gone the other way at the end with Liverpool pushing, but it was ultimately a fantastic point at Anfield.

Therer were several stand out attacking moments: Hume having a strike pushed onto the bar; Alderete heading on to a post; Wilson being played through with an audacious kick from Roefs; but the best has to be Talbi’s strike to put us in the lead. We couldn’t hold on, but their equaliser was just about far enough from the end of the game for us to enjoy holding out for a point. Plus, there was no extra booking for Sadiki or Xhaka either.

Can’t think of any downs from the lads, so I’ll give a thumbs down to the Sky pundits. Lazy commentary. No real insight into our squad. The expected slant on the match from a Liverpool viewpoint. Two ex-Liverpool players in the studio, alongside Carragher with Co comms. Biased, boring, and lazy.

Lee Morrison says…

The performance from every single player on that pitch tonight was worthy of praise. Pressing actively, being calm under pressure and silencing the home crowd for the vast majority of the game. I’m excited to see how we fare against Man City on Saturday.

After I’d finished running around the living room, I was delighted to see the replays of Talbi’s goal. He took his chance well and put in a solid shift. Hopefully it’s something that will see him push on further with goals and assists

Xhaka and Sadiki’s disciplined performance this evening should have eased concerns, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Neither picked up a booking and the fear moves on to the City game.

Personally, I’m not remotely concerned. Both have demonstrated their discipline without negatively impacting on performance. I’d expect one or two changes on Saturday from Le Bris. However, if neither turn out to be Noah or Granit, keep the faith. They know what they’re doing.

Malc Dugdale says…

The opportunistic shot from the wide man may have taken a slight deflection but you have to shoot to score, and how he did well. This kid has scored at one of the most famous arenas in world football and I’m chuffed for him. It was deserved as well. Well done, Chemsy lad.

We hit the bar, we hit the post, and after a ridiculous bit of distribution from the keeper we were a shinned clearance away from a win.

I have never been more proud of my team who made a team worth hundreds of millions look no better than us.The fact the lads were gutted with a draw away to Liverpool says it all. A fantastic performance and a game they can and should remember for many years.

As is often the case at this level a minor mistake which involved our goal scorer was punished, though the goal for them was even more fortunate than ours, as it was going well wide before it hit our Nordi on the leg.

We all would have taken a draw before the game kicked off, and it was still a massive poin,t but that equaliser showed that even a below-par scouse team can punish errors, however small.

If our French front man had managed to squeeze that very late chance past the Merseyside goalie and defender he would have gone even further into the Mackem hall of fame, but it was not to be.

He did what he could by making the run and being found by an amazing kick from Roefs, and nine times out of ten that shot would have gone past the desperate last man and the goalie but not last night.

He has done himself no harm in his battle for the starting nine shirt though, as he found some really good sniffs of a goal. He will be even hungrier for the next one, and that’s City, so let’s hope this miss means many other big hits.