Talking Points: Another Excellent Night On The Road For Sunderland

A sign of continuous progress

It says so much that the overwhelming feelings coming out of this game amongst both the fans and the players is that of pride and a tinge of disappointment.

We are newcomers here! We really should have no right to be coming away from Anfield disappointed to have not won, and yet that is what this club, this ownership, this manager with his staff, and most importantly these players are bringing each game.

It wouldn’t be unfair in the slightest to suggest that we would have deserved all three points at Anfield on the balance of play and chances created, and some of those players looked devastated!

A goal, two strikes hitting the woodwork, a glorious 1v1 and a powerful, commanding performance made for a wonderful watch and shows how far we have truly come (again!).

Another match without yellows for Xhaka and Sadiki

I’m not too sure if this is a blessing, a curse or just one to get on with at this point, but both Xhaka and Sadiki have managed another full game without either picking up a yellow card. Their performances were respectively fantastic as we’ve come to expect, with Sadiki especially having a stormer, but with the Mags game just around the corner, this could have been seen as the last chance to get suspensions out of the way and ensure availability.

While being a great demonstration of discipline and ability, having our two starting central midfielders remain on four yellows each going into the Man City game will give at least the fans a headache, if not Le Bris himself.

I have a sneaking suspicion both will be played at the weekend with the attitude of ‘every game as it comes’ at the core of Le Bris’ attitude, but the thought of losing one or both of Xhaka and Sadiki for the blockbuster derby is a truly horrid one.

We’ve only really seen that attitude usurped once under his tenure when we essentially forfeited our final five games of last season going into the playoffs, so I’m very interested to see what happens.

I don’t envy the decision makers in this one!

Le Bris’ setup paid off

Once again, Le Bris has demonstrated how tactically astute he is with this performance. Regardless of form and situation, Anfield is no joke – Le Bris himself admitted it would be scary if he thought about it for too long.

So for us to show up and more than match the reigning champions in their own backyard is just a testament to how much Le Bris gets out of this squad and his continuous improvement this season.

The two switches from Bournemouth saw Hume and Brobbey replace Traore and Isidor and while I wouldn’t consider myself a tactical wiz, this appeared to be something of a new system altogether in places. In previous instances with this type of personnel, Le Fee would be shifted to the left and Hume at wing back with the license to roam inside.

We saw Le Fee picking up some lovely spaces on the inside, with Reinildo and Sadiki giving more width on the left. As for Hume, his 30-yard pinged effort says it all about his freedom in possession. It all worked seamlessly and allowed us to break into space quickly while limiting Liverpool to precious few opportunities.

Cheers for bringing your masterful football understanding once again, Regis.

Interchangeable Isidor and Brobbey

It was a huge opportunity for Brobbey as he started his first Premier League game for the club – and what an occasion to do it. He made a real nuisance of himself against physically commanding (yet admittedly off form) centre halves in Van Dijk and Konate.

It was a great reversal of our usual tactic wherein Isidor would tire out the defenders for our battering ram Brobbey to finish the job, and it nearly paid off massively. Isidor’s glorious last gasp chance will be giving him nightmares, and while I’m devastated it hasn’t gone in and given us a huge win at Anfield, I think Alisson and the recovering Chiesa did a great job in stifling him.

I’m interested to see who starts in the coming weeks, but having options like these is a wonderful problem to have.

Stonewall defence

We could have a permanent section for the defensive displays at this point, but I’d like to give another specific mention for those in the backline here. Reinildo totally shut down the left side of defence for the entire game, even against a fully rested Salah in the second half.

His pace, tenacity, know-how and all-round defensive knowledge were just too much for Liverpool – a reminder that he cost £0! Meanwhile, the partnership of Alderete and Ballard seems to get stronger and more steady every time we see them – the two of them would headbutt through a wall if there was a ball on the other side.

Roefs and Mukiele were similarly brilliant, with Roefs especially deserving of a mention following that wonderful pass through to Wilson’s ill-fated 1v1.

His distribution wasn’t perfect, but that will always be okay if he can produce that every week!

Luke O’Nien’s Premier League debut

Finally, a word for Luke O’Nien’s Premier League debut away at Anfield. It’s an almost unbelievable achievement which at this point feels like the crown jewel in the career of Mr Sunderland. Rising all the way from National League to the Premier League in various stages of his journey, O’Nien deserves this accolade as much as anybody ever has. He’s been Sunderland through and through since the day he came through the doors at the Academy of Light in League One, filling in every position required throughout the years and sticking through thick and thin.

A late arrival bringing him into a makeshift left wing position, man-marking Mo Salah was a truly fitting setting for his debut and watching him put his excited energy into every sprint at the end of the game felt like a great reward for his hard work over the years.

He’s been our club captain, our team captain, our standard-driving mentality monster and even our very own jester at times – he helped rebuild the club with his bare hands as he replaced seats at the Stadium of Light at our lowest.

Ultimately, he’s a club legend in every sense of the word, and I’m so happy for him to have this moment.

Well done, Luke!