Yesterday, Liverpool extended their win streak to an
impressive 7 games with a narrow victory over a plucky
Right from the kick-off, it was easy for all to see exactly
what Sunderland ’s game plan was. They were
throwing nearly all of their players behind the ball, and sitting extremely
deep. In fairness to them they were doing a good job of it; most teams collapse
within minutes if they aren’t positive against Liverpool ,
especially at Anfield! Still, they couldn’t keep it up forever. It’s a mark of
how consistently excellent Liverpool’s form in front of goal has been that,
even after close to 40 minutes of being frustrated by the Sunderland defence, I
was never once concerned that we wouldn’t get a goal past them. So it proved:
after Suarez, seemingly through on goal, was taken out from behind by Vergini,
Gerrard stepped up and curled the ball perfectly into the corner. Mannone could
perhaps have done better, but it was still an excellent free-kick. As to the
initial tackle, it was undoubtedly a red card offence. Kevin Friend, who made
poor decisions throughout the match, somehow reached the conclusion that it was
only worthy of a yellow card. Minutes later Vergini committed another clear
foul worthy of a yellow, but, to the amazement of pretty much everybody, he
stayed on the pitch.
Unperturbed by this blatant miscarriage of justice and
buoyed by taking the lead, Liverpool moved
from strength to strength. After the half-time interval, it looked as if they
might totally dismantle Sunderland . Again, I
must give credit to the visitors. After conceding a second just three minutes
into the half (a lovely strike by Daniel Sturridge), they sorted things out
defensively. Liverpool still made some
chances, with Suarez and Sturridge both looking dangerous, but the Black Cats
kept the SAS at bay. Gus Poyet brought on Ki Sung Yeung and Adam Johnson just
after the hour mark- at this point Sunderland
started to show some potential going forward, something they had been
completely lacking all game. This is where things got a little nervy for Liverpool ! With 13 minutes still to play, Ki managed to
unlock Liverpool ’s defence (sorry) and reduce
the deficit to just 1. Liverpool haven’t built a reputation for defensive
solidity this season, and there were times when Sunderland
looked certain to destroy our lead, and with it our realistic hopes of the
title. Somehow, despite a huge chance for Jozy Altidore with two minutes to
play, we managed to hold on for the win.
My man of the match was definitely Philippe Coutinho. He had
an absolutely terrific game; it’s the first time this season where we’ve seen
the sublime form he showed immediately after we’d signed him last season. His
vision has never deteriorated, but for a while he did seem to have some trouble
picking the passes he envisaged so well. Today he had no such problems- on
multiple occasions he set Suarez or Sturridge free with gloriously timed and
weighted passes. He also showed his dribbling abilities, on one occasion taking
the ball past two or three players then ending the run with a typically superb
pass. If he can stay at the top of his game, I feel it will be invaluable to
our title challenge. His contributions sometimes get overlooked- on his day, I
truly believe he is one of the most influential players in our team.
To sum up, it would have been hugely unlucky if Liverpool
had failed to take all three points, seeing as Vergini should have seen red not
once but twice, however that didn’t stop Sunderland
from giving it a very good go. In the end, we were lucky to hold on to the win,
but it doesn’t really matter how we get the points on the board as long as
we’re getting them. As we still aren’t the favourites for the title the pressure
is much more on City than us, and this win will do nothing to alleviate said
pressure. We just need to keep pumping out these results- eventually
something’s got to give at City’s end.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013
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