Passive, ponderous, predictable. Liverpool somehow emerged with a 1-1 draw against a Sunderland team who came to Anfield and showed no fear. Indeed, the Wearsiders, cheered on by old boy Kevin Phillips, could and should have won it in injury time. Had they done so, it wouldn’t have been a shock.
From the opening whistle, despite a victory at West Ham on Sunday, Liverpool were frankly abject. Far too slow all over the pitch, in action and thought, it took Slot’s men almost twenty minutes to even have a touch in the Sunderland penalty box. The visitors, meanwhile, harassed Liverpool, pressed them, got in their faces, forced errors, and certainly in the first half, were by far the better team.
Just why Slot made only one change at half-time, having picked the same eleven as took to the field at the London Stadium, bar Robertson for Kerkez, is mystifying. How much more of Mac Allister giving the ball away, and losing the ball due to not moving it quickly enough, he has to see before dropping him, is puzzling. Perhaps more puzzling, is that every player seems to be infected with lethargy; a reluctance to play forward through the lines, and a lack of desire and intensity.
Salah for Gakpo, the Dutchman playing as if he’s somehow not allowed to go outside his defender, was the change Slot made. There was little improvement. Like others, Salah’s poise and touch has deserted him, and when Sunderland inevitably took the lead, it was the lack of touch and poise by Van Dijk that cost his team. A weak tackle, followed by panic in clearing the ball, meant the ball fell to Talbi, who took aim from twenty yards. Yes, the shot deflected off Van Dijk, but had he not turned his back on the ball, there might have been a better outcome.
Having fallen behind, Slot made more changes. Why, though, did it take so long to react to what was such an awful performance? Everyone watching could surely see it wasn’t working for Liverpool. Their threat, such as it was, was rare. They barely troubled a resolute Sunderland defence all night, but just when it looked like another damaging defeat seemed a certainty, they got a slice of luck.
Curtis Jones, on for Gomez, who offers very little going forward, found Liverpool’s number seven, who created some space for himself in a crowded penalty box, and got off a shot. Wirtz’s effort found the net via a deflection, which went down as an own goal, denying the German his first goal for his new club.
You might have expected the Sunderland goal mouth to be under siege with over ten minutes remaining, but in truth, despite kicking into the Kop, Liverpool created little. A quite dreadful 97th-minute corner from Szoboszlai that barely left the ground perfectly summed up what was in large part a woeful display.
