Reaction from Anfield as Sunderland draw 1-1 with Liverpool
Sunderland secured another good result on Wednesday night as they drew with Liverpool at Anfield
Arne Slot says Sunderland's defensive performance at Anfield showed why they have been so hard to beat this season.
Liverpool laboured in the first half to create any chances of note, though Alexis Mac Allister hit the post with a header shortly before the interval. Though the introduction of Mo Salah at half time sparked an improvement in the intensity of the home side, Sunderland took the lead through Chemsdine Talbi.
Liverpool equalised through Florian Wirtz, who like Talbi benefited from a big deflection to score, and though the hosts applied a lot of late pressure the Black Cats almost scored a late winner through Wilson Isidor. Slot was full of praise for Sunderland's defensive endeavours, though slightly dismissive of their attacking play.
"I knew before the game when you play Sunderland, I think from the 14 games they've played now, they've only conceded four times more than one goal," Slot said.
"And in these four games they've only conceded two. So it's a hard team to score against, it's a hard team to create your chances against because they either go really aggressive in a high press, or they have 11 players, 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper who defend their box with their lives. And that's why it's so difficult to create.
"So in that aspect, I was hoping for more, although I knew how difficult it is to create against them. I think, again, we've hardly conceded. The first big chance of them was, I don't count the shot that hit the bar, because that was not a chance.
"But the first serious chance was from a set-piece that hit the post. And then their goal is, in my opinion, not even a chance. If that is a chance, we've probably had 20 chances tonight.
"But unfortunately the deflection led to going 1-0 down. And then recently, in our recent games, we found it really hard to get the equaliser, although we had our chances every time. But today we had a little bit of luck with scoring the 1-1, because that was also a deflection. For me, it's different because it's a shot from eight, nine, ten yards. So that's at least a serious chance, where a shot from 20 yards isn't. It's a serious chance, an opportunity with a serious chance."
Slot was asked whether he felt Sunderland's second-half performance demonstrated that teams are increasingly confident of getting a result at Anfield.
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"It's clear that teams that play us now think they can get a result. And that's not the only thing, because that's been shown this season," Slot said.
"And even in the games we've won, I think they've also refuelled the confidence for other teams. [They think] there's something possible, because the wins we had in the beginning of the season weren't easy ones as well. I don't completely agree with you that they grew into the game, because I think throughout the whole second half there was only one team that had the ball and only one team that was playing on one half. But, yeah, if they got a free kick off the referee or they had a goal kick, they could bring it to our half with a long ball.
"And we had to defend three or four times a set-piece and a corner kick. And, of course, that is a danger with them, because they've shown this season that they are a threat in set-pieces. The good thing for us is we didn't concede from a set-piece. Maybe as a result we got a decent point."
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