James Copley reacts as Sunderland draw 1-1 with Liverpool at Anfield
Sunderland drew 1-1 with Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Jamie Carragher has claimed that Sunderland have been a “fantastic” addition to the Premier League following their spirited 1-1 draw with defending champions Liverpool on Wednesday evening.
The Black Cats travelled to Anfield in the wake of a buoyant comeback victory over Bournemouth at the weekend, and took a second half lead on Merseyside courtesy of a Chemsdine Talbi effort from range.
Regis Le Bris’ men were then pegged back after Florian Wirtz’s strike took an unfortunate deflection off Nordi Mukiele and past Robin Roefs, but could have won the contest at the death when Wilson Isidor was denied on the line by Federico Chiesa after breaking away and rounding goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
And in his post-match assessment, Carragher was quick to hail Sunderland for both their performance and their impact on the top flight writ large - while also pulling no punches over yet another lacklustre showing from Liverpool.
What did Jamie Carragher say about Sunderland’s performance vs Liverpool?
Speaking at the final whistle during Sky Sports’ coverage of the midweek clash, the pundit said: “Sunderland, fantastic. What an addition they’ve been to the Premier League. I mean, they’re not far off... What would they be now? Ten or 12 points away from guaranteed safety? [Dan] Ballard fantastic, along with his mates at the back.
“But Liverpool... It’s not even the draw, it’s the performance. Really, really worrying. Feels like a real step back, that tonight, in terms of what we saw against West Ham at the weekend. Didn’t look like scoring a goal, really, at any stage during the game. Didn’t come up with any real big chances. There, again, just lacking energy, zip, pace, power. Yeah, really worrying.”
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What did Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris say about his side’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool?
Addressing the media in a post-match press conference, when asked for his feelings on the match, Le Bris said: “Positive at the minute, to be fair. We had this opportunity to score the second goal, but it's a good result for both teams.
“We started well, the first half was interesting with and without the ball. Probably we didn't believe enough that it was possible to score and we did it in the beginning of the second half. I think we were even a bit surprised to have time and space to build up the play and probably they didn't expect to be at that level. We spoke about this final third and the way it was possible to disturb their back line. We expected Salah as well to come on the pitch and to change a bit the dynamics, so we were prepared.
“Maybe they are a little bit [disappointed] because it was possible we had this opportunity to score the second goal, but mainly they were proud of the way they played because we had different phases in that game. Dominant with the ball, good in our 4-4-2. Then we worked hard in our back five, 5-4-1 in the low block. So different scenarios, different phases, different emotions, at the end we were consistent.”
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