Unlucky for some, but the Black Cats could have no real complaints after being beaten 1-0 by Liverpool on Wednesday night. Arne Slot and his side headed for Wearside under pressure and, in the words of Regis Le Bris, “had to win” at the Stadium of Light.
They did thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner just after the hour mark. Sunderland had only touched the ball three times in the Liverpool penalty area up to that point and the goal pushed the Black Cats onto the front foot, but the hosts, with new signing Nilson Angulo in the starting XI for the first time, were unable to force a leveller and unable to keep their unbeaten home record alive.
Angulo has excited and impressed Le Bris on the training ground in his first week as a Sunderland player and showed encouraging glimpses of what he’s about. But Sunderland failed to reach the heights they’ve consistently hit at the Stadium of Light this season. That said, Liverpool deserve credit. They looked far better than they have for the most part this term.
That Sunderland could have moved level on points with the reigning Premier League champions with a win on Wednesday night was an indicator of Liverpool’s struggle this season but more so the brilliance of the Black Cats in their first campaign back in the top flight.
Even after this defeat and successive setbacks, Sunderland are 11th and remain just three points adrift of seventh place. They have a glorious chance to advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup at Oxford this weekend which is followed by the visit of Fulham, a good chance to get back on track in the Premier League.
The aim, insisted Florent Ghisolfi in a pre-match interview with TNT Sports, remains 40 points and survival. Losing to the champions, regardless of their recent form, will obviously not spark any panic in-house.
As Le Bris said ahead of Wednesday's game: "If we lose a game it won’t mean that it’s finished". Sunderland now have to ensure that's the case and bounce back.
After the hammer blow of their dramatic and damaging late defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, Liverpool very quickly discovered this had the makings of being a rough old ride on Wearside. Only 71 seconds had been played when the fired up Black Cats won their first corner. Only three minutes had been played when captain Trai Hume crunched into his first tackle.
If Liverpool’s defenders had done their homework and closely watched Brian Brobbey they’ll have known they were in for a bruising night’s work. The striker, excellent at Arsenal at the weekend, darted to the front post to meet Nordi Mukiele’s cross from the right but was followed by Virgil van Dijk, who made a good block.
It was, though, a rare Sunderland attack. Not that Liverpool offered much more in the early stages. As the clocked moved past the 25-minute mark, there’d only been seven touches in the penalty boxes. But the visitors started to move through the gears and Sunderland struggled to get to grips with the champions. Florian Wirtz took aim from outside the box after half an hour, forcing a fine save from Robin Roefs. Wirtz was Liverpool’s best player and was only denied by the base of the post with a fine left-footed effort. Omar Alderete’s head then got in the way of a van Dijk strike.
Sunderland couldn’t make it stick at the front end of the pitch and after Endo beat Angulo in the air Mo Salah advanced down the right before trying to pick out Wirtz with the outside of his foot. Dan Ballard got in the way but his attempt at a headed clearance went up rather than away and the waiting Wirtz tried to pounce. Roefs was quick off his line.
Angulo offered a first glimpse of what he’s about when he burst inside and skipped past three players before firing down the throat of Alisson. It lifted the crowd, as did another Hume challenge soon after.
But Le Bris will have welcomed the half-time whistle and the opportunity to take stock, though it only came after Brobbey appeared to be dragged to the deck inside the penalty area by Ibrahima Konate. No penalty said referee Chris Kavanagh. That penalty area hadn’t hosted much action. Sunderland had only touched the ball three times in the Liverpool box compared to the visiting side’s 23 touches at the other end.
Hume fired over from outside the area early in the second half but probing Liverpool continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock. Reinildo got his head in the way of a goalbound Salah effort on the hour mark. But from the resulting corner came the opening Liverpool had long been threatening. Sunderland scored late against Brentford, Arsenal and Bournemouth but couldn’t rescue this one.