A look at how the national media reacted to Liverpool's 1-0 win at Sunderland in the Premier League
Florian Wirtz in action for Liverpool against Sunderland
Florian Wirtz in action for Liverpool against Sunderland(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Liverpool secured their first away win of 2026 with a big 1-0 victory at Sunderland on Wednesday night. Virgil van Dijk's second-half header was enough to inflict a first home defeat of the Premier League season on the Black Cats.
The ECHO, as always, was in the North East to cover proceedings as exhaustively as ever. You can read our match verdict, our player ratings, the post-game analysis, the on-the-whistle reaction and our live blog all here.
The reactions of Arne Slot and Regis Le Bris were also noted down on our dedicated Liverpool FC pages. We leave no stone unturned in our match coverage, you know...
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Our colleagues from the national media were also at the Stadium of Light. And here's what they made of it as the Reds closed the gap on the top four to three points on the night.
Lewis Steele, of the Daily Mail, pens: "You need not be a body language expert to work out how much this victory meant for Liverpool, under-pressure manager Arne Slot and his troops.
"Virgil van Dijk's reaction to scoring a match-winning goal may have been rather low-key but the skipper and his colleagues soon made up for it by celebrating every block, tackle and clearance thereafter as if they had scored.
"There were five green Liverpool shirts around Van Dijk to mob him for a last-gasp intervention, more thanking the imperious Wataru Endo who injured himself in stretching for a clearance and then a queue to high-five Joe Gomez for a composed header when under pressure.
"Everyone, not least Slot, knew this was a momentous evening in their season after Van Dijk's 61st-minute header saw them become the first team to come to Sunderland and leave with a victory since their promotion back to the Premier League.
"Slot had said on Tuesday that his team would need to be 'close to perfection' if they were to qualify for next season's Champions League. In terms of performance, this was far from that perfection – but it was full of fight, resilience and patience that will stand them in good stead in the battle for top five.
"Florian Wirtz, too, is only getting better and better and should have had at least one goal to his name here. The German hit the post in the first half as he pulled a shot past Robin Roefs, minutes after the Dutch goalkeeper had palmed Wirtz’s venomous strike wide."
Over on The Times' pages, Martin Hardy writes: "There was a virtuous showing from Florian Wirtz, who has moved from having questions about the size of his fee to being an integral part of a changing Liverpool team. Sunderland could not cope with his probing. He created two chances and saw two shots blocked. It was some performance.
"There were periods in the first half where it was one-way traffic for Slot’s side. At the heart of it was invariably Wirtz, prompting and desperately trying to unlock the most stubborn and brave of defences. There is reason why Sunderland had conceded the second lowest total of any team in the Premier League on home soil.
"Wirtz did his best to break a backline that had let in nine goals at the Stadium of Light before the visit of Liverpool, a side still trying to find their rhythm this season, in February.
"The German was the architect of how they took control of the first half. By that stage there had been 14 efforts on goal from Liverpool (just two on target) and 23 touches in the Sunderland penalty area, compared to just the three Sunderland had mustered."
Luke Edwards, of The Telegraph, was another impressed by Wirtz. He wrote: "There have not been many tougher nuts to crack in the Premier League this season than trying to beat Sunderland away, but Liverpool did thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s header and the skill and artistry of Florian Wirtz.
"It was scrappy and messy; a dogfight. Sunderland made it a battle from start to finish as Regis Le Bris’s side did what they have done to so many teams before this season. They were direct, physical and dangerous, but Liverpool stood firm. They showed a steely side on Wearside and in the middle of it all was their little German maestro.
"Wirtz had initially found the speed and aggression of the Premier League difficult. It all looked a little too much for a player raised in the Bundesliga. A £116m price tag looked as heavy as the tackles he received.
"Wirtz has been rapidly improving, making the adjustments in his game for some time, but in standing tall in this clash, the 22-year-old looked like a boy turning into a man.
"There are not many tougher environments for an away team’s playmaker to thrive in than the Stadium of Light, in front of that crowd, against this Sunderland team, but some of Wirtz’s touches, passing and link-up play were sublime.
"He danced and jinked around the pitch, riding challenges, finding space and he always appeared the most likely player to open up Sunderland’s rigid, well-drilled defence."
And in the ECHO's verdict, we muse: "If you can't beat them, then the best course of action appears to be joining them. Liverpool have been seemingly unwilling to take part in the agricultural revolution taking place in the Premier League this season but on a cold, wet Wednesday up in Sunderland, it was a scrappy set-piece that breathed fresh life into their Champions League hopes.
"Virgil van Dijk's second-half header, deflected into the roof of the net via Habib Diarra was enough for Arne Slot's side to take full advantage of the opportunity presented to them by the set of results on Tuesday night.
"After the respective draws of Chelsea and Manchester United, this was a chance that Slot simply could let pass him by, so a first away win since Tottenham Hotspur, before Christmas, came at an ideal time.
"A top-four battle littered with inconsistencies is where Slot finds himself right now and while there was some factual analysis behind his Tuesday claim that Liverpool are not necessarily a club who relieve managers of their duties if they don't qualify for the Champions League, he needs European Cup participation on his CV as much as the club needs it on the balance sheets. So that's why this 1-0 victory here might prove to be so valuable in the wider picture."