Sunderland 1-3 Liverpool: Sturridge and Suarez Fire the Reds Into Second Place
Liverpool held on to beat a resurgent
Sunderland side with first half goals from their own SAS strike force,
Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez. Emanuele Giaccherini gave the hosts
hope early in the second half by firing in after Simon Mignolet could
only parry Ki Sung-Yeung's long range effort, but for all Sunderland's
huff and puff they could not conjure up an equaliser. Suarez finished
them off by scoring Liverpool's first goal in any second half this
season when he received Sturridge's pass and swept home from five yards
in the final minute.
The Reds moved up to second place in the Premier League after this win, but Sunderland remain rooted to the bottom with just one point from six games. New manager Kevin Ball will surely be happy with his side's effort and commitment, but the result will be all that matters to the home fans as they lost their opening three home games for the first time in the Premier League.
The game started with a quick tempo and Liverpool did have the ball in the back of the net after eight minutes - Steven Gerrard's free kick was brilliantly saved by Kieran Westwood and although Martin Skrtel buried the rebound he was flagged offside. Sunderland took a leaf out of Southampton's book by pressurising the Liverpool back line high up the pitch and this harried Liverpool into errors. Sunderland nearly took the lead midway through the first half, Lucas fouled Giaccherini and Seb Larsson's curling free kick struck the bar with Mignolet beaten.
However, the golden rule when you are on top is to score and on 28 minutes Liverpool punished Sunderland for not doing this, taking the wind out of the home side's sails. Gerrard swung in a corner from the left and it evaded Kolo Toure but found Sturridge at the back post and although it initially looked like he had headed the ball home, it actually came off his arm but there were no complaints from the Sunderland defenders.
Mignolet was looking shaky in the Liverpool goal and dropped a routine corner but recovered to gather at the second attempt and a goal of pure class put the Reds 2-0 up on 36 minutes. A forty yard pass from left to right by Gerrard found Sturridge in stride and he was allowed to find the by-line by Carlos Cuellar and he found Suarez in front of goal who made no mistake from a yard out.
Sunderland, to their credit, did not give up, knowing that one goal would get the crowd back into the game and they had a chance to do just that just before half time when Cattermole's lovely weighted ball found Craig Gardner inside the area, but Mignolet made a great save.
They finally got the reward for all their hard work on 52 minutes. Nobody closed down Ki and his long range effort was blocked into the path of the onrushing Giaccherini who reacted the quickest and lifted the ball over Mignolet to give the home fans hope. Sunderland's tails were now up and Gardner fizzed another shot in which the keeper managed to push round the post.
Liverpool's best chances were now hitting Sunderland on the break, Victor Moses forcing another acrobatic save from Westwood and Kolo Toure's strike was also well saved by the Sunderland keeper.
Liverpool finished the game a minute from time and it all started from a Sunderland corner, Mignolet catching and distributing the ball in one movement which set up a four on two break with Suarez finding Sturridge who played it back across for the Uruguayan to score Liverpool's third and their first second half goal this season.
Liverpool will be happy with the result and with the blossoming partnership between Suarez and Sturridge. Sunderland will play worse than this and win games, but for the time being they will need to start winning or it will be a long hard season.
Sunderland: Westwood, Gardner, Cuellar, O'Shea, Collback, Ki, Cattermole, Larsson, Johnson, Altidore, Giaccherini. Subs: Celustka for Cattermole 74, Mavrias to Larsson 85
Liverpool: Mignolet, Enrique, Toure, Skrtel, Sakho, Henderson, Moses, Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez, Sturridge. Subs: Sterling for Moses 75.
The Reds moved up to second place in the Premier League after this win, but Sunderland remain rooted to the bottom with just one point from six games. New manager Kevin Ball will surely be happy with his side's effort and commitment, but the result will be all that matters to the home fans as they lost their opening three home games for the first time in the Premier League.
The game started with a quick tempo and Liverpool did have the ball in the back of the net after eight minutes - Steven Gerrard's free kick was brilliantly saved by Kieran Westwood and although Martin Skrtel buried the rebound he was flagged offside. Sunderland took a leaf out of Southampton's book by pressurising the Liverpool back line high up the pitch and this harried Liverpool into errors. Sunderland nearly took the lead midway through the first half, Lucas fouled Giaccherini and Seb Larsson's curling free kick struck the bar with Mignolet beaten.
However, the golden rule when you are on top is to score and on 28 minutes Liverpool punished Sunderland for not doing this, taking the wind out of the home side's sails. Gerrard swung in a corner from the left and it evaded Kolo Toure but found Sturridge at the back post and although it initially looked like he had headed the ball home, it actually came off his arm but there were no complaints from the Sunderland defenders.
Mignolet was looking shaky in the Liverpool goal and dropped a routine corner but recovered to gather at the second attempt and a goal of pure class put the Reds 2-0 up on 36 minutes. A forty yard pass from left to right by Gerrard found Sturridge in stride and he was allowed to find the by-line by Carlos Cuellar and he found Suarez in front of goal who made no mistake from a yard out.
Sunderland, to their credit, did not give up, knowing that one goal would get the crowd back into the game and they had a chance to do just that just before half time when Cattermole's lovely weighted ball found Craig Gardner inside the area, but Mignolet made a great save.
They finally got the reward for all their hard work on 52 minutes. Nobody closed down Ki and his long range effort was blocked into the path of the onrushing Giaccherini who reacted the quickest and lifted the ball over Mignolet to give the home fans hope. Sunderland's tails were now up and Gardner fizzed another shot in which the keeper managed to push round the post.
Sturridge celebrates the first goal
Liverpool's best chances were now hitting Sunderland on the break, Victor Moses forcing another acrobatic save from Westwood and Kolo Toure's strike was also well saved by the Sunderland keeper.
Liverpool finished the game a minute from time and it all started from a Sunderland corner, Mignolet catching and distributing the ball in one movement which set up a four on two break with Suarez finding Sturridge who played it back across for the Uruguayan to score Liverpool's third and their first second half goal this season.
Liverpool will be happy with the result and with the blossoming partnership between Suarez and Sturridge. Sunderland will play worse than this and win games, but for the time being they will need to start winning or it will be a long hard season.
Sunderland: Westwood, Gardner, Cuellar, O'Shea, Collback, Ki, Cattermole, Larsson, Johnson, Altidore, Giaccherini. Subs: Celustka for Cattermole 74, Mavrias to Larsson 85
Liverpool: Mignolet, Enrique, Toure, Skrtel, Sakho, Henderson, Moses, Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez, Sturridge. Subs: Sterling for Moses 75.
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