[Liverweb] Sunderland Report

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Liverweb Match Report

Liverpool : Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Alonso,
Sissoko, Gerrard, Garcia, Crouch, Morientes

Subs Used : Kewell for Morientes (61), Traore for Crouch (79),
Warnock for Riise (90)

Subs Unused : Carson, Pongolle

Ref : Phil Dowd

Att : 32,697

Sent Off : Momo Sissoko (65)

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The Reds moved up to 4th with a convincing if not easy 2-0 win up at
Sunderland. The Reds had gone looking for a fifth successive league
win at bottom of the table Sunderland. They arrived at a ground
filled to less than three quarters, took all three points and by the
end of the match the ground was full only of Reds fans really.

The Reds were forced to wear their 3rd kit - complete yellow from
head to toe. The home side got the game underway and were the better
side early on. The Reds defence looked a little shaky in the first
few minutes. It certainly didn't look or feel like the Reds' crack
defence of late - rather a defence with cracks ready to appear. That
soon adjusted itself back to normal though.

Sunderland did have a great chance to score on nineteen minutes
although we'll let Mr Brown tell you how he managed to mis-hit his
shot completely. That was a huge let off for the Reds it has to be
said and they did seem to react from that point. From this point on
the Reds seemed to step up a gear and one surging run from Steven
Gerrard really set out stall out.

The Reds grabbed a lead on the half hour mark thanks to Luis Garcia.
Garcia made a run through the centre from the left side. Alonso knew
where his run was and hit a superb ball to him. This was perfect
weight and direction for the run and not the widely reported long
punt. Garcia got the ball on the edge of the area and slid it under
the on rushing keeper.

Sunderland seemed to just know that that was it from here and even
though a 1-0 lead isn't huge it was always going to be enough. It
got better though on the stroke of half time. Gerrard and Alonso
linked on the right side and as Gerrard started his run Alonso
played a slide rule ball through to Gerrard. Stevie G took one touch
to get round the keeper and then slotted home. This was game over as
long as we stuck to controlling the game now.

After half time the Reds got the game started again and continued to
control the main part of the match. Sunderland were trying but they
simply didn't have enough quality. Based on this they will go down
as they just don't have the quality to do otherwise.

Just two minutes into the half the Reds really should have been
awarded a penalty. Crouch had a shot half saved by the keeper but as
Crouch went for the rebound he was felled by his man. He would have
scored from two yards but somehow Phil Dowd decided that because
Crouch was half falling to get to the ball that his leg being taken
away from him wasn't a foul.

Harry Kewell came on for Morientes on the hour mark in a small
change to the tactics. However the Reds were soon to be down to ten
men as Momo Sissoko was sent off on sixty five minutes. He was first
booked on fifty one minutes for a poor challenge. He was then warned
by ref Phil Dowd after another poor challenge but the bench didn't
switch him. Then on sixty five minutes he gave the ref no choice but
to send him off. Another bookable challenge gave him his second card
of the game and he was off.

The Reds were able to adjust quite easily to the sending off and it
meant Crouch was left on his own up front. however with Sunderland
lacking any quality of note the Reds were still able to control the
game. The home side certainly tried to mix it up a bit but very
nearly fell further behind on seventy four minutes when Riise raced
the whole length of the field but his shot hit the bar and went out
for a corner having flicked off the defender on the way to goal.

As time ticked on Traore came on for Crouch in a move that moved
Riise up field a little. The home fans slowly started to trickle out
and all the noise left came from the Reds fans. At the rate the home
fans going the ground would be empty with the game still going on. A
few hardy fans did manage to stick it out to the end. With the rest
of the fans long gone they would probably have got a free road to go
home on anyway.

Stephen Warnock came on for the final minutes of stoppage time for
the Reds but had very little time to actually do anything. The
referee blew the whistle though and fifth straight league win was
ours and to go with it a fifth straight clean sheet in the league.
Three more of them and it equals our best ever league run of clean
sheets set way back in the early 1920's.

MotM - Steven Gerrard - just a few sparks from Gerrard turned the
Reds from 2nd gear to third and fourth for a crucial time and it won
the game. Alonso also played really well and his sublime passing at
times was a joy to behold.
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Match Stats
Sunderland Liverpool
51% Possession 49%
4 Shots On Target 11
4 Shots Off Target 4
3 Corners 3
15 Fouls 10
6 Offsides 3
0 Yellow Cards 1
0 Red Cards 1

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