It was the proverbial game of two halves, with Sunderland looking much the better side in the first half as manager Arne Slot’s attempt to make some kind of statement with his team selection backfired and the Black Cats could count themselves unlucky not to be up a goal. Then, in the second, Slot corrected course and the Reds were in the ascendancy—only for a moment of poor fortune and poor defending to gift Sunderland the lead.
That Liverpool still had the will to fight back after that seems like it should be worth something, yet it’s hard to look at the sum total of tonight’s match and see what exactly it is this team is trying to work towards. Let’s dig into it.
Winners and Losers
Florian Wirtz Keeps Looking Lively
Wirtz was again lively as the focal point in attack for the Reds. The problem was nobody around him in the first half was doing a lot to help out. Which for a creative ten sort, well, makes things kind of difficult. Wirtz is the type of player who is most useful setting up teammates or finishing off one-twos and fluid passing moves as he breaks into the box just behind the frontline attackers.
When the frontline attackers aren’t showing themselves as viable options, or not doing much when Wirtz does get them the ball, or working it back to him when he gets into good areas. Well. It’s gonna be a little hard for a player like Wirtz to rack up the goals and assists.
Despite that, in the end it was Wirtz with the heroics—with a nicely spotted assist for substitute Curtis Jones—to salvage a result for the Reds, albeit it was awarded in the end as an own goal. Regardless, he was the only player for Liverpool who shone start to finish, and if there is hope of salvaging the season more broadly it will probably come down to Wirtz taking charge of this side.
Alexander Isak Remains Invisible
I’m gonna put as much effort into this part as Isak appeared to put into getting open, dropping between the lines, or making probing runs down the channels. Which is to say, none.
Arne Slot’s Attempt to Make a Statement
Mohamed Salah started on the bench for the second match in a row. After not even coming off the bench the last time out. And with the player set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations in less than two weeks and as a result be unavailable for selection for close to a month.
Whether or not it was intended as a message by manager Arne Slot, a stamping of authority and vision on a side he’s trying to transition from the team Jürgen Klopp built that he won the league with last season to the team Slot and Michael Edwards and Richard Huges hope to build but that has so far mostly just sputtered and misfired this season. Well. Whether or not this was that, it was hard not to read it as that.
Alternately, of course, maybe Salah just had an off shakshuka in the morning.
On the surface, though, it felt like an almighty big and meaningful call by the manager. Taking Salah out of one match might just have been rotation. This felt like more than rotation. And, frankly, Liverpool’s attack didn’t appear at all helped by it.
Cody Gakpo still did the only thing Cody Gakpo has done this season—ignore his overlapping fullback to cut inside and try to shoot, mostly to no effect. And Alexander Isak continued his invisible man act. As outlined, Wirtz looked Liverpool’s only lively attacker, but solo heroics do not a fluid attacking side make, and Slot’s big call very much did not turn Liverpool into a fluid attacking side here.
Then, in the second half, Salah. On for Gakpo. It didn’t help with the part where Isak was anonymous, but on the whole the Reds looked far livelier with two sparks in attack rather than just the one. And then, again, Liverpool’s mostly good play—their best 15 minutes in quite a while—didn’t seem to matter.
Dissecting the Narrative
Are Liverpool incredibly unlucky when it matters or are Liverpool incredibly shit and prone to shooting themselves in the foot? On the evidence of Sunderland’s goal, the first of the game, it’s both. But if you’ve watched Liverpool at all this season, you probably already knew that.
Liverpool were unlucky because Sunderland scored a goal on a very speculative shot from miles out that glanced off Virgil van Dijk and settled in the goal. And Liverpool were shit because they were lax and lazy in their own end and handed the ball to Sunderland, all but inviting them to take the speculative shot that ended up in the goal.
Giving Credit to the Opposition
A lot of fuss and hand-wringing resulted in recent seasons when the newly promoted sides all got dropped straight back to the Championship. The counter-point was that there have been times in the past, even multiple seasons on the bounce, where all the promoted sides were poor and quickly demoted and that to judge it at the potential nadir—because everyone agreed those promoted sides were very, very bad—might be premature.
The counter-point may have been right, at least that’s how things are shaping up with Sunderland launching themselves into the top half of the table and probably not far off safe already while Burnley and Leeds are fighting it out gamely in the bottom half—but both do at least look coin flips to survive at the moment.
Liverpool, though, were playing Sunderland here. And Sunderland looked very much better than a bottom half side just looking to avoid the thick of the relegation fight and a lot more like a side competing on the fringes of the European places. Which is what they are, if you check the table, where they remain just above the Reds.
Given they did at least play the Reds level on balance at Anfield, that seems about where they deserve to be. Well in, Black Cats. Go beat Newcastle.
What Happens Next
Speaking of newly promoted sides, Liverpool have an away date to Leeds up next—and with Leeds feeling they’re under-performing their talent to end up in the thick of the relegation fight at the moment, manager Daniel Farke has been rumoured to need a result against the Reds to save his job. A win against Chelsea tonight, though, will certainly help his chances—and likely have Leeds brimming with confidence. After that, it’s back to Europe with a trip to Italy to take on Inter Milan.
And hopefully, Slot can still somehow figure out a way forward for this side—and the sooner the better. On the evidence of the first half in particular, though, it’s hard not to have doubts on that front.