Good Game Bad Game [vs Sunderland]

At last, an easy where you could at least sit back and enjoy the final few minutes rather than worry whether Liverpool were going to find a way to let the other team back in. Overall, it was a good performance: nothing special but they did what needed to be done. Liverpool retained possession, put the Sunderland defence constantly under pressure and didn’t stop once they got the first goal. If only they always played like this…

Good Game
Apart from that early chance that fell to Kenwyne Jones, there wasn’t much to trouble Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel. Much of the pre-game talk focused on Javier Mascherano playing at right-back and, even if he wasn’t under much pressure at any point in time, he did well. As expected, defensively he was solid but going forward he was surprisingly effective.

When Emiliano Insua went to play in the South American Under 20 championships, he ran the risk of losing out in a period where he was slowly establishing himself. Fortunately, he’s still very much in the plans and confirmed why with another impressive showing against Sunderland. At this point, it becomes increasingly more mystifying as to why Liverpool spent so much money on Andrea Dossena.

Albert Riera’s form has fizzled out dramatically in recent weeks but against Sunderland he was slightly better. He still blew hot and cold, yet at least he helped set up the first goal. The same, to a certain extent, goes for Steven Gerrard who didn’t have the best of games by his own standards, even if he has the excuse that he’s still recovering from injury.

One player who has certainly hit a rich vein of form is Yossi Benayoun who, once again, was immense. Not only does he run as hard as anyone on the pitch, but he brings to the team that creativity that has far too often been missing. My man of the match.

It was the usual stuff from Dirk Kuyt who gives the impression that he is more determined than anyone else on the pitch to win. His attitude certainly rubbed off on David N’Gog who, apart from the goal, had a very good game. There certainly is talent in the player even if he is still needs to work on a number of areas but it was good to see him play so well if anything to shut up those who are quick to label him as not being good enough.

Bad Game
It might sound like blasphemy but Xabi Alonso looked a bit lost on this occasion. His passing was often off and he didn’t really make much of an impact.

Substitutes
His introduction was greeted by the usual groans but Lucas Leiva ensured that Liverpool retained hold of the midfield and, as a result, of the game. The sight of N’Gog in the starting line-up will hopefully be the wake-up call that Ryan Babel was waiting for. He certainly seemed eager enough when he came on and put in more effort in those few minutes than he has in whole games of late.

Nabil El Zhar came on far too late in the game to be able to say anything about his performance.

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