What a special team we have right now. In years gone by, a Sunderland side falling two goals behind at home to two eminently avoidable goals – on the back of a poor defeat away from home – would slump
to another disappointing loss or worse crumble entirely to humiliation. Not so with the current crop, as we produced a comeback for the ages to instantly banish any murmurings of a drop-off and leave certain social-media commentators with egg on their faces.
Liverpool and Manchester City away at the start of December had eyebrows raised all the way back in June when the fixtures were released – surely this would be the start of a Wearside Winter of Discontent. Thankfully, our exceptional first third of the season has significantly eased the pressure on this period, and we could look forward to testing ourselves against some of the country’s best teams without any crippling and urgent need for points.
Of course the men from Anfield Road have hardly been performing like champions lately, but their squad remains stacked with elite-level talent, so no one was heading into this game expecting anything other than an incredibly tough test.
My partner is a Liverpool fan, and I told her before setting off that if anyone had said when we first met that the next time our teams faced off Sunderland would be higher placed than the Reds in the table after 13 games, I’d have edged away nervously like they were a mentalist.
For context, we met the night before a 3-0 away defeat to Peterborough when we were reduced to nine men.
Gleefully closing the work laptop at midday before heading down to Euston, we arrived on Merseyside with enough time to check into our Premier Inn in Birkenhead before sampling some of the city’s brilliant hostelries and enjoying the famed Scouse hospitality. Thankfully I’d booked our accommodation as soon as the fixture had been confirmed, getting in ahead of the legions of home fans from Ireland and Norway.
The first stop was Ye Hole in Ye Wall, the oldest pub in Liverpool; any venue with two “Ye’s” in its name is bound to be steeped in history, and so it proved. We shuffled next door to the Saddle Inn before heading down to the Albert Docks for pre-match scran at the Pump House.
Most of the locals we encountered were Evertonians wishing us luck. It’s a shame they couldn’t have returned the favour for us last week against the Mags, but we said we’d do our best.
Just as with October’s trip to Old Trafford, we faced a lengthy queue for the turnstiles, taking our seats just in the nick of time to boo You’ll Never Walk Alone. There was a confident and composed air about Sunderland right from the off.
Far from being overawed by the atmosphere, the men in blue and white played like a side confident in their own belonging at this level, reducing the home team to sideways passes and barely giving them a chance to penetrate our defensive third. A long-range rasper from Hume was tipped onto the bar, and despite a couple of flashes from Liverpool, we went in at half-time the far happier side. Seeing the Leeds half-time score split the mood a bit, with those on the more cautious end of the positivity spectrum concerned that the Whites might chip away at our lead over the bottom three, and optimists pleased for a chance to close the gap on Chelsea above.
Liverpool introduced Salah at half-time, but the imperious Reinildo was more than up to the task, and the second half followed much in the same vein as the first. Talbi’s deflected goal sparked brilliant scenes in the away end as we deservedly took the lead, but Wirtz’s even more fortunate equaliser deflated the mood somewhat as the home fans finally stirred into life.
Much has been made of Isidor’s chance at the end of the game – considering he was up against probably the best one-v-one keeper in the world, I think it’s a case of giving credit to Alisson for his defensive work-rate rather than criticising the Frenchman too much.
All in all, it was an excellent night’s work from Sunderland, and the subdued looks on the players (a beaming Luke O’Nien aside) spoke volumes about the mindset of this team. Back in the city centre to celebrate a well-earned point, the highlight of the night was probably our group booing the entirety of a Sam Fender song in a student bar. Definitely normal behaviour for well-adjusted men in their thirties.
When the action shifts eastwards to Manchester on Saturday, we know we have a sustainable blueprint for success at these daunting away venues, and hopefully another positive result will set us up nicely for the derby looming ever closer on the horizon.
