EPL Round 25: Liverpool FC vs Sunderland AFC

By: Lucas | February 2nd, 2008

Kieran Richardson is back in the lineup, missing only two games from a hamstring injury. Might it be a case of Roy Keane rushing back his play-making midfielder a game too soon? SAFC will find it tough to get a result from this match, perhaps it would have been better to let Richardson heal until next week, a much more likely game vs Wigan at the SOL? In any event he’s in there and let’s hope Keano’s decision produces something.

Michael Chopra is also back in the starting IX after serving a one-game suspension, meaning Rade Prica is again on the bench (an attractive 60′ substitute?).

Ha’Way the Lads!

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HALFTIME — Liverpool 0:0 Sunderland

I swear I wrote the above before the match started. Richardson tweaks his hamstring not 4 minutes into the game and has to come off. The upshot is Rade Prica replaces him, giving the Swede nearly a full game to pair with Kenwyne Jones in a 4-4-2 (Keane had begun with a 4-5-1, perhaps part of his rationale for hastily inserting Richardson back into the lineup).

At this point Liverpool have the majority of possession, but Sunderland’s backline are doing just enough to frustrate their strikers. Neither side has had anything like a golden opportunity to score. There have been a couple of head injuries, one for each team: Kenwyne fell into Jamie Carragher’s boot and Fernando Torres took a knock attempting a header off a Liverpool corner. Both players look like they’ll be able to continue.

Liam Miller was given a yellow card by Rob Styles for patting Stephen Gerrard on the bum, and later Michael Chopra had his legs scissored from under him with no free kick given. You may not know this, but Rob Styles is a convicted puppy kicker, and likes Celine Dion; also, I heard he’s a furry, but that’s not confirmed.

Man of the (half) Match for me right now is Phil Bardsley. The new signing is a beast and looks to have fit right in with Collins, Evans and Nuggsy, all of whom (despite a couple shaky moments early on) have had decent games thus far.

The game is not pretty but it’s also still up for grabs. I’d like to see Prica get more touches in the second half (he’s been mostly invisible since coming on, with Sunderland’s midfield having no ability to mount a concerted attack and link up with the forwards). Kenwyne took that blow to the head and went off huffing smelling salts, but he came right back in the game. Hopefully he can keep his energy level up for at least the first half hour of the next period.

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FULLTIME — Liverpool 3:0 Sunderland

Liverpool came out after halftime absolutely on fire. 25 minutes of dominant attacking football lead to 2 goals, by Crouch and Torres. After that Sunderland actually seemed to wake up, and managed some good attack of their own. They missed some chances and …

… you know I don’t like to complain about referees, especially in a game where my team were beaten badly by a better side…

… but Rob Styles is a joke. Sunderland should have had one and possibly two penalties - a patent hand ball by Carragher and a high boot by Mascherano. Instead of giving either penalty, Styles picks his nose and eats his boogers, then gives a penalty to Liverpool for a Nosworthy challenge.

At least the team didn’t give up, they kept pressing for the last 20 minutes of the game; but poor quality and a poor referee doomed them. The 3-0 scoreline is deserved, in a way, because Liverpool are obviously a superior team and their goals were clinical; but Sunderland were denied the opportunity to make something out of the game when it was still within conceivable grasp.

Ah, well. It’s snowing here in Portland. I’m going to go walk around in the snow, get a cup of coffee, visit the record store. Next week is home against Wigan, a game Sunderland need to win for survival and for revenge (for a pair of 3-0 defeats this season). Keep the faith!