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Liverpool beat Sunderland 1-0 at the Stadium of Light to go seventh in the Premier League table, and level on points with fierce rivals Manchester United. Christian Benteke once again scored the winner for Reds, as Vito Mannone was in top form for Sunderland.The Reds have now won back to back games, after beating high flying Leicester City in their previous game.Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Christian Benteke scores, but poor performance once again
Belgian international Christian Benteke, who scored the winner against Leicester City in the last game, was on the scoresheet again today against Sunderland. The 25-year-old scored from Lallana’s pass just after the break to give Liverpool the lead. He has now scored 6 league goals since his big-money move from Aston Villa, despite that his performances fail to impress. His work rate is a big concern as many think he doesn’t fit into Klopp’s system.
Benteke’s off the ball movement is poor, and he simply doesn’t run as much his manager would want him to. All of this was evident from the clear chance he missed in the dying seconds of the game, despite being clear on goal. Daniel Sturridge is close to returning to full fitness, and Divock Origi has also done well in the last few games, but it’d be difficult for Klopp to drop Benteke who has been Liverpool’s top goal scorer until he can be certain about Sturridge’s fitness.
#2 Philippe Coutinho\'s poor form
Brazilian star Philippe Coutinho has failed to make an impact since returning from his injury in the Europa League game against Sion. Coutinho has now gone five games without scoring or providing an assist, while he scored four in the three games before his injury. It’s not just about goals and assists, Coutinho always seems to struggle against teams that sit back and defend as he can’t find enough space.
There is no doubt Coutinho is one of the best playmakers in the league but needs to perform more consistently to be considered in the world class bracket. It seems he doesn’t trust his teammates and takes too many shots from outside the box, and that is not favourable. He was substituted in the 82nd minute for Jordon Ibe.
#3 Lack of goals a concern for Liverpool
Liverpool had 16 shots against Sunderland, with 5 on target and 4 of them blocked. The Reds despite creating a number of opportunities just can’t find the back of the net, and only Stoke City have scored fewer goals than Liverpool in the upper half of the table.
They particularly struggle in the absence of Daniel Sturridge, and the likes of Origi and Firmino are not clinical enough. Christian Benteke doesn’t fit into the system and doesn’t seem to be someone who can maximize the output from the creative midfield behind him.
Adam Lallana has also been very disappointing this season and has failed to score a single league goal this season. Liverpool have failed to score more than one goal in 15 out of 19 league games this season, and Jurgen Klopp will be forced to add few genuine goal scorers in the upcoming transfer window.
#4 Another clean sheet for the Lovren and Sakho pairing
Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho managed to keep another clean sheet for Liverpool, after stopping Leicester City from scoring in the last game. The defensive duo have kept 5 clean sheets in the 7 games they have started together, and in the absence of Martin Skrtel both are looking to impress new boss Jurgen Klopp.
The defense has been a big worry for Liverpool in the past few years since Jamie Carragher has retired, and they’ve struggled to replace him. They seem to concede a lot of sloppy goals and Martin Skrtel has made too many individual mistakes in the past couple of seasons.
Dejan Lovren looks like a different player under Klopp and finally seems to settle at Anfield, while there never has been any doubt in Mamadou Sakho’s quality, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep up their performances.
#5 Sunderland poor once again
Sam Allardyce has a lot of work to do at Sunderland, with his team having lost five consecutive games in the Premier League now. Sunderland are now 19th in the Premier League standings with just 12 points from 19 games, and Allardyce must change things quickly if his team are to avoid relegation this season.
Sunderland were once again disappointing against Liverpool, and never posed any real threat throughout the 90 minutes. Vito Mannone did well to keep the scoreline to 1-0, but their outfield players were once again poor and in desperate need for some inspiration.
They play bottom placed Aston Villa in the next game, and must make sure they don’t drop points once again. With 19 games still to go, Sunderland need a run of results to stay in the top flight next season.
