Sunderland beats Liverpool 1-0 – Recap and Video Highlights – Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sunderland hosted Liverpool in the English Premier League on Saturday, October 17, 2009. Was Liverpool able to win without Gerrard and Torres or did Sunderland continue their strong start to the 2009-10 season? Here’s a recap of the match along with video highlights.
Sunderland beats Liverpool 1-0 – Video Highlights
Liverpool were without captain Steven Gerrard and leading scorer Fernando Torres as they struggled at Sunderland. It was a solid win for Sunderland, who were the better team for most of the match.
The match started out with a high tempo and great atmosphere provided by the Sunderland home crowd. Liverpool fans knew it wasn’t their day when Sunderland took the early lead on a controversial play. A cross was sent in the box and feel to Darren Bent who took a shot that deflected off a balloon and past Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina. The replays clearly showed that if not for the deflection off the balloon Pepe Reina would have likely made the save.
Sunderland would continue to play with lots of energy and confidence as they continually created chances. Liverpool never seemed to settle into the match and the absense of Gerrard in the midfield was very noticable. They failed to get a shot on goal in the first half as it ended at 1-0 for Sunderland.
The second half saw some improvement from Liverpool. Sunderland and specifically Bent has several chances to put the match out of reach. Fortunately for Liverpool, they kept the match within one goal. The Reds finally starting getting some chances and shots on goal but it was too late. The Sunderland defense didn’t make any major mistakes and Liverpool lacked the creativity that Torres generally provides. Sunderland would hang on for the 1-0 victory.
It was a disappointing loss for Liverpool who were in poor form during the match. Despite having most of the possession, they had very few great chances and couldn’t break down the Sunderland defense. The unlucky nature of the Bent goal will have fans talking but Liverpool have only themselves to blame for the loss. The club now has four losses on the season, while Sunderland has moved into 7th in the league table.
| SCORING SUMMARY | |
| Sunderland | Liverpool |
| Darren Bent (5) | |
| MATCH STATS | ||
| Sunderland | Liverpool | |
| Shots (on Goal) | 15(3) | 19(4) |
| Fouls | 21 | 18 |
| Corner Kicks | 1 | 7 |
| Offsides | 4 | 0 |
| Time of Possession | 31% | 69% |
| Yellow Cards | 2 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Saves | 4 | 2 |
