Putting aside whether it is a realistic expectation, pre-season optimism can always skew logic in the mind of the football fan, the second half performance was a dose of reality. Sunderland, a team itself in transition, were able to play their way back into the game and look the more likely side to win in the final 10 minutes. The league is full of sides who, like Sunderland , refuse to allow themselves to be swept aside.
It is hard to imagine United allowing Sunderland to come back into a game they were dominating, and more importantly to disrupt the pattern of play that had produced that dominance. As much as it hurts to admit it, it is the current champions who are the benchmark. This group of players is not necessarily weighed down by the burden of expectation given that so many are new to the club and team but they performed like many Liverpool sides in recent years, teams who’s frailties have seemed more psychological than physical. When a game that had started so promisingly started to drift away nobody in a red shirt was capable of changing the flow, to impose a new direction. It is this inability to consistently dominate, to impose on the opposition, to kill and control a game that has seen the title absent from Anfield for so long.
The squad assembled by Kenny has, on paper,the look of a great balance between experience and youth, a combination that could, given the lack of European distraction, potentially challenge for the top prize. On any given match day we look the equal or better of any opposition you care to name. It is not impossible or improbable to imagine United, City, Chelsea and Arsenal leaving Anfield with nothing more than the taste of defeat to journey home with. The league is won by beating what is front of you over that ninety minutes, one game at a time and outside of those four sides we should unquestionably have too much for the others. Whether we show it is the question. Saturday’s first half demonstrated that the focus, concentration, fitness and confidence required is there, the second revealed it could easily go missing. In its absence sides like Sunderland have enough to make you pay.
This is all knee jerk stuff given the season is only 90 minutes old but the fear is that what could have been a collective mental weakness on display for 45 of those minutes will raise itself enough over a season to stop a title challenge from developing. The league is typically unforgiving of slow starts. Getting something at the Emirates next week will reinforce the potential for a top four finish, taking three points will no doubt encourage those who believe a title challenge is possible. It seems ridiculous to place any real importance on early season fixtures, when so many points remain to be contested, but given twenty years of title famine and the absence of Champions League football for two seasons Dalglish and his team live under a pressure that doesn’t allow for much settling in time.