Sunderland's limitations exposed by Alonso
Sunderland started promisingly and finished with something approaching a flourish after Liverpool had Mohammed Sissoko sent off for two bookable offences, but, between times, it was men against boys.
Alonso marked his return to the team after two matches out with a knee injury by producing stunning passes to set up Luis García and Steven Gerrard before half-time and, for the rest of the game, Sunderland’s supporters could only jeer Crouch and, when they tired of that, Bob Murray, the chairman of their ailing club. Quite what Murray is meant to do is unclear, given that no one else has shown any interest in making the investment the club needs in order to change its outlook, but McCarthy could take some heart, privately at least, from the fact that the supporters sympathise with his predicament.
Alonso marked his return to the team after two matches out with a knee injury by producing stunning passes to set up Luis García and Steven Gerrard before half-time and, for the rest of the game, Sunderland’s supporters could only jeer Crouch and, when they tired of that, Bob Murray, the chairman of their ailing club. Quite what Murray is meant to do is unclear, given that no one else has shown any interest in making the investment the club needs in order to change its outlook, but McCarthy could take some heart, privately at least, from the fact that the supporters sympathise with his predicament.
“All of us involved with the club, from Bob down, are suffering and we need a break,” the manager said, although, with three of their next four matches away from home, it is difficult to see things improving for what is a terribly limited team.
It started relatively well for Sunderland, with the persistent Jon Stead twice getting beyond Sami Hyypia, but their early hopes faded after Chris Brown failed to connect with the ball when picked out by Tommy Miller after 20 minutes and the evening swiftly took a depressingly familiar turn as Alonso took control of midfield.
Alonso had looked as uncomfortable as the rest of his team-mates early on, but he soon started to conduct matters. An exquisite pass to play in Gerrard almost resulted in an own goal from Steven Caldwell, before, combining unrivalled vision with precision, he swivelled in the centre circle and struck a stupendous left-foot ball that allowed García to sprint clear and clip the ball past Ben Alnwick to put Liverpool 1-0 up.
But his problems seemed trivial compared with those of Mick McCarthy as a winter of discontent gripped Wearside after Sunderland’s eighth straight defeat.
McCarthy’s face fell on the touchline and, from then on, the result never seemed in doubt, but he would have held out more hope had Gerrard not scored Liverpool’s second goal as half-time approached. Again the architect was Alonso, pirouetting away from Christian Bassila and delivering another exquisite pass, which this time allowed Gerrard to escape Danny Collins and knock the ball past Alnwick before rolling it into the empty net. McCarthy’s face fell still further.
With the contest seemingly over, attention switched to Crouch’s increasingly forlorn attempts to break his duck. He tripped when well placed to score early in the second half, but he raised a smile at the end as Liverpool made light of Sissoko’s dismissal, after he was shown two yellow cards for senseless lunges on Liam Lawrence and Dean Whitehead, and moved into the top four, where, as Rafael Benítez, the manager, was entitled to suggest after a seventh consecutive clean sheet, they seem well equipped to stay.
It started relatively well for Sunderland, with the persistent Jon Stead twice getting beyond Sami Hyypia, but their early hopes faded after Chris Brown failed to connect with the ball when picked out by Tommy Miller after 20 minutes and the evening swiftly took a depressingly familiar turn as Alonso took control of midfield.
Alonso had looked as uncomfortable as the rest of his team-mates early on, but he soon started to conduct matters. An exquisite pass to play in Gerrard almost resulted in an own goal from Steven Caldwell, before, combining unrivalled vision with precision, he swivelled in the centre circle and struck a stupendous left-foot ball that allowed García to sprint clear and clip the ball past Ben Alnwick to put Liverpool 1-0 up.
But his problems seemed trivial compared with those of Mick McCarthy as a winter of discontent gripped Wearside after Sunderland’s eighth straight defeat.
McCarthy’s face fell on the touchline and, from then on, the result never seemed in doubt, but he would have held out more hope had Gerrard not scored Liverpool’s second goal as half-time approached. Again the architect was Alonso, pirouetting away from Christian Bassila and delivering another exquisite pass, which this time allowed Gerrard to escape Danny Collins and knock the ball past Alnwick before rolling it into the empty net. McCarthy’s face fell still further.
With the contest seemingly over, attention switched to Crouch’s increasingly forlorn attempts to break his duck. He tripped when well placed to score early in the second half, but he raised a smile at the end as Liverpool made light of Sissoko’s dismissal, after he was shown two yellow cards for senseless lunges on Liam Lawrence and Dean Whitehead, and moved into the top four, where, as Rafael Benítez, the manager, was entitled to suggest after a seventh consecutive clean sheet, they seem well equipped to stay.