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Sunderland 0 - 1 Liverpool
Joey Burns, August 16th 2008
Fernando Torres gave Liverpool a much needed winning start just as a draw looked the inevitable outcome.
The Spanish hitman sneaked an 83rd minute shot past Craig Gordon after Sunderland had given the Reds an early scare in the new Premier
League campaign. Liverpool looked like they would struggle in a first half performance that echoed the Champion’s League qualifier against
Standard Liege.
Xabi Alonso started on the bench along with Daniel Agger, the pair replaced by
Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia. El Hadji Diouf also started for his Premier
League debut for his new club, with claims before the game that our lads would be afraid of his ‘magic’. I’m sure he meant to save it for
Sunderland rather than Liverpool.
Worryingly, on occasions, it looked like Diouf’s claims could become reality against an initially shaky Liverpool defence. A Hyypia back
pass would have set Diouf up for the opener, had it not been for some of Jamie Carragher’s own magic. Shortly afterwards, Diouf threw a cross in for Daryl Murphy who headed straight into Pepe Reina’s hands. Diouf then lashed another shot over the bar before Gerrard took the first shot at the Sunderland goal.
Liverpool were given a free kick just outside the box when Gerrard was brought down, yet Sunderland couldn’t have felt hard done by if
Yossi Benayoun had been awarded a penalty after Chimbonda barged him off the ball in the seconds following
the initial challenge.
Robbie Keane then came close to simultaneously breaking the deadlock and his Liverpool duck, with a fantastic
couple of touches leading to a shot which crept just wide of Gordon’s right post.
As the ref blew for halftime it definitely seemed Liverpool were the happier with the level scoreline.
As the second half got underway, Alonso came on for Damien Plessis. His contribution gave Liverpool the edge they desperately lacked in the
first half, and as in pre-season the travelling Kop once again voiced their approval of his presence on the pitch.
Gerrard had a shot go wide on 51 minutes, shortly followed by a close range effort from Benayoun forcing a save from Gordon. Sunderland
could have grabbed a shock lead, yet Diouf showed all the quality in front of goal which had led to his departure from Anfield, scuffing it wide.
On 72 minutes, Dirk Kuyt’s shot was spilled to Torres’ feet, yet Keane got in the way and it looked like a second
nil-nil draw was on the cards. The Irishman was shortly replaced with Nabil El Zhar, pushing Kuyt into the middle.
Alonso shown that talented yet cheeky streak we all know and love, with a well placed effort from his own half, with Craig Gordon ending
up in a heap in his own net after tracking back to prevent any red faces for the hosts.
As the points looked to be shared for the opening day, Alonso found Torres with an excellent pass and the Spaniard showed the devastating
killer instinct from 25 yards that will surely push us closer this season.
Seven minutes later the travelling Reds were still bouncing along as the ref blew for full time, confirming Liverpool kicked off the
league campaign with a win.
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