SOBS V LIVERPOOL

The Lads took on the current league champions on a filthy night at the SoL, and saw our unbeaten home record go up in steam – it would have been smoke, but for the weather. To be honest, I thought we played a bit better at Arsenal, but it was more than a tad disappointing to lose to a set piece (albeit put away by the tallest man on the park) when the rest of our defending had been effective – if a little last-ditch at times.

It being a stupid kick off time, (8:15? What’s that all about?) the team news arrived on the way through:

Roefs

Mukiele Ballard Alderete Reinildo

Hume (c) Sadiki Diarra Le Fee Angulo

Brobbey

... and a bench of Ellborg, Cirkin, Geertruida, Isidor, Mayenda. Mundle, O’Nien, Rigg, and Talbi.

It was a drop off on the south end of the bridge again and for the first time I had to sing Wise Men Say in the queue, and for the first time missed a SoL kick off. As I climbed to my seat it was all Sunderland after we’d kicked off against green Liverpool, but once we got past two minutes, they got hold of the ball and weren’t in the mood to let us have much of it. Mind, without him with the impossible to spell name after Sunday’s shenanigans, they were missing something that’s carried them forward of late, but our central midfield seemed to be lacking the killer instinct. Where the visitors stopped attacks and set away ones of their own, we stopped attacks and maintained possession in our half – trying to be too clever? Perhaps.

Having said that, after another scouse attack had bounced off a Sunderland body, Nordi was away down the right to fire in a couple of crosses that were dealt with, and Hume (rather than Nordi) took the resulting throws. Nearly as long, but a bit loopy and thus less of a problem for the opposition for some reason. Reinildo was pulled up for a foul that didn’t look like a foul on halfway, and kept picking the ball up – so he got a yellow that we could have done without. When 26 minutes arrived, there was the applause for George Forster, which most if not all the visiting fans joined in with, and for a brief moment it looked like we might score during that time as a fitting tribute, but then it looked like Liverpool might. Neither side did.

Ballard was caught late as he cleared in our box, but no card was forthcoming - which seems to be a recurring theme when playing the “top” sides. Just before the half hour, Roefs brought off a fine save, diving to his right to push a shot away for a corner, then a couple of minutes later a low shot from their left had my neighbour Brian whispering “that’s in.” Thankfully, it hit the face of the far post and rolled along the line towards the corner flag before being cleared. Angulo, who’d shown some admirable strength in holding off opponents, had a bit of a run and hit one from outside the box that Alisson gathered.

Promising, but with the central midfield not making much headway, Hume naturally drifted inside to help – which left a gap in front of Nordi that Liverpool ran into at every opportunity.

At times it looked like we were trying our best to present the visitors with shooting opportunities, and with Wirtz looking at least twice the player he was when we played down there, there were some hairy moments in our box – but we always managed to get a body in the way. We had a good run down the right, but there looked to be a pull on our man when the cross came in which might have been a figment of my imagination. Or maybe not – with Brobbey getting pulled and pushed all over the place while putting himself about, it was hard to tell.

The single added minute looked to have produced something when one such incident had the ref stopping the game, which made us think VAR was coming into play and we’d be getting a penalty, but instead the ref eventually blew.

Strange. 0-0 at the break, and we were probably worth it – plenty of gung-ho defending, but not getting it up the field quick enough. Mind, with the quality of player they had throughout their side, getting it off them, then up the field, was a big ask.

The half time song was George Forster’s favourite – I Couldn’t Get A Ticket For The Game, and I got a few funny looks in the netty as I sang along. Ten men dressed in red, one man dressed in green, they climbed the steps and took the cup, for Bob, and them, and me.

No changes for the second half as the rain continued to hoss it down, and we immediately showed a bit more desire to get forward quicker – once we’d managed to win the ball. Both keepers were resorting to punching it rather that risking a failed catch on a presumably slippy ball, and with Diarra and Le Fee swapping sides, we could see that a decent cross might catch the visitors out. Getting one in was the problem, though. Hume hit a typical blast from 25 years a couple of feet over after four minutes, then Roefs was caught by Mag reject (in that he rejected them which is perfectly acceptable) Ekitike after he picked the ball up. No card.

A promising move down our left saw us carry the ball into the box, but the ref couldn’t wait to blow when we tried to retrieve it, which was frustrating to say the least. Nordi was looking dangerous down the right, and cut inside to fire a low one the wrong side of the near post, then there were a couple of Liverpool corners. From the second, on our left, Virgil rose pretty much unopposed to bonk in his header from a central position. As I said at the top of the page, not like us, and disappointing considering our previous dealing with corners.

We got in a cross from the right and won a corner which Hume took and there were a few seconds of bedlam as we got in a header, an overhead kick, and another shot that was blocked. What was noticeable with our corners was that we didn’t indulge in the now traditional Premier League nonsense of playing American football – no blocking the keeper, no rugby tackling defenders. Everybody else does it, largely unpunished, so perhaps we should give it a try.

Or not, please. Just stop it.

Anyway, even without any of that nonsense Endo managed to get hurt, so they took an age to get him onto a stretcher then took him the longest way off the pitch, which we didn’t like. On came Gomez. Twenty to go, please Lads make the most of them and get us something. Almost immediately there was a big (ish) shout for a penalty in BB’s favour, but the ref wasn’t interested, although he did blow for an almost identical challenge as ‘Pool were trying to clear it. Hmmf.

After Gakpo had made way for Jones, Nordi was galloping down the right again, only to blast a shot over when a hard, low cross to the spot seemed a much better option. Omar took a couple of hefty wallops, so after the second was replaced by Gerty, while Angulo and Hume made way for Mundle and Talbi. Ten to go - could Talbi repeat his Anfield heroics? Goodness knows, Virgil’s backside is hard to miss and another crucial deflection would have been very welcome. A few hefty challenges around 84 minutes got the crowd properly going, but their defence managed to get in the way of things – much like ours had been doing previously – as Mundle ran at their box from the left. Seven added minutes were announced, and a knackered Mukiele made way for Isidor. Another corner was won, we piled forward at the risk of leaving gaps at the back, and Dan put a header over the top.

And that was it. Home record gone, but Liverpool were the better side even if Roefs didn’t have that many saves to make. If only he’d been able to make one more. As with Arsenal, Liverpool were more efficient when it mattered and we were nearly but not quite able to produce against them. I’m not sure Ekitike (the longest palindrome in the Prem) and Wirtz are worth more than our entire squad, but I wouldn’t mind them in a Sunderland shirt. Each, of course.

Man of the Match? Probably Ballard, as he got in the way of most things and tried to carry it out without any unnecessary faffing about.

FA Cup at Oxford? Expect most of that bench to be on the field at 2pm.