Liverpool 1 Sunderland 1:THEY HAVE presided over 15 signings but there were no great discoveries at Anfield, merely confirmation for Steve Bruce that less is more and that Kenny Dalglish needs more like Luis.
Patience will be at a premium again at Liverpool until their €125 million investment matches the impact and output of the exhilarating Suarez.
Dalglish had excuses for a Liverpool display that shone then burned against Sunderland – and he justifiably deployed them all. There were four debutants including one, Jose Enrique, who arrived 24 hours earlier and was thrust into the team when Fabio Aurelio picked up an injury.
There were two players fresh from Copa America duty and a starting XI featuring seven new faces to the side inherited from Roy Hodgson in January.
“It’s a big ask,” Dalglish conceded. “But we knew what we were doing when we picked the side.”
On the eve of the campaign Dalglish instructed every Liverpool player to raise their game and, having been repaid for only 45 minutes on Saturday, delivered another warning to them.
“Whatever time they need (to gel), they will have,” he said, before adding: “We are relaxed about the situation but we want to be competitive.”
No one epitomised the manager’s mantra better than Suarez, who returned to training on Monday following his victorious efforts at the Copa America and vindicated his selection immediately.
“Certainly Luis was never going to finish the match so it was no surprise we tailed off a little bit,” said Dalglish. “We will manage all of them but he was on such a high when he came back we had to start with him. The surprising thing was the penalty kick – he didn’t half miss it.”
Liverpool’s problem was that no one else rivalled the Uruguayan’s contribution over 90 minutes.
Kick-off was the regulation 3pm but Kieran Richardson started 13 minutes later. In the intervening period he had a clearance blocked by Suarez on the half-way line, clipped the striker as he rounded goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, escaped a red card thanks to the angle of Suarez’s run away from goal, and lost Liverpool’s number seven again when he glanced home a Charlie Adam free-kick from the right.
The source of many Liverpool goals this season it is safe to assume.
Though Suarez skied the penalty there was no indication Liverpool would rue the miss or referee Phil Dowd’s decision to keep the contest alive.
Adam began in his Blackpool pomp, setting up Andy Carroll for a fine finish disallowed for a push on Anton Ferdinand, then Stewart Downing struck the bar and Sunderland offered neither the quality in passing nor strength in midfield to suggest a recovery.
The opposite was true from the 40-minute mark, with Lee Cattermole and Jack Colback dominating central midfield, all rhythm and energy fading from Liverpool, and Wes Brown, on his Sunderland debut, outplaying Carroll.
Bruce has made 10 signings this summer but, gave only Brown and Sebastian Larsson their debuts. His decision to reward Colback for his emergence last season represented brave and astute management, and Sunderland’s payback arrived when Ahmed Elmohamady crossed in acres of space from the right and Larsson, also unmarked, volleyed expertly past Jose Reina.
“The thing when you make big changes is it’s very difficult to put them all in straight away and I’m sure Kenny will be thinking that too,” said Bruce.
“We finished 10th last year, which was the (club’s) third highest finish in 50 years,” he said.
“So if I had kicked people like Jack Colback, who did particularly well at the back end of last season, in the teeth I might not have seen him again. It was important that I gave the lads who served the club so well last season a chance.
“The lads who came to the club will be disappointed who did not start but they will get their chance. The two who played had wonderful debuts so lets hope the others can have debuts like them.”
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