After easing in most of the new signings, today saw Voronin and Babel given their first starts in the Premiership. On this evidence, Sunderland once again are a long way short on quality, however an away fixture is still a tricky one as Spurs have already found this season. Entering without Gerrard, I worried this is the kind of game that in past season's we'd have drawn or even lost.
As it was, Sunderland were surprisingly accommodating, almost gifting us a goal in the first minute with a poor back pass from former Colchester United player Greg Halford. After that, an inspired display from £9m 'keeper Gordon left me wondering whether this would be 'one of those days' but thankfully the opening goal - Liverpool's 7000th in the league - came from a most unexpected source - Momo Sissoko in his 75th game for the club (he has come close before, most memorably hitting the bar against Barcelona, but I've also seen his shots go for a throw...)
Despite dominating, we failed to make safe what should have been an easy 3- or 4-0, Voronin not scoring the second until the 87th minute. In fairness, Gordon should take credit for great saves from both our strikers, but I'm still not entirely convinced Torres will finish enough goals, even if he creates opportunities himself. The further bad news was the loss of Hyypia (probably broken nose) and Carragher (possibly broken rib) to injuries. While the makeshift defence were enough to repel Sunderland's ineffectual attack, we need at least one of these players fit to partner Agger. I was very glad we didn't get Heinze (£7m far too much for a 29 year old defender with dodgy knees and who looks nothing like the player he was three years ago) but I think we do need to bring in defensive cover - as Chelsea learned after getting caught short here last year.
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