Liverpool 1 Sunderland 1: Players Rating

STARTING 11 MATCH RATING -

Liverpool

• Luis Suarez - 7. Started great. Missed a penalty, but still got the goal 5 minutes later. Faded away in the second half
• Stewart Downing - 7. Excellent acquisition by Kenny Dalglish. Had a fantastic first half. Unlucky to be denied a goal by the cross bar. Faded in the second half.
• Luis Enrique - 7. Good acquisition by Dalglish. Very solid at Left Back
• Pepe Reina - 6.5. Had a good game. Was not at fault for Larsson's superb finish.
• Charlie Adam - 6.5. Another good acquisition. Always looked dangerous from set pieces. Delivered the cross that Suarez  scored with.
• Lucas Leiva - 6. Average performance by Lucas, going by the high standards he set during the last campaign
• Jamie Carragher - 6. Did a job on Gyan
• Daniel Agger - 6. Good job double teaming on lone Sunderland striker, Gyan
• Andy Carroll - 5.5. Not a good performance. Liverpool's change in style in the second half was primarily to accommodate Carroll, be he failed to deliver.
• Jordan Henderson - 4.5. Liverpool's $20 million signing will need to spend more time on the farm horning his skills before his next outing.
• Flanagan - 4. He needs more time with the reserves. He must have been overwhelmed by the electrifying atmosphere. The game was bigger than him.

Sunderland

• Seb Larrson - 9. Just for scoring a 'goal of the season' type goal, he gets top rating.
• Wes Brown - 8. Man U old boy was firm at the back. Despite a significant height disadvantage vs. Carroll, he held his own
• Keiran Richardson - 7.5. Complimented Brown's efforts well. Was lucky to stay on the pitch after bringing Suarez down in the 7th minute for the missed penalty.
• Sessegnon - 7.5. Very exciting player. Controlled the game in the second half.
• Colback - 7. Very active. Attracted a lot of tackles from Liverpool and won free-kicks for Sunderland in the second half
• Cattermole - 6. For hassling Liverpool in the middle. Terrible tackler. Lucky to finish the game without a red card.
• Bardsley - 5.5. Average
• Al-Muhamadi - 5.5. Ok game.
• Mignolet - 5.5. Looked suspect, but did ok for a backup.
• Gyan - 5. Not his best game. Was only able to make one attempt on goal. Left injured
• Ferdinand - 5. Poor.