December 4th 2025.
Sunderland coach, Regis Le Bris, revealed that his players were taken aback by the amount of space and time they had during their match against Liverpool on Wednesday evening. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, with both teams showing impressive performances.
Le Bris confessed that his team was surprised by Liverpool's lack of pressing, which allowed them to take the lead in the 67th minute through Chemsdine Talbi's goal. The shot took a deflection off Virgil van Dijk, who had carelessly given the ball away just moments before the goal.
However, Liverpool managed to equalize with a clever individual play from Florian Wirtz, whose shot was unfortunately deflected into the net by Nordi Mukiele with only nine minutes left on the clock. This result leaves Liverpool in eighth place in the Premier League, and manager Arne Slot is bound to face more questions about his team's inability to convert chances at Anfield.
Speaking after the match, Le Bris said, "We had the opportunity to score a second goal, but ultimately, it's a fair result for both teams. We had a good start to the game, both with and without the ball. However, we perhaps didn't believe enough that we could score, but we did it at the beginning of the second half."
Liverpool's lackluster performance once again raised doubts about their form this season. Le Bris added, "We were even a bit surprised by the amount of time and space we had to build up our play. I don't think they were expecting us to be at that level. We had discussed how to disrupt their defense in the final third, and we were prepared for the entrance of Mohamed Salah onto the pitch."
In response to a question about whether Anfield is losing its fear factor, Slot replied, "No, not Anfield, for sure. But it's clear that teams playing against us now feel like they can get a result. This has been shown throughout the season, even in the games we have won. It has given other teams the confidence that something is possible."
When asked about Liverpool's opponents growing into the game, Slot disagreed, stating, "Throughout the whole second half, there was only one team that had the ball and was playing in the opposition's half. However, they were able to bring the ball to our half through free-kicks, goal-kicks, and long balls. We had to defend against set-pieces multiple times, which is a threat for us as Liverpool has shown this season."
Fortunately for Liverpool, they did not concede from a set-piece in this match, which allowed them to salvage a point. Commenting on this, Slot said, "Maybe that was the key to getting a point today."
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