Alonso leads Reds charge

Sunderland 0 Liverpool 2

Even Mohamed Sissoko's 65th-minute dismissal and the extension of Peter Crouch's goal drought to 11 minutes short of 24 hours could not halt the Reds' charge as Sunderland slumped to an eighth successive defeat, seven of them in the league.

The game was won within 14 first-half minutes through the invention of Spanish midfielder Alonso, who first played in compatriot Luis Garcia to open the scoring on 31 minutes and then fed skipper Steven Gerrard to make it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was happy with his side afterwards: "The team is playing well. We are controlling games and showing consistency, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets. We need to keep this run going now and to do that we have continue doing the same things," he said.

"The one area we need to improve on is finishing the game off. We could have done with a third goal tonight because without it the end of this match was difficult. Thankfully, our defence did a good job."

The Spaniard was full of praise for man-of-the-match Alonso and added: "Xabi is a player who can pass and keep possession. He is probably one of the best passers in the world and played very well."

The only downside to Liverpool's victory was the dismissal of Momo Sissoko. "Losing Momo made life difficult for us and he has to learn. I was talking to him throughout the game, telling him to be careful with his tackling."

Benitez also poured scorn on suggestions that Djibril Cisse was left out of the squad for disciplinary reasons.

"He (Cisse) has been in the squad for a lot games and on this occasion I opted to use some of the other players. He was not left out for disciplinary reasons. He was rested. There was no other reason," he explained.

Once again the Black Cats, for all their hard work and positive intentions, were simply outclassed in the areas that mattered most, and even a spirited finish could not bring them any relief as the bulk of a crowd of 32,697 went home disappointed for the third time in 11 days.

Gerrard, Alonso and Luis Garcia simply had too much for the home side in the middle of the park, and but for a penalty decision that was not given and a John Arne Riise piledriver which hit the bar, the margin of victory could have been bigger.

Sunderland boss, Mick McCarthy had publicly criticised his players following their capitulation at the weekend and he got the desired response as they gave as good as they got for half an hour, admittedly without causing any genuine problems for Reds keeper Jose Reina and his defence.

However, the concern for Sunderland is that they simply do not boast the class of many of their opponents, and that fact was illustrated graphically twice inside the final 14 minutes of the half.

Only Alonso will know what was in his mind when, deep inside his own half on 31 minutes, he hooked the ball over his shoulder into enemy territory.

However, Luis Garcia anticipated perfectly to outstrip the home defence and slot calmly past advancing keeper Ben Alnwick to open the scoring.

The Black Cats rallied briefly, but they were left with a mountain to climb on the stroke of half-time when Alonso picked out Gerrard's run down the right.

His pass gave the England midfielder the space he needed to surge into the box, but it was his deft touch over Alnwick which left him with the simplest of finishes to pile on the misery for McCarthy's men.

Crouch's barren spell should have come to an end after 1,397 minutes when he found himself unmarked in front of goal as Gerrard's shot came his way.

His initial effort was blocked by Alnwick, but he seemed certain to score from the rebound until he appeared to be hauled down by Steve Caldwell.

Referee Phil Dowd, however, astonishingly waved play on, and the striker's drought continued.

Luis Garcia curled in a 59th-minute left-footed effort, which Alnwick saved, but the arrival of Harry Kewell in place of Fernando Morientes shortly afterwards did little to ease the home side's fears.

However, Liverpool were reduced to 10 men seven minutes later when midfielder Sissoko, who had earlier been booked for a foul on Liam Lawrence, upended Dean Whitehead and was dismissed.

But it was they who continued to look the more likely scorers, Riise seeing a 74th-minute drive cannon off the crossbar after he had carved his way through the home defence.

Crouch's departure five minutes later left him without a goal in 1,429 minutes, but he was at least able to celebrate another victory for Benitez's in-form side.

Stead might have ended his own drought six minutes from time when Reina fumbled his low shot at the near post, and he then sent a dipping effort over, but even a consolation strike eluded his side.

SUNDERLAND: Alnwick, Hoyte (Nosworthy 77), Breen, Caldwell, Collins, Whitehead, Lawrence (Gray 86), Bassila, Miller (Welsh 57), Stead, Brown.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Carragher, Riise (Warnock 90), Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Luis Garcia, Crouch (Traore 79), Morientes (Kewell 60).

Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).