New beginnings but familiar failings for Liverpool

IT has been all change at Anfield this summer, but the same old failings remain.

This time last year Liverpool were licking their wounds after Pepe Reina’s late own goal enabled Arsenal to leave Merseyside with a point on the opening day of the season. Fast forward 12 months, and despite an influx of signings, a similar scene was played out at the same venue as the hosts took control only to gift the visitors a share of the spoils.

The cost of Kenny Dalglish’s Anfield restoration work might have spilled over the €100m barrier but failure to defeat Sunderland proved that more money and more patience is required before his expensively-assembled team impacts on the Premier League stage.

“We are disappointed with a draw,” said Charlie Adam, one of four debutants in the side. “It’s not the best start but there are plenty games to go.”

There were positives, none more so than Adam’s smart delivery from a set-piece that enabled Luis Suarez to score the first goal of the new campaign, and the former Rangers midfielder believes the Uruguay striker can make a big difference this season.

“It was nice to get the assist but the important thing is the team winning. The goal we lost was disappointing. You could say we could have nicked it in the first-half but in the second-half maybe we didn’t do enough to win the game.”

Liverpool’s lacklustre second-half performance will concern Dalglish as he prepares for Saturday’s game at Arsenal. Suarez, perhaps expected after his recent performances at Copa America, spectacularly ran out of steam and was replaced by Raul Meireles.

The former Ajax striker’s display summed Liverpool up in a nutshell — good, lively start before fading away. Dalglish pinpointed nerves as a reason why some of his new purchases struggled to make a bigger impact. But what was Andy Carroll’s excuse? Carroll might have enjoyed a decent pre-season but rarely posed a serious threat to Sunderland’s defence.

It is clearly going to take time for the new arrivals to gel and Dalglish may well be tempted to make one last signing before the transfer window closes.

The marking that allowed Sebastian Larsson to score an excellent equaliser was poor although Sunderland thoroughly deserved a point after recovering from a poor first half in which Suarez missed a penalty after being brought down by Kieran Richardson.

LIVERPOOL: Reina (7); Flanagan (6), Agger (7), Carragher (7), Enrique (7); Henderson (6), Adam (7), Lucas (6), Downing (7); Suarez (8), Carroll (6).

Subs: Kuyt (6) for Henderson (60), Meireles (5) for Suarez (74).

SUNDERLAND: Mignolet (7); Bardsley (7), Ferdinand (7), Brown (7), Richardson (6); El Mohamady (7), Cattermole (7), Colback (7), Larsson (8); Sessegnon (7); Gyan (6).

Subs: Dong-Won (6) for Gyan (6), Vaughan for Larsson (81).

Referee: Phil Dowd.