AUGUST 27
Reina
pleased for Momo
By Al Campbell - LFC Online
Pepe Reina was pleased to see Momo Sissoko
open the scoring on Saturday.
Sissoko scored his first ever Liverpool goal during
Saturday's 2-0 win at Sunderland. The players were all
delighted to see the midfielder off the mark.
"Momo deserved his goal, we were happy for him and really
excited. It was funny for him. I could hardly believe it, it
was a great goal," said Reina.
"Some other times he was close like the Barcelona game at
home. But it was important for us to get ahead and to relax.
"The second goal was a good counter attack and a good
finish. We'd created a lot of chances and missed many of
them but it's important to create them.
"It is difficult when we come back after the international
break and play an early kick off. The other teams play on
Saturday evening or even Sunday and it's not easy for us.
"The clean sheet is important for team confidence but I've
said many times the three points is the most important thing
and we got them."
AUGUST 25
Keane
accepts defeat
By Amanda Cornforth - Sky Sports
Sunderland boss Roy Keane accepted his side were beaten
by the better team as they lost 2-0 to Liverpool at the
Stadium of Light.
Keane, who was left furious following last Saturday's 3-0
defeat at Wigan, conceded that his players tried hard
against tough opposition as goals either side of half time
from Mohamed Sissoko and Andrei Voronin handed the Reds
three points to take home.
"I've not got too many complaints today," Keane told Sky
Sports 1."We showed some good bits of quality, it just
wasn't our day.
"That was the effort I wanted to see.
"It's tough when you're playing against teams like Liverpool
with the strength in depth they've got, it was always going
to be a tough afternoon."
Keane added that the Black Cats have had a hard start to the
season on their return to the top flight with their opening
games seeing them face Tottenham, Birmingham and Wigan
before Liverpool.
He continued: "It's been a tough start for us but that's the
beauty of the Premier League and every game will be
different but it's where we want to be.
"We're here to stay and enjoy ourselves."
On adding to his squad, Keane said: "We are sometimes
lacking a little bit of experience. We're maybe short of as
striker and defender."
AUGUST 25
Benitez banishes away
blues
By Amanda Cornforth - Sky Sports
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez believes his side have
finally overcome their troubles away from home after their
second successive away win.
The Reds ran out 2-0 winners at Sunderland thanks to goals
either side of half time from Mohamed Sissoko and Andrei
Voronin.
"It was really good, really important for us," Benitez told
Sky Sports 1.
"The players showed character and played well and we had a
lot of chances.
"We killed the game at the end but it could have been
before.
"We had chances that maybe could have been in before (the
second goal) but in this period when everyone was talking
about our performances away last season, I think it was
really important to win the match."
Benitez praised the display of Sissoko, who replaced injured
captain Steven Gerrard and scored his first-ever goal for
the club.
"It was important to see different players doing the job,"
he added. "It showed how strong our squad is now."
Benitez also revealed that key defender Jamie Carragher, who
left the field in the second half through injury, would have
an X-ray on a suspected broken rib.
Sami Hyypia also left the pitch in the first half with what
was later confirmed as a broken nose.
AUGUST 25
Momo: I hope
it's the first of many
By Jimmy Rice - LFC Official Website
Momo Sissoko has spoken of his desire to start climbing
the Anfield scoring charts after breaking his Liverpool duck
on his 75th appearance for the club.
The Malian scored the Reds' 7,000th league goal in
Saturday's 2-0 win over Sunderland.
"I am very happy, not only because I've got my first goal
for the club, but also because the team won. This was a very
good result," said the midfielder.
"It's been a long time coming – I'm in my third year here! I
was very surprised to score but I want to go on and score
many goals for Liverpool."
Meanwhile, Sissoko is refusing to get carried away despite
the Reds' excellent start to the campaign.
"Sunderland are a very good team, but we played well today.
We are going to have to work hard to win games.
"There's no need to talk about the title at this stage of
the season – we just need to keep winning games."
AUGUST 25
Liverpool snuff out
Sunderland
Ireland.com
Andriy Voronin scores Liverpool's second goal at the
Stadium of Light.Sunderland 0 Liverpool 2: Andriy Voronin
struck late to end Roy Keane's hopes of another dramatic
Sunderland escape after Mohamed Sissoko grabbed Liverpool's
7,000th goal in league football at the Stadium of Light this
afternoon.
Manager Rafael Benitez had railed against what he perceived
to be a catalogue of injustices against his side this week
but his mood will have lifted after Liverpool's solid
display.
Sissoko grabbed his first goal for the club in the 37th
minute to put the visitors in control and Ukrainian Voronin
sealed victory with four minutes to go after a sweeping move
on the break.
In truth Benitez's men were in control throughout and only
some superb saves from Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon and
the application of the home defence kept them at bay for so
long.
The visitors could have made life easier for themselves had
Voronin properly capitalised on a dreadful error by home
left-back Greg Halford with just 25 seconds on the clock.
Voronin pounced on Halford's short back pass and struck a
low shot which squeezed under the impressive Gordon but
wriggled agonisingly wide of target.
The early loss of Sami Hyypia with a broken nose seemed set
to matter little to Liverpool, who remained camped in the
home half, while Sunderland suffered a bigger blow when
Kieron Richardson limped off.
Xabi Alonso screwed a rising shot just wide in the 14th
minute after Ryan Babel had cleverly laid off a Steve Finnan
right-wing cross, but the expected succession of chances did
not materialise.
Once again Paul McShane and Nyron Nosworthy held firm in the
centre of the home defence, marshalled superbly by captain
Dwight Yorke, and frustration slowly grew among the
visitors.
That frustration should have increased in the 24th minute
when substitute Anthony Stokes, on for Richardson, had a
superb chance to give his side a shock lead.
Stokes was played clear by Chopra into the right side of the
Liverpool box and hit his shot under the advancing Jose
Reina, only for Agger to clear from the edge of the six-yard
box.
Despite the visitors still failing to carve out too many
clear-cut chances there was a feeling the home side had
missed their opportunity and that was underlined in the 37th
minute.
The lively Voronin laid the ball back to Sissoko on the edge
of the box and the Mali international drilled a low
right-foot shot past Gordon into the corner of the net.
With the visitors finishing the second half strongly,
McShane needed a big interception to prevent Torres getting
in a clear header, before Gordon grasped another effort by
the Spaniard on the line.
The second goal seemed a matter of time early in the second
half as Liverpool resumed their dominance and Xabi Alonso
played in Torres who was denied by the impressive Gordon.
Gordon saved Sunderland again three minutes later after
Torres burst through the home defence and fired a fierce
shot that was brilliantly blocked by the chest of the £9
million man.
If nothing else, Keane will have been pleased with his
side's obvious desire not to accept defeat, and there was a
growing suspicion that another late escape act might be on
the cards.
Ross Wallace's deep cross into the Reds box in the 68th
minute was punched away by Reina under pressure as the
Stadium of Light crowd sensed a comeback.
But Liverpool's front line oozed class and Gordon was
required again in the 79th minute to produce a point-blank
save to deny Voronin in front of goal.
Finally Voronin extinguished those lingering Stadium of
Light dreams with four minutes to go with a clinical finish
to wrap up a productive afternoon for Benitez.
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