Arne Slot, Getty Images 04 December 2025, 09:35

In the home match of the fourteenth round of the English Premier League, Liverpool drew against Sunderland.

Liverpool — Sunderland 1:1 Video goals and review of the Premier League match

After the game, the head coach of the Reds, Arne Slot, commented on the performance of his own team.

“I think in the last minutes of the game we were close, in my opinion, to making the score 2-1, because we had several set pieces, we were constantly near their penalty area. They could not get out of that situation.

But then, after one of the standard positions, from the second phase, we almost put the ball in the goal, but their goalkeeper caught the ball. Then I looked up and saw their player completely free on the center line.

It’s good that Fede didn’t think: “Ah, I have nothing to do here, I’m so far from the episode.” On the contrary, he kept running and Alisson Becker pushed the opponent to the edge of the area and eventually Fede was able to clear the ball off the line, which I think was the minimum we deserved tonight and the minimum his effort deserved. I mean, a draw was the least we deserved tonight.

A bit disappointed and at the same time pleased with Liverpool’s performance today. I knew before the game that when you play Sunderland, out of 14 games they’ve played, they’ve only conceded more than one goal four times, and in those four games they’ve only conceded two. So, this team is difficult to score against, difficult to create chances against them, because they are either very aggressive in high pressing, or they have 11 players – 10 outfield players and a goalkeeper – who defend their penalty area with their lives. That’s why it’s so hard to create moments. So in that aspect I was hoping for more, even though I knew how difficult it was to create against them.

Again, we almost missed it. The first big chance from them – I’m not counting the shot that hit the crossbar because it wasn’t a chance – but the first real chance was from a set piece – a header that hit the post. And then their goal wasn’t even a chance in my opinion. If it’s a chance, we probably had 20 chances tonight. But, unfortunately, the ricochet resulted in us losing 0:1

In the previous games it was very difficult for us to equalise, although we had chances every time. Today we were a little lucky to make it 1:1, because it was also a rebound. It’s different for me, because it’s a shot from eight, nine, ten meters, so it’s at least a serious chance. While a shot from 25 meters is not a serious chance – it is a possibility, but not a serious chance.

Obviously the teams playing against us now think they can get results even at Anfield. And they do it for good reason, which has already been proven this season. And even in the games that we won, they also gave confidence to other teams, like, “Hmm, something is possible today,” because the wins we had at the beginning of the season weren’t easy either.

I think the whole second half only one team had the ball and only one team played in the other half of the field. But yes, if they got a penalty from the referee or a kick from the goal, they could take it to our half of the field with a long ball. And we had to defend three or four times from standard positions: throw-outs and corner kicks. And, of course, it is dangerous for them, because they have shown this season that they are a threat from set pieces. It is good for us that we did not miss the standard provisions. Maybe it’s good that we got at least one point as a result,” said the Dutch expert.

In the next round, Liverpool will visit Leeds.