Sunderland left it late as they came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Liverpool, with goals from substitute Adam Johnson and top-scorer Jermain Defoe ensuring that the Black Cats did not leave Merseyside empty handed. Despite a less than stellar performance, Sam Allardyce will no doubt be thrilled that his side were able to come away with a point. Here are some of the main talking points from the game.
Certain players have suffered a dip in form and should be rotated
Two players who have been mainstays in the Sunderland side this season had poor games yesterday, and those players are Billy Jones and Lee Cattermole. Jones in particular has come under heavy fire from fans after his poor performance against Manchester City as well as Liverpool, whereas Cattermole has escaped some but not all of the fans' frustration.
Jones tends to be a player that never stands out as a brilliant performer, but is consistent and will give a six or at a push seven out of ten in most matches. However he has recently started to decline in form and has become a player that Sunderland's opponents are targeting. Liverpool's second goal came thanks to Jones taking far too long on the ball and allowing Roberto Firmino to steal possession, before laying off Adam Lallana for a simple tap-in.
DeAndre Yedlin may suffer from defensive frailties but offers much more than Jones does in an attacking sense as well as possessing raw speed, making him a viable option in the immediate future.
Cattermole, on the other hand, has been a fan favourite for several seasons thanks to his passion and committment to the team, however since he has moved into a central midfield role rather than a defensive midfield role his performances have been quite poor. He is simply not suited to being pushed further up the pitch as he cannot affect the game in an attacking sense as we know he can in a defensive sense.
With Jan Kirchhoff impressing in the holding role however, Allardyce should opt to switch Cattermole for a different type of player alongside Yann M'VIla, such as Adam Johnson or Sebastian Larsson, who has suffered with injuries this season.
It's time to start putting round pegs in round holes
Sunderland have been incredibly guilty over the last five years of playing players in unnatural positions. In the past we have seen Craig Gardner play at right-back, Jack Colback play at left-back, Fabio Borini play at left-wing, Ola Toivonen in central-midfield, Billy Jones at centre-back and many more under various different managers.
Yesterday it was the turn of new signing Dame N'Doye to play on the right side of midfield, replacing the injured Duncan Watmore. N'Doye is a tall and physical player who does not possess the technical skills to play out wide, with the only advantage he had over Liverpool left-back Alberto Moreno being his height, yet the ball sailed past him and in the direction of the diminutive figure that is Jermain Defoe who had little to no chance with high balls.
It was a strange decision from Allardyce, who had also bizarrely used Danny Graham on the left side of midfield before he was shipped out on loan to Blackburn Rovers, especially with a ready made winger in Adam Johnson sitting on the bench although he did eventually take the place of Jan Kirchhoff in midfield.
More of this fighting spirit needs to be shown if Sunderland are to survive
At 2-0 down, almost everyone watching thought that the match was done and dusted and that Sunderland would be leaving Anfield with no points after a disappointing performance. However, the Wearsiders mustered up the character to perform a late comeback with two goals inside the last ten minutes of the game stealing a draw when the match looked well and truly over.
This type of fighting spirit has not been shown too often by Sunderland, who are better known for their comical collapses after going a goal or two down than they are for their impressive comebacks. With a point gained from two goals down at Anfield and one goal down against Bournemouth recently, signs are there to see that Allardyce has instilled a refusal to give up within the side, a trait that is desperately needed for a team wishing to avoid relegation once more.
If Sunderland stay up, they will have someone in particular to thank
With ten goals so far in the Premier League, Jermain Defoe is one of eight players to hit double figures this term, with every other player playing for a team in the top half of the league.
At 33 years of age, Defoe may not be the player he was in his prime, but he is still a striker with a lethal instinct inside the 18-yard box and is the one main advantage that Sunderland have over their relegation rivals. Against Liverpool, the ex-Tottenham man was starved of any real service until the final stages of the game, when Wahbi Khazri fed the ball into this path before Defoe turned Mamadou Sakho in the area and fired past Simon Mignolet to haul Sunderland level.
That is simply the type of player he is, and although he may become frustrated at his lack of chances in some games, there is no doubt that if anyone is to keep Sunderland in the division, he is the man to do it.
Fan protest shows that some are disillusioned with the beautiful game
The main talking point from the match was not anything that happened on the pitch despite the late drama, but rather what happened in the stands once the clock hit 77 minutes. Thousands of Liverpool fans left the stadium in protest at the ludicrous price of £77 for a single ticket in the new stand currently being built at Anfield.
Football in England in particular is becoming more and more like a business, especially with the Premier League becoming a global brand in recent years, as proved by the sheer amount of money that television companies were willing to pay to secure the rights to broadcast matches in the division.
The walk-out may have contributed to the collapse from the Reds, but there is no denying that some fans are being priced out of watching their beloved club participate in a 90 minute game of football. Liverpool are not the only club to blame, with many other top-flight clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea charging high prices for tickets rather than reducing the prices and seeing a full stadium create an electric atmosphere.
Only time will tell whether protests such as this have any real impact, but one thing for sure is that ticket prices are an issue that need to be addressed. It could only take one club to reduce prices and in turn make the others follow suit, which would make a small difference to the the finances of the club, but a world of difference to the fans that help make football the game it is today.