The Red’s title hopes suffered a further blow as Sunderland’s Darren Bent’s shot is deflected by a red inflatable ball to consign Liverpool to a 1 – 0 defeat at the Stadium of Light. The freak goal aside; Liverpool didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game as the Merseysiders failed to break down the defence of a team that on paper shouldn’t be a match. Sunderland stood tall and restricted the visitors to long range efforts while the home team had regular forays into the Liverpool box. There was some doubt about the ligitimacy of Darren Bent’s freak goal but the referee let the goal stand. To Rafa Benitez’ credit he admitted that his side were poor as the goal came early in the game and Liverpool had 85 minutes to equalise but failed to find the back of the net. It does go to show just how much Liverpool rely on key players like Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard who were both absent from today’s squad due to injury! Liverpool slip down to 8th below Sunderland in the Premier League. The Reds have a real uphill battle to win the Premiership title now, it was already tough but dropping points against lower ranked opposition isn’t going to win anything. I’m starting to wonder if Liverpool can even claim an automatic Champions League qualifying spot after the disastrous start to the season, the Red’s may find themselves locked out!
Plymouth Argyle slip back down to 23rd in the Championship after a 2 – 0 defeat by former Argyle manager Ian Holloway’s Blackpool. To make matters worse; Blackpool’s first goal was scored by on loan Pilgrims defender Marcel Seip. Current Argyle manager Paul Sturrock had the option of not allowing Seip to play against Argyle as he is on loan and contracted to Plymouth even if he has been transfer listed. I can see the Dutchman making his loan move to Blackpool permanent in January as he really doesn’t fit with Sturrock’s regime. Sturrock’s head is still on the chopping block after this defeat; the two wins before the International break gave him a reprieve but this loss puts him right back in the shit. The next game away at Bristol City on Tuesday is a crucial game for Paul Sturrock’s XI as a loss could see Argyle propping up the Championship table once more if Ipswich can beat Watford. Plymouth host Watford at Home Park next Saturday afternoon!
It was a disastrous day for the Brits on Formula 1 with title favourite Jenson Button starting from 14th and Lewis Hamilton starting from 18th. Button’s qualifying was compromised by a poor choice of tyres in a rain soaked qualifying session. The bad news for Button is that his team mate and closest title rival Rubens Barrichello qualified on pole position with a light fuel load compared to other top 10 qualifiers, only Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were as light as the Brazilian. The only saving grace for Button is that his second title rival Sebastian Vettel could only manage to qualify in 16th while his Red Bull team mate qualified on the front row alongside Barrichello. I wonder whether Giancarlo Fisichella who qualified dead last is regretting his decision to switch to Ferrari as former team mate Adrian Sutil qualified in third place in the Force India Mercedes. There’s a real possibility that Jenson could end up losing the title should Rubens win the Brazilian Grand Prix and Jenson fails to score, that’ll cut the Briton’s lead to just four points. Obviously as a Brit I want Jenson to win but believe he has been too cautious in the second half of the season and could pay the ultimate price in two weeks time in the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.