If Gus Poyet had still been in any doubt as to how much work he still has to do at Sunderland, the first half of this match will have dispelled it.

“It worries me how far away we are from where I want to be,” was his frank assessment after the match.

“I accept we gave away 45 minutes today. There was confusion in the first half about how to deal with Liverpool’s tactics. You need flexibility on the pitch.”

Whatever game plan their manager had sent them out with, it clearly didn’t work and what worried Poyet was his players’ inability to adapt without instruction.

They lacked invention, were unable to keep a coherent shape and inside 10 minutes Liverpool were able to cut through them easily.

Emre Can found Lazar Markovic, who broke into space down the right before passing inside to Steven Gerrard.

The Liverpool captain passed to Fabio Borini, who was fouled by Wes Brown, but the referee played a neat advantage and when the loose ball found its way back to Markovic he was able to poke it past Costel Pantilimon.

Liverpool took command but were unable to add to their advantage. Markovic hit the bar with a delightful scissor-kick just before the half-hour mark and minutes before the break Borini, who spent last season on loan at Sunderland, could only find the side net ting after he rounded Pantilimon.

Sunderland’s task was made harder just after half time when Liam Bridcutt received a second yellow card for a challenge on Can to add to another, equally innocuous booking he received in the first half for a foul on Gerrard.

But Poyet was not looking for excuses: “We didn’t lose because of that. I’m not going to criticise the referee.”

The win means Liverpool have now lost just once in their last nine League games and there was though enough for Brendan Rodgers to be confident that they can make a serious challenge for the top four in the second half of the season, especially after the imminent return of Daniel Sturridge.

“I always felt it would come. We always get better in the second half of the season. It’s going how I thought it would.”