Dominic Gold

There will be two schools of thought when examining this game. One, that Sunderland were more than a match for Champions League contenders and highly unlucky to concede a goal late in the game.

The other, however, is that the Lads have not learnt vital lessons from last season and once again played well without getting any rewards.

Barring Man Utd at home, this had all the echoes of the games against the top four last campaign and Roy Keane needs to solve this problem sooner rather than later.

There were several positives to take, however. Steed Malbranque looked every inch a quality Premiership footballer and El-Hadji Djouf showed glimpses of the skills he will bring to our side. Nyron and Danny Collins looked solid at the back, while an out-of-position Phil Bardsley stuck to the task well. In midfield, Kieran Richardson and Andy Reid looked dangerous, and certainly a lot fitter than this time last year.

All in all, it was a promising start tinged with the disappointing loss of a late goal. We remain toothless up front and until Kenwyne returns we desperately need a new striker before the transfer window slams shut. Kevin Doyle or Benni McCarthy would benefit the side, although personally I would splash the cash on another Blackburn striker, Matt Derbyshire.

It will be an interesting few more weeks of transfer speculation, but hopefully once September comes, we will have a new No.9 and a few points on the board, starting at Spurs this week.

Simon Sinclair

What a way to start the season! Sunderland put in a sparkling first-half performance, with the new signings fitting in very well.

Malbranque was a touch of class from kick-off, Diouf was a nuisance with clever trickery and pace, Tainio was brilliant in front of the back four which, until the 83rd minute, didn't look like conceding a goal.

However, good teams like Liverpool may not play well every week, but are always dangerous. Torres proved that a quality striker can be the difference, which, in this case, proved correct. We toiled away and tested Liverpool but rarely did they create a vast array of chances.

The only clear-cut chance that did come our way was headed straight at Reina by the disappointing Murphy.

The game changed in the second half with the introduction of Alonso. Why the inexperienced Plessis was starting ahead of him is anyone's guess. We did have minor chances in the second half, but Murphy and Diouf failed to capitalise. Aagainst quality teams you need to take the chances on offer.

When fatigue set in, the defence finally cracked. A poor clearance by Chimbonda fell to Alonso, he found Torres with a clever through ball, the defence, for once, stood off the Spaniard, allowing him time and space to beat Gordon, which I'm afraid is criminal.

Overall, it was a very good performance. There are a lot of encouraging signs, especially from the new players. We won't play teams like Liverpool every week, however we are in desperate need of a top-quality striker. With one, this season could well be a good one.

Trevor Camp

Having said I would not be too disappointed if we lost this game and predicting the correct score, I am disappointed.

We got close enough to get a well-earned point and I am sure Liverpool will regard the late goal as earning them two bonus points. Overall, we played well enough to get a result, but we lost because Liverpool have that extra quality that we are striving to achieve.

We easily had the better of the first half, with our midfield on top and the back four keeping Torres and Keane in check, but it was very ominous that not being able to score an all-important goal might be our undoing.

Liverpool bringing on Alonso for the second half evened things up somewhat and, as we entered the last ten minutes, I would have been pleased to settle for the point.

A lot of promise was shown and we can build on that. Difficult to pick a Sunderland man-of-the-match as all put in a good shift. Malbranque's skill probably caught the eye the most, but Collins and Nugsy keeping Torres and Keane so quiet is also worthy of note.

We will not have to contend with the likes of Liverpool every week and, on this standard, we will surely get the better of other sides, particularly if we can sign a goalscorer.

The team came off to a well-earned standing ovation from the loyal fans who stayed. Having scored so many late goals in the last two seasons and only being one goal down, I still do not understand why so many fans leave early.

Brian Cockburn

It seemed to start so well. Sunderland started the brighter, making a few clear openings and pressurising their defence with some neat passing (I was quite shocked!). It seemed Keano's 4-4-1-1 formation was working.

Murphy looked lost up front. Apart from his first-half chance, he really didn't look like scoring. It was disappointing not to have seen Chopra start from the beginning – I would have thought that he would given more problems to Liverpool's defence.

I was impressed by Richardson, Malbranque and Diouf, all of whom brought different qualities to the team. Malbranque proved he has great vision and skill, Richardson looked fresh and very fit and injury-free, which is a positive, while Diouf was in typically feisty spirits early on and looked hungry to impress with a strong performance.

Murphy disappointed me. I don't feel he is an out-and-out striker, but he does work well on the wing. Obviously Roy Keane has seen something in training that no one else sees for him to start game after game.

My star man was Diouf. He was looking to get behind the defence and kept causing problems. On the whole, Sunderland did very well and I am encouraged by the way the team kept the ball for long periods and
created chances.

Andrew Powell

I once read that Fernando Torres was a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, which is ironic because I thought he ran rings around us for most of the 90 minutes. I said he'd be a thorn in our side and prick us he most certainly did.

We deserved at least a point and the way the draw was snatched away was a cruel blow, although one of our two centre-backs should have closed him down. It's not a very good idea to stand off potentially the best striker in our league, is it Mr Nosworthy or Mr Collins?

Nonetheless, it was a great performance and one that we can take plenty of positives from. For the first time in years, I was able to watch without expecting us to concede at any given moment and I think that was down to the new signings – even if Chimbonda did come close to conceding a penalty!

One thing that did bother me was our striker Murphy. In my opinion, he is not up to the standard of this league at all. We could have played Eddie Murphy up front instead; without too much a difference in class being lost and at least that way we could have found something comical to smile about.

Chopra or Stokes would have made a better option, although ideally I would love to see a top-class striker come in before deadline day. What can we say about Diouf? I have 100 good adjectives I could write but instead I'll just say this: He's hip, he's hop, he'll take us to the top! Oh El-Hadji, Oh El-Hadji!

We came away with nothing, yet my high hopes and optimism are still intact. The next few games are all what we could call "winnable ones", so let's hope we can play like we did in the first half and get the first of what I hope will be many points on the board this season. Good effort and unlucky to be the losers.

Derek Carter

In many ways, this game could be likened to the 1992 FA Cup Final where we took Liverpool apart in the first half but failed to get going after the break and ended up with a lot of praise but nothing to show for our efforts.

Again they were there for the taking but it turned out to be a series of "if onlys". If only Daryl Murphy had scored with his header, if only our lads had been able to keep up the high tempo approach of the first half and if only someone had closed Torres down.

The first half was a joy to watch with a free-flowing, attacking display where everyone wanted the ball and the confidence level was sky high. Craig Gordon was a total spectator and Steed Malbranque was sheer class, but, for all our dominance, we never really made Reina have to earn his dosh other than Murphy's header. Diouf had a half-chance, but the truth is we just lacked that bit of nous in the final third.

The introduction of Alonso was the turning point because suddenly Gerrard and Kuyt were finding more space, which meant our defenders were having to defend much deeper and our lads were visibly running out of steam. We still had a go, but, after Diouf had a scuffed effort saved, we allowed Torres a yard of space for the first tim and, bang, it's game over. It was harsh, but that's what this league is all about.

If you don't take your chances you get punished. It was a very encouraging performance where everyone gave it their all, but it wasn't quite good enough, so, by the time we meet Spurs this Saturday, I'm pretty sure we'll have at least two quality additions to the squad.