Liverpool result could be season-defining '“ players showed they DO have stomach for fight

I’ve no idea why it went so wrong at Turf Moor as a willing but limited team were made to look like Real Madrid as they blew the Black Cats away.

But whatever was said after that game it worked, the attitude and fighting spirit were so much evident on Monday.

If Sunderland had been given a clear third penalty, we’d have won but as David Moyes said with a patched-up team he’s have taken a point before the game and his players couldn’t have given more.

To come back twice against a top team showed character and in doing so they won back the fans they lost two days earlier.

Sunderland’s fans do not ask for much but they do demand pride in the shirt and I talk to plenty of fans after the Burnley game who questioned that.

After the Liverpool draw though it was not in doubt but if things are to improve, shambolic displays like the one on New Year’s Eve have to be a thing of the past.

You never know what you are going to get from Sunderland, inconsistency is in the DNA and we looked like two different teams in the last two games.

If there is one player who summed that up it’s Vito Mannone who was absolutely outstanding against Liverpool, my man of the match, having been all over the shop at Burnley, although it was his first game back after a long lay-off and he was probably ring-rusty.

One point is not a great reward from the three holiday games but I have a feeling the Liverpool result could be a season-defining one as it will do wonders for dressing-room morale and, more importantly, it proved to the supporters after the Turf Moor defeat they really are up for the fight.