Sunderland took advantage of Liverpool's 'frailties' to secure unlikely point, says Black Cats boss

Wahbi Khazri made his full Sunderland debut in the 2-2 draw at Liverpool

The Black Cats looked destined to be heading for morale sapping back-to-back defeats, with the Reds 2-0 up thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and Adam Lallana.

But two goals inside the last 10 minutes from first Adam Johnson and then Jermain Defoe secured an unlikely Premier League point for the visitors.

Liverpool were without boss Jurgen Klopp, with the German undergoing a successful operation due to a bout of appendicitis.

And Allardyce - who claimed he didn't notice the mass fan walkout on 77 minutes in protest at rising Anfield ticket prices - believes the nerves kicked in for Liverpool as soon as Johnson curled home his free-kick from a tight angle.

But the Black Cats boss accepted the anxiety inside Anfield gave heart to his side.

He said: "The crowd thing has an affect on every player and when it is bad it has an affect and when it is good it lifts them.

"The fear can get to a player and then they get edgy, the crowd are edgy and pass that fear onto the players.

"It happens across the Premier League and perhaps that is why we have seen more away wins than ever before in the league this year.

"It is certainly something the players have to deal with. We had a 20 minute spell against Bournemouth at home recently where we found it difficult to pass the ball to each other.

"Liverpool got nervous when we scored and we took advantage of it."

While Allardyce was pleased with the comeback, he was less than impressed with the defending as Liverpool went 2-0 up.

Patrick van Aanholt allowed Firmino a free header for the first, and Billy Jones' poor clearance was closed down which led to the second.

Allardyce said: "I was disappointed in the way we gave the goals away, when we had contained them that well.

"Patrick van Aanholt had a great chance to get us to 1-1 and that was probably a better chance than the two goals we scored from.

"For us, in our position, we would expect to soak up some pressure going into the game.

"Liverpool have plenty of talent in possession but out of possession, in the last 15 minutes they showed a few frailties and we took advantage."