By DAVID FACEY
SO Liverpool believe Luis Suarez needs a bit of help up front – better not try convincing Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill on that score.
O’Neill was left shaking his head in disbelief as the Reds hitman almost single-handedly destroyed his team.
Super Suarez scored twice and also laid on the opener for SAS partner-in-crime Raheem Sterling with an outrageous piece of skill.
Daniel Sturridge, signed from Chelsea yesterday, admitted the prospect of playing alongside Suarez was a big part of the attraction of joining Liverpool. And it is easy to see why.
The 19th-minute ball Suarez played through to Sterling for the first goal was the kind of service that would make any striker’s mouth water.
The Uruguayan genius hooked the ball over his shoulder after a goal-kick was headed in his direction and it was so perfectly weighted Sterling did not have to break stride.
The 18-year-old provided the kind of finish the ball deserved, waiting for keeper Simon Mignolet to charge off his line before lifting a deft lob over him and into the net. That was only Sterling’s second goal in 30 appearances this season.
Chalk one up for the motivating factor of seeing a £12million frontman sitting in the stands, wondering whose place he will take.
However, Suarez does not need any extra motivation, and his strike rate is getting better and better.
He managed 11 Premier League goals last season and this brace took him to 15 so far.
Suarez, 25, has even managed to silence the knockers who accused him of diving, and he reaped the benefits with his first goal.
It would have been easy for him to have gone down under Carlos Cuellar’s wild challenge. But it was the Black Cats defender who was left chewing grass as Suarez sped past him and arrowed in on goal. Mignolet got his angles hopelessly wrong, and the Reds ace gleefully smashed the ball into the gap between stopper and near post.
With Liverpool leading 2-0 at half-time it was all over as a contest although it might not have been if James McClean and Matt Kilgallon had not shot straight at Pepe Reina.
Mind you, Kilgallon’s head might still have been spinning after he was left for dead by another stunning piece of Suarez trickery. His deft touch and lightning spin to elude Kilgallon’s fierce lunge brought an admiring round of applause from the adoring Kop.
In the second half all the Sunderland players were standing too far off the Liverpool man, seemingly afraid they would be next to be embarrassed.
Steven Gerrard took advantage of that space with a long, diagonal ball for Suarez to run onto, cushion the ball with his chest, take a touch and calmly slide it underneath Mignolet.
And O’Neill’s team were lucky Jordan Henderson’s shooting was not as impressive as the rest of his game.
Joe Allen and Glen Johnson also had ‘goals’ chalked off for offside as the hosts threatened to run amok.
Oh and Liverpool also have a new £12m striker.
They might need him one day…
