AFTER leaving the Stadium of Light last night, Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell headed home to watch his wife, Sheree, in the jungle.

For more than 30,000 Sunderland fans, her plight is starkly similar to theirs.

Forget about being a celebrity, for them it is a case of 'I'm a football fan, get me out of here'. The way things are going, it would be no surprise if a few of them failed to come back.

First-half goals from Luis Garcia and Steven Gerrard condemned the Black Cats to their 12th defeat of the season and their third home reverse in less than two weeks. It is only just December, but Sunderland already looked doomed.

Their performance was a significant improvement on last weekend's embarrassing effort against Birmingham, but the outcome was exactly the same. As Mick McCarthy is honest enough to acknowledge, you do not get points for simply having a go.

For that you need quality and, in the cold light of day, the current Sunderland side is simply not good enough to compete in the Premiership. Liverpool played much of last night's game in first gear yet still finished as convincing and deserved winners.

After branding his players "gutless" in the wake of last weekend's defeat, it is difficult to see where Mick McCarthy goes from here.

Injuries prevented him making wholesale changes last night and, against a Liverpool team comprising 11 full internationals, Sunderland's line-up continued to look short of both experience and class. That the visitors arrived on Wearside as reigning European champions merely added to the sense of imbalance.

Yet for all that, it was the Black Cats who made by far the brighter start. Displaying an urgency and vigour that was conspicuous by its absence on Saturday, McCarthy's men were sharp in the tackle and surprisingly bright in the mind.

Tommy Miller forced a routine save out of Jose Reina, before the overlapping Justin Hoyte twice delivered teasing crosses that Jamie Carragher could only hastily hack clear.

Liverpool, for their part, were initially lethargic, with Gerrard's low drive representing their only sight of goal for much of the first half.

But, for all of Sunderland's early dominance, some familiar failings prevented them taking the lead. Too many good positions were wasted by an errant final ball, while confidence continued to be at a premium in the final third.

Both weaknesses were apparent midway through the first half as Liverpool were let off the hook. Brown missed the ball after Miller's pull back had left him in the clear, and Hoyte's misdirected follow-up cross prevented Stead asking questions of Reina in the visitors' goal.

Sunderland have lacked a natural goalscorer all season and, with money for replacements unlikely to be forthcoming, it is difficult to see how McCarthy can fashion a revival with the strikers at his disposal.

Goals change games and, as if to underline the point, Liverpool duly changed the course of last night's with a clinical opener in the 31st minute.

Xabi Alonso's hopeful long ball carved the Black Cats' defence in two and fellow Spaniard Garcia closed in on Ben Alnwick before calmly slipping the ball past the goalkeeper's left hand.

While Sunderland's defenders had hardly put a foot wrong before that point, they continue to shoot themselves in the foot by maintaining an unnecessarily high line.

That allows opponents a free run on goal if they time their run perfectly, but the lesson of Garcia's opener had clearly not been learned as Liverpool doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time.

Alonso was again the instigator, producing a probing pass into the lush green space behind the Black Cats' backline. Gerrard cut infield to ghost past Danny Collins and, while Alnwick was alert to the danger, he was unable to prevent the Liverpool skipper chipping the ball into the gaping net.

From Sunderland's point of view, it was a shame the opportunity did not fall to the hapless Peter Crouch.

The Liverpool striker has now gone more than 24 hours without a goal for either club or country, and even referees seem to be hell-bent on preventing him finding the back of the net.

He looked certain to score after Alnwick has saved his close-range strike two minutes after the re-start but, as he closed in on the rebound, Steve Caldwell took away his standing leg.

A penalty looked the only outcome but, to Crouch's obvious dismay, referee Phil Dowd failed to award a spot-kick. Perhaps it is just as well - on previous evidence, the England international would have missed it.

Sunderland's second-half efforts were equally unsuccessful, with a general lack of creativity meaning they failed to create a single chance of note.

Even the 65th-minute dismissal of Mohamed Sissoko failed to help them - the Mali international earned a second booking for a lunge at Dean Whitehead - and, while Liverpool coasted after the interval, their rare forays forward remained the likeliest chance of a goal.

John Arne Riise rattled the crossbar after running from one penalty area to the other with 16 minutes left, while Alonso's free-kick left Alnwick scrambling the ball over the bar.

* Tommy Miller has been called into the Scotland Future squad for the friendly with Poland at Kilmarnock next Tuesday.

Result: Sunderland 0, Liverpool 2.

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