Steven Gerrard and Alan Shearer agree on 'outstanding' Liverpool star after Sunderland win

Steven Gerrard and Alan Shearer agreed on an "outstanding" Liverpool star after the Reds beat Sunderland in the Premier League, with Arne Slot getting a huge boost

Alan Shearer and Steven Gerrard.(Image: Getty Images)

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and fellow pundit Alan Shearer were in agreement on an "outstanding" performer as the Reds beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.

Arne Slot's side closed the gap to the Champions League places to just two points by beating the Black Cats by a Virgil van Dijk goal to nil. It was a major boost for Liverpool in the race for Europe, with Sunderland finally losing at home for the first time since it was promoted to the Premier League.

While Florian Wirtz was very good, it was a solid base on which the victory was built. At the back, Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate were both superb, with Andy Robertson and Wataru Endo, until the latter was stretchered off, strong too.

"The manager has spoken about Liverpool defending the box better," Gerrard said on TNT Sports.

"First contacts, Liverpool was brilliant. Brobbey is a handful. He asked a lot of questions of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, and both of them were excellent.

"I would have just edged Konate (as Player of the Match). From start to finish, he was brilliant in terms of getting blocks in and winning his duels.

Ibrahima Konate hugs Alisson Becker after the match between Sunderland and Liverpool at Stadium of Light on February 11, 2026(Image: Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)

"He has had a tough month. He lost his father a few weeks ago. To come through that and deliver that performance, he deserves a lot of credit."

"I thought Konate and Van Dijk were outstanding," Shearer said on Match of the Day. "Brobbey is very difficult to play against and Liverpool handled him well — particularly Konate, who was outstanding."

Slot was also impressed by Konate's performance. The Frenchman has done well since returning to the side; he was excellent against Newcastle United recently too.

"Impressed but not surprised," Slot said. "I think he's an example of almost our season. He's been so unlucky. So unlucky. He played sometimes 89 minutes very good and then one moment just ruined our game and his game.

"Not always about him, but a few times that happened and everybody was focused on his mistake. But footballers make mistakes and not always the ball goes in.

"Then just ask me about the last 10 minutes, I said now the good thing is we did not concede a chance, because against City we did not concede a chance after the first minute and then it took City 84 minutes to get the second chance.

"But that one went in and so the good thing tonight was that we hardly conceded a chance at all. Ibou was a big part of that together with Virgil. But I like the whole mentality and the whole work rate of the team tonight."

Liverpool.com says: Konate was very, very good. He won every duel with Brobbey and showed what he can do. The key now is remaining consistent... and signing a new contract.