Liverpool conceded twice late to be held to a 2-2 draw by Sunderland at Anfield on Saturday.
The Reds had to deal with a mass walkout by disgruntled fans who protested the home ticket prices when departing the stadium in the 77th minute.
It appeared to cause a downfall in performance as Jurgen Klopp's men copped two goals in the final eight minutes to give up their two-goal lead.
The opening goal came in the 59th minute when James Milner floated a long cross from the left to the back post where Roberto Firmino was on hand to head home for his fifth goal in his past five league outings.
Liverpool doubled their lead just over 10 minutes later when Firmino dispossessed Billy Jones before advancing into the area and laying it for Adam Lallana to finishh with consummate ease.
Just as it looked like the Reds were headed for a comfortable win, Sunderland struck through Adam Johnson who slipped a free-kick around the wall and beyond the reach of Simon Mignolet in the 82nd minute.
Then in the final minute of regular time, Jermain Defoe bobbed up to net his sixth goal in his past six matches when firing home on the turn after receiving a ball from Black Cats new boy Wahbi Khazri.
The draw saw the Merseysiders drop to ninth on the table as Sunderland remained second bottom.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Liverpool: 2 (Roberto Firmino 59', Adam Lallana 70')
Sunderland: 2 (Adam Johnson 82', Jermain Defoe 89')
Anfield, Liverpool - 44,179
TALKING POINTS
- Is it crisis time for Klopp yet? Liverpool have won just one of their past six in the league.
- Still hope for Sunderland, however they need to turn draws into wins. Can Allardyce lift them out of the mire?
WHAT'S NEXT?
Liverpool will hope they can change their fortunes when they meet bottom-placed Aston Villa on the weekend following their FA Cup fourth round replay with West Ham on Tuesday as Sunderland get set to host Man Utd.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Adam Lallana pulled no punches in his appraisal of #LFC's draw with Sunderlandhttps://t.co/45DOXGWQzipic.twitter.com/Bb7dXjWzmD
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 7, 2016
1 point from Liverpool Good reaction in the last 10 minutes! 1800 crazy fans to help us: Merci! #RedAndWhiteArmypic.twitter.com/NLfR7EXbai
— Lamine Koné (@LamineKone_23) February 6, 2016
Great point after a difficult game.thanks to all the away https://t.co/4BgMjQiHhc utd. next.good memories#team spirit
— Vito Mannone (@VitoMannone88) February 6, 2016
QUOTES CORNER
Liverpool assistant Pepijn Lijnders on the final 10 minutes:
“Normally the scoreboard doesn't lie. Today, it did, in my opinion. For 82 minutes, we played really well and we became better throughout the game, especially after our goal.
“Normally, if you score early then the game gets easier. In the last 10 minutes we dropped off too much and let them play longer balls."
Sunderland boss Allardyce on the fightback of his team:
“When you're two-nil down at Anfield you think your day's all over, but today we fought back from being two goals down with two quality goals of our own.
“We earned ourselves a point by not giving up and never saying die. It looked like the fear left us and we seemed to play a lot better after falling behind."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
7 - Roberto Firmino has been involved in seven goals in his last five Premier League games for @LFC (five goals, two assists). Busy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 6, 2016
6 - Jermain Defoe has scored six goals in his last six Premier League appearances for Sunderland. Leveller.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 6, 2016
