If Liverpool are finally to mount a sustained challenge for the championship this season, will it be in spite of themselves, or simply in spite? After 18 years of teeth-gnashing, supporters encountered both hope and hopelessness at the Stadium of Light, where their players displayed the tenacity of warriors and Rafael BenÍtez trained his artillery on the club’s directors.

Some of the old, familiar signs were in evidence. There was a stunning goal from a stellar striker, who defied 89 minutes of anonymity to usurp a game. There was the middling performance and glittering result, which earned grudging respect from a long-time rival, well acquainted with the process. “Trust me, that’s what wins titles,” Roy Keane said.

Liverpool fans would have embraced a narrow victory over Sunderland as a useful starting point had the disharmony at the club’s core not again been exposed. Creative tension can inspire and cajole, but this feels corrosive; it is utterly removed from the Anfield tradition. This is a club where the leading figures communicate by stilted e-mail, where transfer policy is blighted by inconsistency, where decision-making is flawed. We know it because amid all the code and Spanish idioms, BenÍtez said so. Given Liverpool’s reputation for measured understatement, his performance was faintly devastating.

Here is a selection of BenÍtez’s words on Gareth Barry’s putative purchase from Aston Villa and Xabi Alonso’s exit. “I was told we had money plus the money we can bring in. It was not a question of money. It is something I can’t explain . . . They did not say no before. They said no after four months. After four months they said the player is [too] expensive.

“You have problems when you are not doing things that, as a manager, you have to do . . . If you have the support of the owners, who say you have the money, then you make decisions to sign or not . . . The question is why we cannot do it . . . We have to be quicker. The question is have we done things in the right order or not?”

The effect was obvious on Wearside. For all the success in grasping three points and for all the match-winners Liverpool possess in Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and José Manuel Reina, they remain a nearly team, lacking balance and width. It was not until the arrival of Alonso, a man who is still expected to leave, that Liverpool stumbled upon composure.

Alonso was the spur, Torres the destroyer. “He is the best striker in the world,” Dirk Kuyt said of his teammate. “He can do for us what Cristiano Ronaldo did for Manchester United last season. They are different, but Fernando has everything to be the best player this season.”

For 30 minutes and more, Sunderland competed. Keane has spent exuberantly this summer, and Steed Malbranque, El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda and Teemu Tainio have provided quality. “That’s probably the best we’ve played in a long time at the Stadium of Light,” Danny Collins, the defender, said.

With a centre half (Anton Ferdinand?), a left back and a striker (Benni McCarthy?) to come, the omens are encouraging and if Kenwyne Jones had been fit, Liverpool might have been challenged more comprehensively. “To lose 1-0 and be disappointed shows the progress we’ve made,” the manager said. “Liverpool will be glad to see the back of us.”

Keane complained that his defenders had backed away from Torres but the forward’s 83rd-minute goal, collecting a pass from Alonso and shooting from 25 yards, was a genuine standing-ovation moment. “We know how important it is to win the Premier League for the fans,” Torres said. “It has been too many years and we are focusing on that.” Are they?

Sunderland (4-1-4-1): C Gordon 7 – P Chimbonda 7, N Nosworthy 7, D Collins 7, P Bardsley 7 – T Tainio 6 (sub: D Whitehead, 57min, 6) – E-H Diouf 7 (sub: M Chopra, 81), S Malbranque 8 (sub: C Edwards, 73), A Reid 6, K Richardson 5 – D Murphy 5.

Substitutes not used: D Ward, G Leadbitter, D Higginbotham, A Stokes. Next: Tottenham Hotspur (a).

Liverpool(442): J M Reina 6 – Á Arbeloa 5, J Carragher 6, S Hyypia 6, A Dossena 6 – D Kuyt 6, S Gerrard 6, D Plessis 4 (sub: X Alonso, 46 7), Y Benayoun 6 (sub: F Aurélio, 81) – R Keane 5 (sub: N El Zhar, 77), F Torres 7.

Substitutes not used:D Cavalieri, D Agger, D Ngog, M Skrtel. Next: Middlesbrough (h). Booked: Arbeloa, El Zhar. Referee: A Wiley. Attendance: 43,259.

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