The club are having major problems off the field too, with fans staying behind after the game ended to voice their discontent towards American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

But they at least had a win to cheer at last as Liverpool begin their fight to claim the fourth Champions League place, with Premier League title aspirations surely put to bed.

Peter Crouch headed the Reds in front after Sunderland had kept them at bay for the first 56 minutes, and Fernando Torres added a second with a typically electric burst forward and accomplished finish 12 minutes later for his 18th goal of the season.

Gerrard tucked in a third from the penalty spot late on after Jermaine Pennant was tripped in the box by Nyron Nosworthy, with the Wearsiders claiming they should have had a spot-kick earlier in the game when Jamie Carragher appeared to block a shot with his arm.

Gerrard told Setanta Sports: "The win is nice and the clean sheet is nice, but we can still play better. Winning breeds confidence and confidence is a bit low at the moment so that certainly helps.

"We're happy with the win, we go on international duty now and then we play Chelsea next weekend and we can look forward to that."

On the penalty controversy, Carragher added: "I threw myself at the shot, it did hit my arm but I didn't do it deliberately. If we've been fortunate, fair enough.

"We haven't won for five or six games so it was important we got the three points with the Manchester City and Everton results going for us."

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Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez paid tribute to the Anfield crowd, who were patient as Liverpool toiled to make the breakthrough.

The Spaniard told Setanta Sports: "I want to say thank you to the supporters, when we needed them they were behind the team.

"Today we knew it could be a tough game so we needed to keep going. Our supporters were waiting and we started the second half well. They were behind us and it was a massive difference.

"As soon as we scored the first goal the game was open. When you have your confidence low it is important to win, so there are a lot of positive things today."

Asked whether the off-field problems were still a concern, he added: "I would like to see the team in the headlines because we are scoring goals and playing well, but we must try to do a good job.

"We will try to enjoy this week and see what happens next weekend (against Chelsea)."

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Black Cats boss Roy Keane is still looking for his side's first win on the road in the league this season and asked what his overriding emotion was, the Irishman told Setanta Sports: "Disappointment, especially to lose 3-0 - that's harsh on the team.

"We conceded the first one 10 minutes into the second half and it was always going to be hard from there."

Asked about the penalty claim against Carragher, he added: "I don't want to sound like it's sour grapes, but we didn't feel the decisions went our way today. It would not necessarily have changed the game too much.

"The bottom line is the score is 3-0 and we have to lick our wounds before a big game next Saturday (at home to Wigan). Anything we could have got today would have been a big bonus, but the first goal was always going to be tough to come back from.

"You'd always expect home advantage to be important, but our performances away have improved a lot."