Brighton 2-1 Liverpool: Match Report & Ratings | OneFootball

It was 35-year-old veteran striker Danny Welbeck’s day as the former Manchester United man did his former club a favour and scored twice as Liverpool were convincingly defeated 2-1, a win that took Brighton into 8th place today.

The defeat saw Liverpool lose their 10th game of the season, the most in over 10 years. It was a night and day difference between the 4-0 victory over Galatasaray, as Liverpool were very poor again in the league, continuing the pattern of struggling in the league after a big win in Europe. Hugo Ekitike and Milos Kerkez both went off with injuries, with both players looking like their injuries will only be minor.

The striker, who’s got 10 goals this season in the league, collided with ex-Liverpool midfielder and record appearance holder James Milner and had to come off after trying to carry on soon after.

The flow of the game was massively disrupted after Ekitike had to leave the pitch, with the game becoming very stop-start when Liverpool just started to build momentum in the final third.

This suited Brighton, who made the most of their chances after a Ferdi Kadioglu cross met the head of Diego Gomez at the far post, as he guided the ball across goal for Danny Welbeck to head the ball in as he shrugged Ibrahima Konate off with ease. This came from two poor mispasses from Curtis Jones and Giorgio Mamardashvili, and the pressure mounted from unforced errors from Liverpool playersq. James Milner was brilliant for Brighton today, adding the old-school physicality that saw him go in very strongly on Ekitike, Gakpo and Jones to show him dominating the midfield as he intimidated the Liverpool players in the first half. It was always going to be a difficult game, but Liverpool rarely looked to get into the game.

However, an individual moment of brilliance saw Kerkez read the back pass from Lewis Dunk after the long ball from Mamardashvilli, and with nobody else switched on, he was able to meet the back pass and flick the ball perfectly over the top of Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen to level things up for the Reds. The game was very cagey, with lots of fouls and two late yellow cards for Konate and Diego Gomez before the end of the first half. Brighton came out with that same physicality and energy and managed to score a near replica goal to the one in the first half as the cross from Yakuba Minteh went over Virgil Van Dijk to reach Matts Wieffer, whose headed pass perfectly put it on a plate for Danny Welbeck to get his second of the game.

The defence are not switched on as Brighton capitalise on the momentum and energy they had at the start of the second half, with the hope of a comeback for Liverpool being very low. Two brilliant saves from Mamardashvili with twenty minutes to go kept Liverpool fighting in the game, but the creativity on display was almost non-existent, with the best opportunity of the half coming from Curtis Jones, who received an incredible Florian Wirtz reverse pass before cutting in and having a low driven effort saved by Verbruggen.

With Brighton dominating everything in the air and seeming to cover a lot more ground than the Reds, they fully deserved the win. It’s another missed opportunity for Liverpool, who could’ve leapfrog Aston Villa into fourth place, but it means that Brighton go into eighth with the three points and can put Brentford within a point of the Reds. With that being said, here are the match ratings for what overall became a disappointing result for Arne Slot’s side.

“SAME OLD STORY!” | Brighton 2-1 Liverpool | Dan’s Match Reaction

Ratings   Giorgi Mamardashvili – 7 Some very good saves in crucial points of the game, most noticeably the save from the Diego Gomez free kick and the one-on-one with Yakuba Minteh. Whilst it has saved us in this game, his distribution was poor, and his pass in the first half that led to the throw in for Brighton’s first game ultimately stopped any momentum the team generated early on.   Jeremie Frimpong – 5 Really poor today, as he was too weak in duels and caught too high up committing to challenges he didn’t need to push up for. Out of position, but his pace caused slight problems for Kadioglu; the final product was not present. A forgettable one for Liverpool’s number 30.   Ibrahima Konate – 5 A poor game defensively. Extremely poor for the first goal, where Welbeck easily pushed him away when the Frenchman could’ve been a lot stronger. A few poor passes and being out of position numerous times meant Brighton had a lot of space in attack, creating some very dangerous attacks. A few clumsy tackles he was lucky to get away with, too; it certainly wasn’t the same performance as midweek.   Virgil Van Dijk – 6 I think if Van Dijk was aware of Wieffer behind him, he would’ve dealt with the cross better before the second goal. Not switched on today, but granted, with how many players became out of position, he struggled to keep the Brighton players from running ragged around the penalty box.   Milos Kerkez – 7 A great goal from being switched on and reading the Lewis Dunk back pass reflected his performance today. Probably Liverpool’s best player before he came off injured, it felt like he was the best of a bad bunch. I just can’t believe it was Kerkez to flick the ball over the keeper.   Ryan Gravenberch – 5 The whole midfield was lacklustre and was very open as Brighton dominated the battle. Gravenberch seemed to be sitting back when in possession until it got to the final third. After that, the midfield was exposed because Gravenberch wasn’t holding back. Sadly, it was not the Dutch midfielder’s best game today.   Alexis Mac Allister – 5 He worked very hard and covered the ground, but it was not a great game from him today. A yellow card and a few poor decisions with his passing made it a forgettable performance. As I said with Gravenberch, however, it was certainly a terrible midfield display where the structure of that midfield felt non-existent at times.   Dominik Szoboszlai – 5 Covered a lot of ground but struggled to make his usual impact, with chances being very few and far between. Struggled to deliver from set pieces, which is sometimes the get-out-of-jail card for this team. Not at the races today.   Florian Wirtz – 5 Had a lot of possession on the edge of the box but struggled to create many opportunities. Made a beautiful pass to Curtis Jones from the edge of the area, but really didn’t make much happen. Created the most out of the midfield, still below par.   Cody Gakpo – 4 Gakpo struggled to create many chances and never looked like scoring. He got shifted from striker to out wide a few times, but had no luck either way. Another below-par performance.   Hugo Ekitike – N/A An unfortunate injury after what was a promising start, with the attacks going through him.   Curtis Jones – 6 Slow and lethargic for the first half when he was on. The complete miss pass to Frimpong started a run of poor miss passes that led up to the first goal. Once brought into a more defensive role later in the second half, he added a lot more to the game with an unbelievable block at 85 minutes from an Ayari rocket volley.   Federico Chiesa – 5 Had limited opportunities but struggled with what he had. Made a tactical foul that saw him get booked, but spent more time moaning than he did playing, it felt like.   Rio Ngumoha – 6 Did very well to beat Matt Wieffer on the left-hand side a few times and had one or two good crosses, but not enough time to make an impact with our top players off the pitch. Won a crucial foul late on as well and did a lot more in his cameo than Cody Gakpo.   Andrew Robertson – 5 Didn’t do too much today as he came on towards the end of the game, but still supported the attack, winning fouls and supporting Rio on the left-hand side.

SZOBOSZLAI IS THE ONLY ONE WHO SHOWS FIGHT!

Redmen Reacts – Dan’s Final Thoughts

Another all too predictable after the Lord Mayor’s show performance and result. Whilst there are plenty of reasons you could point to in order to explain away another lacklustre display, it’s become all too commonplace now, and it’s hard to imagine that the manager isn’t running out of road.

Having come into the season as Premier League champions and following unprecedented spending in the market, expectations were high, and at the moment, we’re in danger of falling drastically short of them. It’s been a season to forget, but it remains salvageable, albeit there have to be huge question marks as to whether Arne Slot is the right man for that job in the short, medium and long term.

It’s never nice talking about a Liverpool manager in that way, especially given the heartbreaking circumstances that we went through last year, but unfortunately the football world doesn’t stop, doesn’t wait, and ultimately moves on regardless.