Why Arne Slot can thank Joe Gomez for Liverpool’s table-topping comeback win vs Brighton | OneFootball

Liverpool regained control of the Premier League after coming from behind to defeat Brighton 2-1 at Anfield this afternoon.

The result, combined with Manchester City’s surprising away loss to Bournemouth, means that Arne Slot’s team ends matchday ten at the top of England’s top division, leading by two points.

At one point, the situation looked bleak, as Ferdi Kadioglu put Brighton into a half-time lead. However, a pair of strikes midway through the second half turned the game around: Cody Gakpo’s equaliser was soon followed by Mohamed Salah’s winning goal.

Indeed, there were just 128 seconds between Gakpo and Salah’s efforts, with the Egyptian forward now scoring his 48th match-winning goal in the Premier League, with only five players netting more in the competition’s history.

Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler will regret this loss, as it marks only the second time since the start of the 2021-22 season that Brighton has lost a Premier League match in which they led at half-time. In 40 such instances, they had previously achieved 30 wins and 8 draws, with the only other defeat occurring in February of last season against Tottenham, when they lost 1-2.

Credit goes to Slot for making a pivotal half-time change by introducing Joe Gomez in place of Ibrahima Konaté with the England international making a noticeable impact. He won six aerial duels, more than any other Premier League centre-back this weekend, achieving a 100% success rate. Additionally, he blocked four shots—only Dara O’Shea from Ipswich managed more—and made two tackles. With a rating of 63%, Gomez has the third-best score among centre-backs for this gameweek, behind Jan Bednarek and Marcos Senesi.

“If you come into a game where your team is outplayed for 45 minutes and do this (performance), that says a lot,” Slot reflected on Gomez’s performance afterwards. “This is what people told me when I came here, Joe is a top, top professional. I think the fans loved what they saw, I definitely did.”

Not much has changed in Liverpool’s team since last season, Jurgen Klopp’s final campaign, when they accumulated a league-high 28 points from losing positions. Seven of the 18 matches in which they fell behind ultimately ended in wins.

This was Slot’s first experience of trailing in the Premier League and still coming away with all three points. He is no stranger to witnessing comeback wins; during his time with Feyenoord, his team achieved comeback victories in three out of seven matches last season in the Eredivisie. The year before, when they became the Dutch champions, they recorded 27 points after being behind, with eight victories out of those 13 matches.

The predecessor of the current manager referred to his players as “mentality monsters” during the final weeks of the 2018-19 season. In that campaign, Klopp’s team lost only once in the Premier League, went head-to-head with Manchester City in an exciting title race, and managed to overturn a 3-0 deficit in the semi-final first leg against Barcelona, ultimately winning the club’s sixth European Cup.

Klopp’s never-say-die attitude might be his greatest legacy. His strong personality has had a significant impact on his players. This same quality was recognised in Arne Slot, who today became the most successful Liverpool manager in his first 10 top-flight games, achieving eight victories.

With only one loss so far, the transition has been smooth. While many supporters were understandably cautious, this could turn out to be another masterstroke, especially since Slot was not heavily involved when Klopp announced his decision to step down earlier this year.

One name linked with the Reds will be visiting Anfield on January 5th as Manchester United’s head coach. Former club captain turned pundit Jamie Carragher believes that Slot’s status as the continuity candidate helped him secure the job.

“My suspicion is that one of the reasons Liverpool favoured Slot over [Ruben] Amorim last summer is because the Dutchman prefers the more traditional four at the back, so the transition was easier for the squad he inherited,” he said.

‘Under Jurgen Klopp, the style of the first team was mirrored down to academy level to ensure those who made the step up were familiar with the playing patterns.”

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