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After a classic European away performance against Internazionale, Liverpool appeared to have found a new working formula, and Brighton provided an opportunity to test it domestically.
Arne Slot made two changes to the side that beat Inter, as Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz replaced Andy Robertson and Alexander Isak. Although this saw Liverpool return to a 4-2-3-1, it was closer to the diamond than their previous system, as Dominik Szoboszlai and Wirtz tucked into midfield rather than hugging the touchlines.
Fabian Hürzeler made two changes to the team that drew with West Ham, with Jack Hinshelwood and Brajan Gruda coming in for Maxim De Cuyper and Danny Welbeck.
Less than a minute into the match, Liverpool opened the scoring. Liverpool pressed Brighton high, pressuring them into kicking the ball out for a throw-in, and then they failed to clear the ball properly, seeing Joe Gomez win it on the edge of their area, nodding it into the path of Hugo Ekitiké to smoothly control and finish.
As Brighton press intensely, Liverpool did several things to disrupt them. They would have the centre-backs split very wide, stretching the Brighton frontline, and Curtis Jones would often drop back into defence to outnumber and play around them.
Liverpool were also happy to play over the top of the press, hitting aerial balls out to Gomez on the right.
These tricks made it easy for Liverpool to work the ball out into midfield, and there, with Szoboszlai and Wirtz tucking in, they outnumbered Brighton too. As Yankuba Minteh seemed more concerned with tracking Kerkez out wide, the other three Brighton midfielders were left defending five men. When they closed down one, this would inevitably leave another free, and so Liverpool found it easy to pass around them. Ibrahima Konaté helped with this too, stepping up to provide an out-ball in a slightly wider position.
Brighton continued to step up, trying to cut off Liverpool’s passing options, however there was always a free man for Liverpool, enabling them to cut through Brighton.
Brighton were having a lot of success playing out themselves though. Liverpool defended in a 4-4-2 shape, with Alexis Mac Allister and Ekitiké aiming to block the passes into midfield, then stepping up to meet the centre-backs when the situation called for it, with the midfielders pushing up behind them in support.
Brighton got around this by doing the same thing as Liverpool: forming a makeshift back three, either by having Ferdi Kadioglu hold back on the left, or a midfielder drop into defence. This allowed them to outnumber Liverpool’s frontline, but the main aim seemed to be to get Jan Paul van Hecke free.
They would pass to the left, drawing Liverpool across, and then switch it back out to Van Hecke, and the Dutchman could use the space to pick out a pass forward.
Both Georginio Rutter, and Gruda were looking to receive the ball between the lines.
As Liverpool’s midfielders were often drawn forward to support the forwards, Brighton’s attackers would drop into these gaps, and so Konaté would step up into midfield to stop them going free.
Brighton’s players were also doing a good job of exploiting Liverpool’s man orientations. One man would make a run to draw away a Liverpool player, and this would open up space for a teammate to exploit.
25 minutes in Liverpool were forced into adjustments when Gomez was forced off by injury. Mohamed Salah came on to play wide right, seeing Szoboszlai once again move to right-back.
Salah would provide more natural width on the right, and also an option running in behind the Brighton backline, however Liverpool did become more open defensively.
With Salah staying high, Liverpool often resembled a 4-3-3 out of possession. This meant Liverpool’s midfielders had to cover larger areas, and so there were bigger gaps between them for Brighton players to exploit, requiring Konaté to once again step up into midfield.
Brighton had the better of the chances at the beginning of the second half, getting runners attacking in behind the Liverpool defence.
To stop this, Liverpool began to drop off more, denying Brighton that space in behind and forcing them into moving up the pitch. The Reds were able to get plenty of their own chances bursting forward into space on the counter.
It would be Liverpool that got the next goal, doubling their lead. At a corner, they crowded the back post, and as the cross went in Konaté drew Kadioglu inside, and blocked off Ekitiké’s marker Hinshelwood, while Mac Allister blocked off Carlos Baleba, allowing Ekitiké to get a free run at the ball and head home.
Following this, Brighton started to use Kadioglu a lot more. With Salah remaining high on the right, the Turk was often left free, and so he was the easiest way to progress the ball.
On 78 minutes Slot made a double substitution, bringing on Robertson and Isak for Wirtz and Ekitiké. This saw Liverpool switch to a 4-4-2, allowing Salah to remain in attack, but giving better defensive protection to the midfield to ensure Liverpool saw the game out.
There is still plenty to work on, but Liverpool finally appear to have turned a corner. Weeks ago they were losing convincingly to poor teams; now they are winning against good ones and looking in control doing so.
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