Brighton were one of several clubs to get a win at Anfield during Liverpool’s miserable winter, although playing against a much healthier side in front of a full crowd is a slightly different challenge.
Graham Potter likes to switch up his formation and today was no different: having used a 3-5-2 against Manchester City last week and a 3-4-3 against Leicester City in the League Cup, here Brighton lined up in a 4-2-3-1. Potter fielded a weakened side in mid-week, but there were three changes to the team that lost to City last weekend, with injured Dan Burn, Pascal Gross and Neil Maupay missing out in favour of Shane Duffy, Enock Mwepu and Yves Bissouma.
Curtis Jones was the only Liverpool player to survive the visit to Preston on Wednesday, but he was one of just two changes to the team that thrashed Manchester United last week. The young Scouser replaced James Milner after the Yorkshireman’s injury, while Sadio Mané came back in on the left in place of Diogo Jota. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 shape.
Brighton sat back in a 4-4-2 shape but this backfired just minutes into the game. Virgil van Dijk, with time on the ball, picked out a pass to Mohamed Salah running in behind, who cut back inside and rolled the ball to Jordan Henderson to finish from the edge of the area. Bissouma had been drawn towards Naby Keïta lurking nearby, while Mwepu was nowhere near – Solly March had been dragged back into defence by the run of Andy Robertson, meaning Mwepu instead of March had pushed forward to close down Jones when he dropped back deep on the left, however once Van Dijk switched play, this left the Zambian completely out of position. Even if he had got back, Mwepu appeared more concerned with Sadio Mané in a similar position, leaving it to Adam Lallana to try and race back to catch up with Henderson.
Brighton sought to maintain a compact 4-4-2 shape out of possession, yet Liverpool were able to dominate the midfield. In addition to the midfield three, Roberto Firmino and Mané dropped off, while Trent Alexander-Arnold often tucked inside into the centre, meaning Liverpool had six players in this area.
As he did during the build-up for the opening goal, March frequently tracked Robertson into deep positions, opening up space for Liverpool deep on the left. If Mwepu went to cover him, then further space opened up inside.
Jakub Moder doing this on the opposite flank led to Liverpool’s second goal. Liverpool were playing down the left, drawing Brighton across to the flank, then played backwards to the centre-backs to switch out to the right. With Alexander-Arnold pushing forward down the right, Moder followed him, leaving a big gap between him and Bissouma. Substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had come on five minutes earlier after Keïta was injured, received the ball from Ibrahima Konaté and pushed forward into this gap, having the space to curl a cross onto the head of Mané making a run down Duffy’s blind side.
Liverpool appeared to be running away with the match, scoring a third as Brighton failed to play out with Liverpool pressing them high, only to have it ruled out because it deflected in off Mané’s hand – Lewis Dunk played directly into Robert Sanchez’s feet, requiring him to take a touch if he was to move it on, and rather than simply accepting it was a lost cause and hoofing it out, Sanchez took the touch and allowed Mané and Salah to get on top of him.
Brighton had been failing to play out since kick-off. Moder would drop back in next to Bissouma and Mwepu to help, meaning there were seven men pulled back to aid Brighton playing out from the back, yet Sanchez would typically choose to go long instead. With March and Lallana generally in the space behind Leandro Trossard, this could have worked, pulling Liverpool players forward to press then hitting it into the space behind them to win the second balls, however Sanchez was hitting flat passes that would run through to Alisson Becker rather than passes up into the air that would have required Liverpool’s centre-backs to deal with them, meaning Brighton were just handing possession back to Liverpool.
Early on, they were also attempting to overload Liverpool’s backline, pushing Mwepu and their full-backs forward to join the front four, however this left them understaffed in defence when Liverpool won back the ball and countered.
Desperately needing a grip on the game, Brighton began to engage Liverpool higher up the pitch. This wasn’t perfect, opening up space for Liverpool to cut through them, but it did stop Liverpool from simply being able to settle in possession and completely control the game.
Shortly before half-time, the Seagulls managed to pull a goal back. Jones was drawn forward, leaving space behind him for Mwepu to receive the ball. Van Dijk stepped out to plug the gap, with Mwepu sliding the ball through to Lallana. Liverpool seemed to have the situation under control, getting back into position when Lallana moved the ball wide to March, but Mwepu managed to loop the ball over Alisson from what appeared to be a nothing position just outside the box.
This wasn’t the first time Jones had been drawn forward, leaving space behind him. Developing as an attacker in the youth side, Jones struggles with the defensive aspects of what is a very demanding midfield role, just as Keïta did two weeks ago against Atlético Madrid. We have previously asked the question on this site of whether or not it would be better to simplify their roles, allowing them to focus on what they are clearly so good at, rather than continually setting them up for failure by asking too much of them defensively.
That would be a poor criticism to make concerning this match though, as any option was off-limits thanks to another of Liverpool’s issues: poor forward thinking. Last season, Liverpool’s season was ruined by an injury crisis that required them to play midfielders and youth players at centre-back, having gone into the season with just three senior centre-backs, two of which are frequently injured for long periods. This season, Liverpool sold Georginio Wijnaldum and, rather than replace him, went into the season relying on the frequently injured Thiago Alcântara and Keïta, and 35 year-old James Milner. With Fabinho, Thiago and Milner out, once Keïta succumbed to injury early on in this match, Liverpool were left having to field a midfield three comprising of Henderson behind two attacking midfielders. Injuries happen and need to be worked around, yet Liverpool ride their luck then act shocked when the inevitable happens. Rather than building from a position of strength as the great sides of Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan did, Liverpool have rested on their laurels since winning the European Cup in 2019.
Brighton calmed down in possession and it allowed them to wrestle control of the game away from Liverpool. Rather than rushing to push Mwepu and full-backs forward into attack, Brighton were more willing to hold back and hold onto the ball. They would form a diamond in midfield, with Bissouma at its base, Mwepu and Moder on the sides and Lallana at the tip. This occupied the centre, creating space on the flanks for Marc Cucurella and Joël Veltman, while March and Trossard took up narrow positions between the centre-backs and full-backs, making it harder for Liverpool’s backline to push up and support the midfield without leaving an exploitable gap.
Having gained control by flooding the midfield in more of a 4-3-1-2 shape, Brighton reverted back to a proper 4-2-3-1 with the introduction of Alexis Mac Allister – Moder pushed back up into attack, while Mac Allister and Mwepu flanked Firmino in midfield. Now with a better grip on the game, they could ease up in midfield and push Moder forward again to add to the frontline.
Five minutes later, Brighton equalised. Liverpool’s front three were all high up but putting little pressure on the ball, allowing Sanchez to pick out a pass wide to Cucurella. With Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled a little forward, wary of a pass into Mac Allister, Cucurella was in behind the midfield as soon as he received the ball, with Brighton having five men running at Liverpool’s back four. With Moder running in behind him, Alexander-Arnold was reluctant to move out, while Oxlade-Chamberlain didn’t either, enabling Cucurella to pick out a pass inside to Lallana. Both Konaté and Alexander-Arnold turned, but stopped as if holding an offside line, only for Van Dijk and Robertson to continue their runs, leaving them outnumbered two-against-three. Robertson continued to drop deeper and deeper as Van Dijk stepped up to close down Lallana, playing Trossard onside as Lallana poked the ball through to the Belgian to finish.
Robertson didn’t use to drop off behind the rest of the defensive line, but has picked up the bad habit recently. It’s slightly odd given he has the pace to play catch-up, so wouldn’t need to drop off to be in a position to cover, asking questions of Liverpool’s defensive organisation.
Rather than Liverpool responding, it was Brighton that looked likeliest to get the next goal, continuing to stretch and cut through Liverpool’s midfield.
Liverpool finally switched things up, changing to a 4-2-3-1. Oxlade-Chamberlain moved out to the left, Mané to the right, with Firmino, soon to be replaced by Jota, behind Salah through the middle. This did nothing to actually correct the issue of their midfield getting overrun, with Mané continuing to pressure the centre-backs rather than tracking the runs of Cucurella, but there wasn’t really much Jürgen Klopp could do to solve this particular issue: he had already used the only midfielder he had on the bench, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and even he wasn’t exactly the controlling midfielder Liverpool needed. The closest thing available was introduced: attacker Takumi Minamino introduced in midfield in place of Jones.
Liverpool somehow went from winning 3-0 to drawing 2-2 and they can’t feel hard done by. They pretty much had Brighton beaten, yet threw it away with poor individual displays and a poor collective performance, showing many of the same issues that continue to go unaddressed. Potter completely out-thought Klopp, rescuing a point with intelligent changes when most teams would have simply folded and accepted their fate.
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