Brighton 2-2 Liverpool: New stars born and old friends reunited

What will you remember Brighton 2-2 Liverpool for? An excellent second half performance from the Albion which earned a deserved point against a fine Redmen side?

Or how about the emergence of three new stars who gave coming-of-age performances? Carlos Baleba and Igor Julio were superb on their full Premier League debuts whilst Simon Adingra underlined his rich potential with an all-action display on the right.

Then there was the emotional return of Alexis Mac Allister to the Amex for the first time since his £35 million summer move to Anfield.

Come the full time whistle of Brighton 2-2 Liverpool, Roberto De Zerbi led Mac Allister around the pitch alongside the Albion team.

This ensured the first World Cup winner in Albion history got the reception he deserved. Once a Seagull, always a Seagull and all that… as long as you leave Brighton in a dignified manner respectful of the club. Unlike Moises Caicedo, Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella, et all.

The performance of the match officials also came under some scrutiny, which was hardly a surprise given the way Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp reacted to their 2-1 defeat at Spurs last time out.

A statement came out of Anfield following the admission VAR had made a pretty horrific error. Klopp demanded the game be replayed.

It was almost as if Liverpool thought they were the first and only side to ever be wronged by an officiating cock up. Well, let us tell you about the time VAR ruled out a Brighton goal because they drew their offside lines from the wrong player.

Or the time PGMOL had to offer two apologies to De Zerbi and the Albion for incidents in a single game last season. Not just any game either, but one against Spurs which looked pivotal in the race for European football at the time.

Liverpool and Klopp’s words ramped up the pressure on the match officials at the Amex. Little wonder then that a lot of 50-50 calls went in favour of the visitors.

Funnily enough, Klopp was less inclined to argue that Brighton 2-2 Liverpool should be replayed to protect the integrity of the competition after Virgil van Dijk handled in the box but the Albion received no penalty.

Adingra gave Brighton the lead with 20 minutes on the clock with a piece of quick pressing and fast thinking. Mac Allister of all people probably should have known how the Albion under De Zerbi shut opponents down but he was caught when about to receive a pass from Alisson Becker.

What came next was brilliant. With Alisson stranded out of position, Adingra caught the Redmen goalkeeper by total surprise in taking on an early shot from 25 yards within a couple of seconds of robbing Mac Allister.

The ball was carefully passed with accuracy into the unguarded left hand side of the goal, with Alisson so shocked that he dived late and managed to get nowhere it.

De Zerbi has hailed Baleba as a player good enough to replace Caicedo in midfield. The Amex soon saw why the midfielder has been the recipient of such lofty praise as he carried the ball from inside his own half, turned a Joel Matip inside out on the edge of the area and then fired inches wide.

Brighton were cooking now, only to be undone by two Mo Salah goals in the space of as many minutes. The second best Egyptian footballer of all time after Adam El Abd loves scoring against the Albion with this quick-fire brace extending his record to eight.

Both goals came from the Albion giving the ball away. Lewis Dunk was the culprit for the first, his sloppy pass into midfield being picked up by Mac Allister.

Liverpool surged into the Seagulls box via some lovely one-touch football between Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and one-time Brighton target Darwin Nunez.

When Harvey Elliott then intelligently dummied, it left Salah free at the back post to sweep beyond Bart Verbruggen for the equaliser.

For the second Amex game in a row, Brighton were then caught and punished trying to play out from the back. In the 3-1 win over Plucky Little Bournemouth, Verbruggen gifted the Cherries the opening goal when passing straight to a red and black shirt.

Here, he attempted to pass the ball to Pascal Gross under a lot of pressure. Dominik Szoboszlai subsequently pounced, leading Gross to pull back the shirt of the Hungarian as he rounded Verbruggen.

A penalty was the predictable outcome. You could even make the argument that Gross was lucky to escape a red card as he had no intention of playing the ball, only of preventing Szoboszlai having a goal scoring opportunity.

Salah duly converted the spot kick and suddenly, the game had turned on its head. Shades of the 6-1 reversal against Aston Villa last week, when the Albion fell apart by conceding quick-fire goals to Unai Emery’s side.

Thankfully, there was to be no repeat. Into the second half and Brighton set about finding an equaliser. Adingra was denied by a brilliant one-handed save from Alisson after being played in by Evan Ferguson.

There was a let off at the other end when Ryan Gravenberch somehow hit the bar from close range with the whole goal to aim at following a lightning quick counter attack.

Then came the handball incident against Van Dijk. Mitoma cut in from the left to drill a cross-shot towards the back post. The ball ricocheted into the hand of Van Dijk, preventing it making its merry way towards either Baleba or Adingra.

Remarkably, no penalty was forthcoming. Had it been Dunk blocking from Salah with his arm at the other end – no matter how inadvertent the handling was – the world and his wife knows what the outcome would have been.

De Zerbi picked up a yellow card for his protests after watching it back on a tablet in the dugout. When De Zerbi continued to make his opinion clear, Klopp to his credit intervened to calm the Albion boss down and prevent yellow becoming red.

The mood of De Zerbi was further calmed when Brighton levelled the game from a soft free kick. Solly March had enjoyed a fine afternoon at left back, having to fill in due to the injury absence of Pervis Estupinan and the Albion not wanting to risk putting Tariq Lamptey through two consecutive starts within 72 hours of each other.

Having dealt reasonably well with Salah, March showed his attacking talents when whipping over a wicked left footed delivery. It swerved between two red shirts and into the path of Dunk, who clinically volleyed beyond Alisson to make it Brighton 2-2 Liverpool.

The Albion looked the most likely to find a winner in the 12 minutes which remained, coming closest when Adingra escaped down the line and sent a dangerous low cross into the box.

Joao Pedro was perfectly placed front and centre of the goal but could only fire wastefully over the bar when he should have at least worked Alisson.

Come full time and the draw was probably the right result. It has not been an easy couple of weeks for the Albion, but the comeback point in the hostile environment of Marseille on Thursday night followed by holding a Liverpool side most expect to be in title contention this year represents a good way to go into two weeks off.

Two weeks in which Brighton can get some of their walking wounded patched up and back on the pitch. In which the new signings can become further accustomed to DeZerbiBall. And in which the Albion can prepare for the task of Manchester City away followed by Ajax at home.

What a time to support Brighton & Hove Albion.