Brighton 2-3 Liverpool: Missed opportunity for League Cup history
Arne Slot was always going to make changes for a League Cup fourth round tie at the Amex. The question is why did Fabian Hurzeler follow suit and name a weakened team for Brighton 2-3 Liverpool?
The competition represented a genuine chance of reaching a Wembley final for the Seagulls. And that was before Manchester City, Aston Villa and Chelsea were eliminated last night.
Brighton on their day can give anyone in English football a run for their money. The European Super League Elite Six, Villa and the Saudi Sportswashers all had bigger fish to fry than the League Cup.
Hence why Liverpool played a debutant goalkeeper and had two players in their starting XI with squad numbers in the 80s.
The Albion were fighting on only three fronts. Victory last night would have added a maximum of four extra games to the schedule.
Something which a squad reinforced with nearly £200 million worth of summer signings should be able to cope with.
The final 15 minutes of Brighton 2-3 Liverpool offered a glimpse of what might have been possible if Hurzeler had gone full strength.
Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck entered the fray. The Albion scored twice. And they had Slot suitably worried to chuck on Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez in an attempt to get over the line.
You have to go back to the 1970s for the last time Brighton reached the quarter finals of this competition. The opportunity was there to make history against Liverpool.
Brighton did no take it, Hurzeler instead prioritising Premier League points and the trip to Anfield on Saturday.
Sacrificing the possibility of reaching Wembley and winning a first ever piece of major silverware because you would rather finish ninth than 10th in the table.
Hard-earned point at Anfield over a first quarter final appearance since before Maggie Thatcher became PM? Hurzeler’s priorities were wrong for me, Clive.
The opening 30 minutes saw precious few chances. Tariq Lamptey should have scored when one-on-one with Vitezslav Jaros, only for Liverpool’s third choice goalkeeper to save.
Liverpool came to life after that, forcing Jason Steele into two fine stops. He kept out a Dominik Szoboszlai effort and then denied Andy Robertson as the sides went into half time goalless.
The second 45 was just 32 seconds old when Liverpool took the lead. Jakub Moder was beaten far too easily by Cody Gakpo, who subsequently thrashed the ball beyond Steele.
Jaros tipped an Adingra header onto the post and further chances came for Evan Ferguson and Brajan Gruda. The German Under 21 international had a particularly lively full debut, doing enough to suggest he deserves greater minutes in the Premier League.
Liverpool doubled their advantage via a three-on-one break – the second time in five days Brighton have been pulled apart on the counter following that 93rd minute equaliser from Mattheus Cunha in Brighton 2-2 Wolves.
For Mats Wieffer passing the ball straight to a Wolves defender, this time around it was Lamptey losing possession.
Steele initially did well to thwart Dominik Szoboszlai. The Albion though failed to back up their goalkeeper, passing on several opportunities to clear the before Gakpo lashed in his second of the evening.
Enter Mitoma and Welbeck for Gruda and the below-par Julio Enciso, along with Jack Hinshelwood who replaced Moder five minutes earlier.
It did not take long for Brighton to pull one back with the big guns on. Jaros saved from Evan Fergsuon but Adingra was on hand to steer the rebound into the back of the net.
More car crash defending gave Liverpool a third five minutes later in what was proving to be a frantic finish to proceedings.
Steele saved again. Brighton did not deal with the aftermath again. This time, Luis Diaz picked up the pieces.
Another goal soon followed to ensure it finished Brighton 2-3 Liverpool. Lamptey shot and a heavy deflection off Jarrell Quansah defied Jaros.
The Albion now had injury time to try and force an equaliser. Given the absolute shit show that was trying to get a train from Falmer Station afterwards, perhaps it was just as well the game finished at 9:30pm rather than going beyond the 90.
Liverpool now advance to a quarter final with Southampton. A tie Brighton would have been heavy favourites to win had they progressed rather than Liverpool.
The wait for a place in the last eight of the League Cup goes on.
