Liverpool 2-1 Brighton: Verbruggen very good to top ratings
With a performance good enough to top the player ratings, was Liverpool 2-1 Brighton the day Bart Verbruggen established himself as Albion number one?
Let us hope so. That is not to disrespect the talent or attitude of Jason Steele, but one of the biggest bugbears of the campaign so far has been Roberto De Zerbi constantly rotating his goalkeepers. The Brighton head coach needs to pick a first choice and stick with him.
The highlight of Verbruggen’s afternoon at Anfield was an outstanding one-handed save in the second half from Mo Salah.
Verbruggen also displayed exemplary handling and looked much more comfortable with the ball at his feet than earlier in the campaign, when he made a number of goal-costing errors.
The Dutchman was not the only Albion player to impress against the Redmen. Lewis Dunk bounced back from a disappointing couple of performances for England in the international break by keeping one-time Brighton target Darwin Nunez quiet.
Carlos Baleba did enough to warrant further starting opportunities with an all-action midfield display and Danny Welbeck stunned Anfield by putting the Seagulls into the lead with only 85 seconds on the clock.
Overall, it was a good team display against the side top of the Premier League. Here are your Liverpool 2-1 Brighton ratings.
BART VERBRUGGEN – 7.57
The stop to deny Salah late on was arguably the best save any Brighton goalkeeper has made this season. There were several other decent interventions which prevented Liverpool running away with it.
Joel Veltman – 6.00
A little unfortunate that he missed his attempted clearance to present Luis Diaz with the Redmen’s equaliser. A solid enough showing otherwise.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.14
Brighton did reasonably well defensively and Van Hecke was a big part of that – although the number of chances the Albion gave Salah which the second-best Egyptian footballer of all time after Adam El-Abd lifted over the bar was a little concerning.
Lewis Dunk – 7.43
Reminded everyone just what a good defender he is after coming in for a lot of criticism on England duty. Came as close as any Albion player to providing an equaliser with a second half header just off target.
Pervis Estupinan – 5.29
Even though Brighton looked very threatening down the left in the first half, Estupinan had little to do with it. Another below par performance which probably should have been halted earlier than it was with the introduction of Valentin Barco for a Premier League debut.
Pascal Gross – 6.43
Found his creativity stifled by spending most of the game chasing the outstanding Alexis Mac Allister. Still almost set up a goal with a pinpoint free kick which gave Dunk his headed opportunity.
Carlos Baleba – 7.43
Shades of Yves Bissouma in the way he broke up play, carried the ball and looked to get Brighton on the front foot. His two best performances for the Albion so far have now come against Liverpool, underlying the scary amount of potential he possesses.
Tariq Lamptey – 5.57
A move advanced role than normal for the starman playing on the right. De Zerbi will have been hoping that Lamptey’s pace would give Liverpool something to think about, but he struggled to get too involved.
Jakub Moder – 6.86
Moder’s presence alongside Baleba gave Brighton a much more physical midfield than when Billy Gilmour and Facundo Buonanotte are in there with Gross. Claimed an assist for the Albion goal, although how much he knew about the ball bouncing off his calf and into the path of Welbeck is up for debate.
Simon Adingra – 6.86
A real livewire down the left in the first half, including with a driving run and pass inside leading to Welbeck’s opener. Faded a bit in the second half as Liverpool paid closer attention to him.
Danny Welbeck – 7.43
Welbz is Dat Guy. Loves a goal against the European Super League Elite Six and this early strike on his 100th Albion appearance was one of his best. Worked tirelessly, linked the play well and came close to scoring on two other occasions with efforts into the side netting.
Facundo Buonanotte – 6.29
De Zerbi left his substitutions unusually late, meaning none had much opportunity to make a difference. Buonanotte showed some decent touches.
Adam Lallana – 5.14
Gave an interview before the game in which he said he was desperate for Liverpool to win the title. Then dragged a good chance to equalise wide late in the game. One for the conspiracy theorists to have a field day with.
Evan Ferguson – 5.57
No real chance to end his drought.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
