Liverpool 2-2 Brighton: Albion learn how to compete with the best

Learn and take the positives. That is all Graham Potter used to say this time last year when the Albion were recording disappointing result followed by disappointing result, an absolute world away from what we saw in Liverpool 2-2 Brighton.

The problem back in autumn 2020 was that, despite what Potter was saying, neither he nor Brighton ever seemed to learn anything.

Whacky team selections with no consistency in who started or played where continued alongside wastefulness in front of goal.

Two wins from 18 represented the Albion’s worst start to a top flight campaign, an opening four months akin to a cheese nightmare.

Potter and Brighton have very clearly turned things around since then and in quite spectacular style. What was most pleasing about Liverpool 2-2 Brighton is that Potter genuinely did appear to have learned from the previous week’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City.

Learning and taking the positives used to be a nice phrase which would be followed by Ben White still playing in midfield the next week.

What we witnessed at Anfield was that it is now more than a sound bite. Potter took on board the lessons of that heavy loss against the champions and used them to ensure that Brighton were worthy of at least a point against an outrageously talented Liverpool side who came into the game in flying form.

Having given City such a fright in the second half last Saturday to the point that the champions had to resort to time wasting, Potter went with the personnel and tactics who dominated after the break against the Citizens from the start at Anfield.

That meant no Neal Maupay or indeed any recognised centre forward. Tariq Lamptey had to again settle for a place amongst the substitutes.

Four central midfielders in the returning Yves Bissouma, Adam Lallana, Jakub Moder and Enock Mwepu were crammed into the starting XI. And Solly March, that most disciplined of left wing backs, had a free role to float wherever he liked in the final third.

More than a few eyebrows were raised when the team was announced but based on that second half against City, it was an eminently sensible line up.

Brighton have now gone toe-to-toe with two of the best sides in the Premier League playing what is some sort of hybrid between 4-2-2-2 and 4-3-1-2 so clearly, it works.

Liverpool 2-2 Brighton was a fascinating 90 minutes which could have gone either way. Liverpool led 2-0 before Brighton showed marvellous belief and fight to come back. Ultimately, that probably means the draw was the right result and judging by Jurgen Klopp’s comments after, he agreed.

Klopp is notorious for finding excuses when his team fail to win. The length of the grass, some rain, a minor breeze… you name it and Klopp has used it to explain why Liverpool have only drawn or lost in the past.

And when he cannot find an excuse, he will instead launch a rant at a television interviewer to deflect from the Reds’ performance, as we saw when he lost his mind with BT Sport’s Des Kelly following Brighton 1-1 Liverpool last season.

It said much that Klopp was full of praise for Brighton: “People just still don’t respect the quality Brighton have. They might not win 35 games a season, but 38 times they give to each team a proper game, definitely, because the things they do and the talent they have they are really good. Brighton were here to get a result, they got a result, they deserve it and that’s it.”

A hectic opening 10 minutes set the tone for what was to come. Brighton could have taken the lead when Trossard played in March but Alisson made the save.

Liverpool did then take the lead via Jordan Henderson. Mo Salah found Henderson on the edge of the box and the Reds captain swept home a clinical effort with only four minutes on the clock. A hard day’s night looked in store for the Albion at that point, as four famous blokes from these parts used to sing.

Although the away section were not urging Bissouma to shoot every time he had the ball like at Leicester City in the League Cup on Wednesday night, the Malian midfielder still took it upon himself to have a go from distance.

A scrappy few seconds in the centre of the park eventually ended with Bissouma coming away with possession. He drove forward and hit one from 20 yards which Alisson had to turn onto the post.

With 24 minutes played, Liverpool doubled their lead. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain crossed and Sadio Mane was left completely free to head past Robert Sanchez. Plenty of questions needed to be asked about the Albion’s defending for that one with Shane Duffy the main culprit.

The most crucial moment of the match came next. Dunk played Sanchez a risky back pass onto the Brighton goal line and Sanchez made the situation even more hazardous when he decided to take a touch and delay getting rid.

When the Albion goalkeeper did eventually try and clear, he had left it so long that the ball cannoned into the closing Mane from point blank range and into the back of the net.

Three seasons ago, it was a goal that would have stood and there would have been few complaints about it. Mane and Liverpool celebrated and not one player in blue and white appealed, choosing instead to look dumbstruck at what a mess Dunk and Sanchez had got themselves in.

Luckily, VAR took a look at the Chuckle Brothers impression and spotted that the clearance had hit Mane’s arm. The man watching at Stockley Park was Kevin Friend and he therefore chalked the goal off.

Inside of a week, Mr Friend had gone from giving the worst refereeing performance Brighton had seen this season in the City defeat to saving the Seagulls’ bacon. He should expect to receive a nice meat and cheese hamper from Sanchez as thank you for sparing the young Albion number one’s blushes.

Had Liverpool gone 3-0 ahead, then there would have been no coming back for Brighton. The Albion made the most of their reprieve, pulling one back four minutes before half time through Mwepu.

It was a stunning goal. The Computer exchanged passed with March before spotting Alisson off his line and hitting a dipping shot from 30 yards which caught everyone at Anfield by surprise, not least the Liverpool goalkeeper.

Alisson could only watch in horror as the ball sailed over his head and into the back of the net. Even Liverpool supporters were moved to applaud it and it earned Mwepu a congratulations tweet from the President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema.

Mwepu now has two goals in two games as well as winning the penalty for Alexis Mac Allister’s consolation against City. Have Brighton found a genuine goal scoring central midfielder at last?

There was no let up in the entertainment in the second half. Salah managed to escape the pocket of the outstanding Marc Cucurella for a minute, rounding Sanchez and slotting home before the offside flag correctly went up.

That turned out to be Liverpool’s last meaningful effort as Brighton took control. March backheeled at the end of a free flowing move to Adam Lallana who stung the palms of Alisson in front of a Kop who gave their former midfielder a fantastic reception all afternoon.

Lallana would go onto play a vital role in the Brighton equaliser which arrived on 66 minutes. Sanchez started the move with a brilliant, pinpoint piece of distribution to pick out Cucurella 60 yards down the pitch on the left flank.

Cucurella and Lallana linked up to find Trossard, popping up so effectively once again in a pocket of space between the Liverpool defence and midfield.

The Vampire of Genk escaped the attentions of a defender, picked his spot and then slotted past Alisson. From 2-0 down, it was now Liverpool 2-2 Brighton.

Liverpool fans were stunned and the ‘famous Anfield atmosphere’ was reduced to cries of anguish and frustration that the hosts were being outplayed by one of those #TeamsLikeBrighton.

It nearly got worse for the Reds. Trossard again managed to drift unnoticed into a dangerous position, allowing him to slip through the Liverpool defence and round Alisson to score, only for the offside flag to go up. Like the earlier Salah goal disallowed, it was tight but ultimately the right decision.

Liverpool did rally late on but they were unable to seriously test Sanchez. Their desire to get on the front foot and find a winner also left spaces for Brighton to exploit on the counter, something which substitute Lamptey nearly did on a couple of occasions.

Lamptey may have only been on the pitch for 23 minutes, but in that time he did enough to give Andrew Robertson bad dreams for weeks. He surely has to start against struggling Saudi Arabia next week, although who makes way is less clear – good luck to Potter in making that decision.

When the Albion were getting hammered by City and Liverpool were putting five unanswered goals past Manchester United at Old Trafford last week, you would have got long odds on a final score at Anfield of Liverpool 2-2 Brighton.

The Albion though are improving all the time. Supporters of other clubs have been desperate to point out that the Seagulls’ lofty position in the Premier League table is due to an easy fixture list and not having faced any of the big boys yet.

Well, now we have. And it appears as though Potter has found a way to compete against them. Klopp and Liverpool discovered that first hand at Anfield and as result, Brighton are still in the race for the top six even after two of their toughest games of the season.

With a gentler run of November fixtures to come and players like Lamptey and Adam Webster returning from injury, things might look even better in a month’s time as we prepare to open our advent calendars. As long as Brighton keep learning, Europe remains in sight.