One last chance for Brighton to distress Jurgen Klopp
One of the best photos to come out of Brighton & Hove Albion’s time in the Premier League so far involves Jurgen Klopp.
The Liverpool manager is stood at the Amex, mouth wide open in a look of sheer distress/disbelief that his reigning champions have just conceded a 93rd minute equaliser to a Seagulls side with only one win by that point of the 2020-21 season under Graham Potter.
You know the one. Christ, whenever the Albion take on the Redmen, WAB use it as much as possible. It perfectly sums up the Brighton Effect and what failing to beat the Seagulls can do. #TeamsLikeBrighton in pictorial form, if you like.
And this Easter Sunday is the last chance we will have to marvel at its glory. Just in case you hadn’t heard, Klopp is to leave Liverpool at the end of this season. Brighton will not – unless he returns to Anfield one day – face Klopp again in the Premier League.
Understandably, the Redmen are determined to send their popular manager off on a high by racking up as many trophies as possible.
The Carabao Cup is in the bag. The Premier League remains a very real possibility, Liverpool being in the thick of what is currently a three-way title fight with Arsenal and Manchester City.
Whereas Brighton exited the Europa League, Liverpool marched into the quarter finals. The only disappointment so far has come in the FA Cup, where Klopp saw his team eliminated at the hands of arch rivals Manchester United in their most recent outing.
Still, at least he took their quarter final exit with good grace and did not call a Danish journalist fat or anything.
Klopp also famously lost the plot with Des Kelly of BT Sport following that Gross penalty and Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at the Amex back in October 2020. The way he treats the media whenever Liverpool lose is something nobody will miss with his departure.
Who takes over from Klopp is one of the biggest questions in world football right now. High on their shortlist is said to be a certain Roberto De Zerbi, giving an added angle of interest to Brighton rocking up at Anfield on Easter Sunday.
Can this be seen as a live job interview playing out in front of the Sky Sports camera? And is that why De Zerbi used his pre-Liverpool press conference to play down expectations of the Albion coming away with anything, whilst publicly suggesting he is open to leaving Brighton?
De Zerbi’s comments might for a rather depressing Saturday afternoon. On the latter topic, he revealed that talks on a new contract between himself and the club had come to an impasse because he needed to speak to Tony Bloom and see if their ambitions match.
The killer line being: “If I don’t feel comfortable, I don’t feel the right motivation, I can’t stay any longer.” Sweet Lord.
As for the former topic of discussion, De Zerbi brought news of even more injuries occurring to his Brighton squad.
If the Albion do go to Anfield and take a beating, he has already laid out the reasons for doing so to the Liverpool hierarchy. Do not judge me on this result with so many players out, De Zerbi seemed to be subtly suggesting.
And he is right, of course. Injuries, a smallish squad and the additional workload of European football have had a big impact on Brighton this season.
The latest to walk through the treatment room doors are Billy Gilmour and Julio Enciso. Despite Joao Pedro being initially ruled out for six weeks and pictured in training this week, Brighton will also remain without their top scorer for the trip to Merseyside.
If it all feels a little hopeless compounded by De Zerbi having the cheeriness of my old school dinner lady, then the Albion can at least take solace from their impressive record over Liverpool.
Including that wonderful afternoon in lockdown when the infamous picture of Klopp was taken, Brighton have lost just one of their past eight meetings with the Redmen. With that reversal coming under Glow Up Graham, De Zerbi is undefeated against Liverpool.
That might explain why he is so high on their list of targets. His brand of football is similar to Klopp too, fast-paced and attack-centred. It has led to the past four encounters between the sides returning 16 goals.
Those were in the days when Brighton could score for fun. Not so much in recent times, without Pedro or Kaoru Mitoma and Evan Ferguson going through such a barren spell.
But would it not be Typical Brighton to go and get things back on track at Anfield? To go from a thrashing at Fulham and a fortunate own goal victory over Nottingham Forest in the past two Premier League outings to denting Liverpool’s title hopes?
Where better than Merseyside to get back on track as the season enters its final 10 games? And how else to say goodbye to and danke to Klopp than by leaving him with a gormless look of surprise and shock for the final time?
