Liverpool were absolutely shocking when they suffered a 3-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday, with Jurgen Klopp clearly struggling to stem the rot in his squad.
Brighton 3-0 Liverpool
Goals: March 46′ 53′, Welbeck 81′
Klopp went to the Amex as an underdog, given their struggle with form and growing injuries, and fielded his side in slightly different form, with Thiago as No.10 in a 4-2- 3-1.
Cody Gakpo led the line as a centre-forward on his Premier League debut, but all traffic went the other way early on as Brighton dominated – as sadly expected.
It took the Reds 23 minutes to get their first shot on target and although it came from Gakpo – and was technically on target – the chance was blocked and quickly faded.
Brighton embarrassed the visitors with their pressing play, while the dangerous Kaoru Mitoma posed a constant threat down the left flank as he took advantage of a struggling Joel Matip. Alisson and his defense were then sent off as, despite Solly March falling in the box, the winger was ruled offside and the penalty ruled out.
Less than a minute after the restart – and with no change on either side – Liverpool were rightly behind, with Matip at fault as Mitoma accelerated and set March up for a first game on foot.
March made it 2-0 with an outstanding finish soon after, with Evan Ferguson playing the perfect ball for his team-mate as Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold watched him drive into space and shoot home.
It wasn’t long before Klopp rolled the dice, with a quadruple substitution that sent 17-year-old Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott, Naby Keita and Ben Doak for Matip, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The energy improved and Gakpo had a half chance which was thwarted by Robert Sanchez from Alexander-Arnold’s delivery, but Brighton then made it 3-0 through Danny Welbeck. It was born out of a simple throw-in routine, with March snapping it in and cheating on Danny Welbeck Gomez before moving past Alisson to cap off a humiliating afternoon.
The 3-0 defeat dropped Liverpool to eighth place in the Premier League, behind Fulham and Brighton.
TIA Man of the Match: Ibrahima Konaté
Brighton: Sanchez; Gross, Dunk (Webster 90+1′), Colwill, Estupinan; MacAllister (Sarmiento 83′), Caicedo; Mars, Lallana (Veltman 66′), Mitoma (Lamptey 90+1′); Ferguson (Welbeck 66′)
Unused Subs: Steele, Van Hecke, Gilmour, Undav
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexandre-Arnold, Matip (Gomez 68′), Konaté, Robertson; Fabinho (Keita 68′), Henderson (Elliott 68′), Thiago; Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Doak 68′), Gakpo
Unused Subs: Kelleher, Tsimikas, Milner, Jones, Carvalho