Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
It might sound daft after just just three games, but when Alisson made that late save it felt like a real statement moment. I know it’s a cliché but we’d have drawn this game last season. We only had one solitary 1-0 win in the entire season because if we weren’t blowing teams away we were failing to hold onto leads and conceding goals from virtually any shot that was on target.
Alisson was brought in to prevent that happening and to ensure 1-0 stayed 1-0 and didn't become 1-1. In the closing minutes of this game that’s exactly what he did. Most people seem to think it was a good save rather than a great one. I’m no goalkeeping expert but personally I thought it was top class. It felt like the whole thing seemed to unfold in slow motion as I watched it absolute horror, just waiting for the ball to end up in our net and for all the optimism to be completely sucked out of the stadium.
The cross came in and initially I’m thinking ‘it’s fine, Virgil will head this away’. Then I realised he was struggling and it was going to drop over his head. At the same time I saw that Alisson had initially moved out towards the cross, but was now back peddling towards his line. The Brighton player arrived between the two centre backs and won the header. It just felt inevitable that it was going in, as we’ve all seen that movie before.
Then Alisson sprung to his left and pushed the ball away. The save itself wasn’t that difficult but it was the judgement and footwork that put him in position to make the save that impressed me. As soon as he knew that he wasn’t getting the cross he stopped and got back into position. His footwork was so good that he wasn’t caught flat-floored, meaning he was on his toes and was able to react and make the save. As I say, I thought it was top class.
There’s no way of knowing this of course, but I don't believe either Mignolet or Karius would have saved it because I don’t think their positional play, judgement and footwork would have got them back in position to do it. I could be completely wrong on that, but there’s a significant body of evidence to back that up when you look at all the silly draws we’ve had in these type of situations over recent years.
We shouldn’t have been relying on Alisson to bail us out but it’s good to know that we have a keeper who can do that when the need arises. Hopefully it won’t arise too often. Personally I don't think it will as we're nowhere near our best and still have another few levels of improvement left in us.
I wrote in the West Ham report that we didn’t really get out of second gear that day. We didn’t need to against the sorry Hammers and their bizarre tactic of everyone stopping and trying to play offside on the edge of the box. That game was easy. This was not. Brighton defended really well. They made it difficult for us and second gear wasn’t enough to blow them away.
I thought we were frequently in third gear though during spells in the first half but we only had one goal to show for it. The second half was poor though. Sloppy, lacking intensity and tempo and the front three just weren’t at it. Everyone else was ok, some were actually pretty good, but when the front three aren’t firing it’s always going to be a bit of a grind as everything is set up for them three to be the focal point. The rest of the team are more or less set up to get them the ball and let them do their thing. Thankfully they don't misfire too often but they’ve definitely not started the season at full throttle. It’s probably due to the World Cup and the shortened pre-season they had because of it.
They’re so good though that they’re still doing enough to get us wins. Three in three for Sadio and two in three for Mo. Just need to get Bobby going. He’s not quite there but he came back later than most. Trent isn’t quite there yet either. He’s been booked in every game and his crossing has been below his usual standard.
Still, some of the passes he’s played have been on another level entirely. There was one against West Ham in the build up to the opening goal that went under the radar a bit, but it was world class. The one he pinged out to Mo on the half volley in this game though was just vintage Gerrard. Trent’s probably operating at about 80% as he’s still in pre-season really, but his 80% is still class. He hit the bar with a nice free-kick too. Only a matter of time until he's slotting them in regularly.
It’s a bit weird the way the game ended up because for much of the first half there was nothing to be concerned about. We started well, created some decent openings, got a goal and completely penned Brighton into their own half. They couldn’t get out even if they wanted to, which I’m not entirely sure they did.
Robbo was marauding forward and getting dangerous crosses in, Mo looked sharp and I was all settled in for another comfortably Anfield win and the front lads filling their boots. Mané rolled a shot just wide after some nice interplay with Mo, while Firmino almost finished off a lovely move when he met Robbo's cross and directed a header downwards, but Ryan made a fantastic save to deny him.
The goal was always coming and when it did it was class. Pure Klopp football. A ball was rolled into midfield and before the Brighton player even knew what was happening the press was on. Milner thundered into a challenge to get the ball to Mane who immediately found Firmino. He rolled it out to Mo who produced a stunning first time finish into the far bottom corner. Just deadly. Brighton defended so well but just one moment like that cost them.
It’s disappointing that we didn’t add to it, and it’s a sign of how far we’ve come that any time we don’t win by four I feel a little underwhelmed by it. That’s an unreasonable expectation on my part, but can you blame me when for the best part of a year we’ve been swatting teams aside and scoring for fun?
It’s impossible to do it every week and there will be games like this one when for whatever reason it just doesn’t happen. Palace away the other night was similar until the late breakaway goal. Klopp has been saying for a few weeks that there’s a lot to work on and I think now we can all see that. Essentially we’re still in pre-season and won’t have everyone at their best level for a few more weeks.
But we’re still winning and we’re not conceding any goals. We could have done of course. Palace could have scored and so could Brighton. In addition to the save Alisson made at the end from Gross, they had another great opportunity that Knockaert blasted wide. That was all they had though. We don’t give up many chances and no-one will enjoy playing against us.
Even in the second half when we were nowhere near our normal level we were generally untroubled. The Knockaert chance came after Naby gave the ball away cheaply and then there was the late header, but aside from that Brighton couldn’t really do anything.
The most nervy I got was when Alisson started taking the piss with the ball at his feet. Not the chip, that didn’t really bother me too much as he was always in total control of that situation. On two other occasions though he dallied on the ball, invited pressure from the forward and almost got caught. The first time he was fouled, the second time he lost the ball but it came to nothing. He just didn’t need to do it. Fucking get rid. He’s lucky it was Glen Murray chasing him down and not Jamie Vardy.
The crowd loved the chip and there will be those of you sneering at the likes of me and all the arl arses frowning upon how relaxed he is in possession. That's fine, but you don't get to moan if and when he eventually fucks up by doing something unnecessary.
I just can’t be doing with him taking too many needless liberties. The potential reward from it doesn’t justify the risk involved. Again, I’m not talking about the chip specifically, it was more the needless dawdling that frustrated me. I don’t want to have to listen to my Dad moaning about him every home game, especially as I think he has a point.
He was also moaning because his boy Shaqiri isn’t getting much playing time. Again, I could see his point. I’d like to have seen Shaq brought on for Mané with about 20 minutes to go. Sadio just never got going. His passing in the first half was fucking woeful and although he tidied that up after the break, he didn’t really do anything. It wasn’t his day and maybe Shaqiri could have given us something a bit different?
Sturridge got on for a late cameo but it didn’t really feel like a game for him. The last ten minutes were always going to see Brighton give it a go so Mo through the middle with Bobby and Shaqiri dropping in to spring counter attacks would have made more sense to me. He did alright in terms of keeping the ball and taking the sting out of the game but his lack of pace these days makes him fairly ineffective in counter attacking situations.
When the forwards hit their stride again we’ll be sound. Klopp’s comments afterwards suggested he might be contemplating changes for next week. He said some players looked fine in training but tired in the game. Not sure who he meant, but Naby and Mane were particularly below par and were both subbed. I don’t think Sadio was tired, he was just shite. It happens with him sometimes but he’d scored three in his previous two games so I wouldn’t be leaving him out.
It’s not inconceivable that Naby might find himself on the bench given how hard Hendo is pushing to regain his spot. Wijnaldum and Milner were probably our two best players against Brighton and there’s no way either of those are being left out. Keita wasn’t bad but he was just average I thought. Didn’t really do much.
Playing one game a week does make it difficult to change things around and I like that Klopp has kept the same team three games running. I hope he keeps the same team next week but there must be a temptation to get Hendo back in there. Of all of those outside the first eleven he’s the only one genuinely close to breaking back in I think.
People will tell you that it’s only three games and at this stage it means nothing. Don’t listen to them. It means something. Maybe not a great deal, but it’s definitely a thing. Psychologically there’s a significance to the start we’ve made. Our players will have been encouraged by winning three on the bounce and City dropping points to a newly promoted side. Last year City only dropped two points in their opening 20 games, and that was only because a harsh sending off left them a man down against Everton.
For them to have already dropped a couple of points just three games in is big, both for those chasing them and maybe even for City themselves. Last year they flew out of the traps and left everyone behind. They hardly had to play with any pressure at all for most of the season. Now after three games they’re playing catch up to the one team that they see as a genuine threat (I don’t mean Watford!).
We’re in City’s heads. Not to the point that they’re running scared; shit, they’re the most dominant champions in history so they’d be stupid to fear anyone. That said, we own them in head to heads and they clearly see us as the main threat. Us starting better than them will only re-enforce that view.
All of that is subjective though. Does it mean anything? Maybe, maybe not. It might mean something to some City players and nothing to others. Maybe none of them care. It’s impossible to know.
What can’t be disputed though is this simple fact: Three weeks ago we had a 38 game season ahead of us and we began on equal points with City. Now we have a 35 game season and we have a two point head start.
City don’t drop many points so when they do it’s vital that 1) we are in a position to capitalise, and 2) we do capitalise. We put ourselves in position by winning the opening two games, but we almost didn’t capitalise against Brighton because we got sloppy and nearly paid a heavy price. Bottom line though is we won and we made them pay for their slip up at Wolves.
That’s what we’ve got to do. Three games down, thirty five left.
Star man is Gini, just ahead of Milner, with a tip of the hat to Joey Gomez for the way he handled the wily old pro Murray.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Matip), Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita (Henderson); Salah, Firmino, Mané (Sturridge):
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