⚽️ Liverpool @ Brighton - Live Weblog

12 January 2019 🕸 ⚽️

Starting about five minutes in but I’m interested to see Fabinho play on the defensive line. He was back there vs Wolves during the week, but it wasn’t an EPL game and they had a pretty weak lineup out there. Today, they have a full lineup out there, but with no Lovren or Gomez, Fabinho is forced to play back there with van Djik.

09:09 - Don’t get me wrong, Fabinho is more than capable of playing on the backline, but you lose some of his playmaking ability, which has contributed greatly to Liverpool’s success lately.
09:11 - Beautiful deep cross from Fabinho to Robertson running up the left side. Brighton defender is almost able to get a head on it, but Roberston gets control, and crosses it to goal, just missing a sliding Firmino.
09:17 - Nice ball into the box from Brighton’s Pascal Grob to Murray in the box, who beats Fabinho to it and gets a head on it, sending it to high over the goal.
09:19 - Liverpool is being aittle cute with it, too many short, right passes, leading absolutely nowhere. They’ve some how been able to keep possession, but it’s not as pretty as it sounds.
09:28 - Beautiful play that time ending with a Shaqiri header just wide. van Djik crossed it out to Robertson who got a touch on it to Mane in the middle of the pitch. Mane switched sides to Arnold who cut back to the middle sending the ball in to Shaqiri. Would love to see more opportunities like this one.
09:32 - Mane continues to look good when Liverpool plays a 4-5-1. As the offensive midfielder he just seems more patient when he has the ball, not always trying to take the big swing.
09:36 - Another great run from Mane up the left side. This time ending with a weak Henderson header towards goal, but easily defended.
09:39 - Henderson just isn’t very good… imo…
09:39 - I’d like to see them try Milner out at centerback next to van Dijk, and let Fabinho go back up to defensive midfielder instead of Henderson.
09:40 - Scary run for Brighton’s Locadia, just called offside.
09:47 - Pretty disappointed in the first half. Besides a few decent plays, chances for Liverpool were very limited. They didn’t seem to use their wingers very much but opted to attack up the middle. Maybe it’s due to Brighton’s defensive strategy, but they need to have a more varied attack to five Salah/Mane/Firmino chances in the box.

HALFTIME Brighton 0-0 Liverpool

10:04 - With better communication, Brighton should’ve just had a goal. A nice cross over the entire Liverpool defense and a header to the center of the box but the second Brighton attacker didn’t read the pass and Allison was able to scoop it up easily.
10:06 - Salah, dancing around with the ball inside the box until getting knocked down and winning a penalty for Liverpool.
10:07 - Salah converts with a powerful strike to the right side of the net.

50’ Brighton 0-1 Liverpool

10:08 - That’s Salah’s fourteenth goal of the season, tying him with Kane and Aubameyang for the most so far this season.
10:11 - The problem with Liverpool’s attack up the middle, is they are so bunched up. Every pass ends up being short and strong, making it hard to handle with one touch, inevitably slowing down any potential run where they might be able to catch Brighton off guard.
10:16 - Bruce had the ball teed up for him right in the middle of the box, and Fabinho just got in front before the strike could be put in the back of the net. 😅
10:23 - Brighton making two subs in the 66’ minute. March and Murray come off the pitch.
10:26 - This is probably a dumb idea for multiple reasons, but with Gomez and Lovren out, I think it’d be interesting to see Liverpool out out a 3-3-3-1. Alexander-Arnold, van Djik, Robertson in the back three. Milner, Fabinho, Wijnaldum as the defensive midfield. Mane, Firmino, Shaqiri as the attacking midfield. And finally, Salah up top as the striker.
10:31 - Milner on for Shaqiri.
10:37 - Wijnaldum’s strike goes just wide after some nice passing from Firmino and Salah.
10:41 - Dunk, Gross, Bong, March, Grob. So many simple one syallable last names for Brighton.
10:45 - Salah Mane with a run up the middle. Ends with a Mane strike which gets deflected wide for a corner. After the corner, Milner runs down the line and gets it to Salah right in front of the net but he lazily taps it wide…
10:46 - Keita on for Mane in the 90’ minute.
10:48 - Both van Djik and Robertson seem to be furiously yelling at Alexander-Arnold for some reason.
10:49 - Keita loses the ball in the middle of the pitch leading to Brighton’s best chance of the day. Luckily, Arnold gets a heel to deflect the cross and then Fabinho recoverd back to prevent another cross from coming in.
10:50 - Origi on for Salah. Seems kind of pointless in the 94’ minute. Guess it’s just to waste some time.

FINAL Brighton 0-1 Liverpool

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