Liverpool were denied all 3 points at the Amex Stadium against Brighton and Hove Albion by a last-minute VAR-ridden penalty. It wasn’t the best of performances by The Reds but Diogo Jota’s excellent opener looking to have been enough to give Liverpool the win. Unfortunately, those incompetent imbeciles at Stockley Park felt the need to meddle and award The Seagulls a late spot-kick. Pascal Gross made no mistake from 12-yards and snatched a point for the home side. Brighton fully deserved at least a draw and perhaps even a win, but the manner in which Liverpool ended up dropping two points was hard to take.
In goal, Alisson had very little to do. You can’t expect him to save penalties and the second of Brighton’s spot kicks was the only notable effort on target they had.
In defence, Neco Williams, Nat Phillips, Fabinho and Robertson started – I cannot believe this is the back four we’re having to play in a Premier League game. Anyway. Neco struggled in the first 45 and gave away a penalty midway through the half. He was replaced by Henderson for the second period. Phillips and Fabinho did okay for the most part. They got caught out a couple of times with balls in behind to Connolly but improved as the game went on.
In midfield, Minamino, Wijnaldum and Milner were named in the eleven. It was pretty disjointed and understandably so. Gini has played so many games recently and this was Milner’s third match in a week. As for Minamino, it’s tough to see what he can add to the team. He seemed so passive and unwilling to take risks which made it difficult to link the midfield and attack. Unsurprisingly, Milner picked up an injury in the second half and will likely be out of a few weeks with a hamstring problem. We haven’t had many injuries this season so I suppose we were due.
In attack, Mane was given a rest so Salah, Firmino and Jota started. Firmino looked a lot sharper than he has done for a while which is excellent news. Jota got himself on the scoresheet once again with a superb goal. He received a pass from Salah on the edge of the box, ran across the penalty area before finding an opening to slot back across the keeper into the bottom corner. He’s been sensational since arriving from Wolves and that is now 8 goals in his last 8 Liverpool appearances.
It’s not easy to choose a man of the match in this one but I’ll go for Nat Phillips. It can’t be easy for him to come into this level of game after very little experience at top-flight level but he’s done well in the couple of games he’s featured in so far.
