A strange and infuriating game at the Amex this lunchtime still saw Liverpool come away with 2-0 win and, despite 15 minutes of Brighton pressure at the start and 15 more of it at the end, deservedly so.
Indeed, it was Liverpool’s failure to convert command of the game into goals – and another incomprehensible VAR decision – that contributed to the agitation and anger Liverpool fans would have felt as proceedings unfolded.
This was a game Liverpool could’ve won by six or seven, so many were the chances and the openings that the Reds created but failed to take advantage of because of poor finishing or poor choices – Mo Salah and Sadio Mané being the main culprits.
At one point, Jurgen Klopp was shown from the touchline bellowing at Salah to ‘pass it’ as the Egyptian king bore down on goal and chose to attempt to slide the ball past Robert Sanchez rather than knock it across the six-yard box for Mané to tap in.
Mané himself was similarly guilty of selfish play, fluffing a shot from just inside the penalty area when an easy pass to Salah to his right would have been the better option.
Of the three strikers starting today, it was the new-signing, the Colombian Luis Diaz, who played most effectively, posing a constant threat with his pace and skill to Brighton’s defence and showing superb commitment in his pressing.
Indeed, it was Diaz, on 19 minutes, who was involved in the game’s defining moment.
Running onto a clever clipped pass from Joel Matip, the Colombian nodded the ball over the onrushing Brighton keeper into an empty net, Sanchez not only missing the ball by a mile but also clattering into Diaz and flooring the Liverpool 23 after catching him in the head with his thigh.
VAR checked for an offside – there was no question of that – and at Sanchez’s diabolical challenge.
While the speed of the incident might excuse referee Mike Dean and his linesman of missing the serious foul play, it was incomprehensible that VAR Stuart Atwell, who would have seen the crime a hundred times, and in slow motion, decided there was nothing untoward in Sanchez’s tackle.
Atwell will be perhaps the only person who saw the incident back who thought that way. There cannot have been all season a clearer example of a challenge endangering an opponent and no clearer example of a red card. Yet, nothing was given and Sanchez was allowed to stay on the field.
Football has a habit of exacerbating injustices. A player who should not have been on the pitch ends up scoring a late equaliser or winner and when, on 61 minutes, Liverpool were awarded a penalty after Naby Keita’s shot was blocked by the raised hand of Yves Bissouma, it seemed that the football gods would further mock the Reds by allowing Sanchez to save the penalty.
Fortunately, Salah stepped up and smacked the ball down the middle past the sprawling Brighton keeper. Order was restored.
There were alarms for Liverpool later on and Alisson Becker had to be at his best to save from Danny Welbeck to keep Liverpool’s lead in tact.
Recently, the Reds have been sloppy while ahead, conceding goals to make the remainder of the game unnecessarily anxious.
This was the case midweek in the second leg of the last 16 Champions League tie against Inter Milan.
Two up from the first leg, Liverpool had several opportunities to completely put the tie to bed – Salah hitting the post twice when he should have scored – only for Lautaro Martinez to score a second half wonder goal out of nothing to give Inter hope and potentially change the momentum of the game.
It was lucky for Liverpool that a second yellow from the otherwise outstanding Alexis Sanchez almost immediately took the stuffing out of the Italian side and the Reds were able to hang on, without much trouble, to qualify for the quarter finals.
The next game for Liverpool is their game in hand against Manchester City. It’s Arsenal away on Wednesday.
Arsenal’s good form has seen them rise to fourth in the league and favourites to qualify for the Champions League. The Gunners should have beaten City when they visited the Emirates on New Year’s Day – some strange refereeing decisions let Pep Guardiola’s men off the hook – but were comfortably beaten 2-0 by the Reds in January in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi final.
