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Half-time reading
Half time: Brighton 1-1 Liverpool
That was really good fun. Both teams played some bright, breezy football, with the left-sided attackers Kaoru Mitoma and Harvey Elliott to the fore. Elliott gave Liverpool the lead after a ruthless counter-attack; Lewis Dunk diverted an errant shot past Alisson to equalise for Brighton.
45 min Here’s the Brighton equaliser.
44 min Elliott fell into the rump of Steele after that Lamptey tackle, so there’s a break in play while he has a concussion check. He’s been such a threat today with those runs infield from the left.
43 min: Great chance for Elliott! Gakpo drops deep, beats Mac Allister through sleight of hip and eases a classy through pass to Elliott. His first touch is perfect, but the second is slightly too heavy and that allows Lamptey to come across and make a desperate last-ditch tackle.
43 min “I’ll admit that I have a hard time getting exercised over which set of billionaires own Liverpool, but I am fascinated by what Klopp does next,” says Kári Tulinius. “As much as I’d like to see him stick around for decades like a modern Ferguson or Wenger, it would be thrilling to see him start over at another club.”
Let’s say he leaves Liverpool at the end of next season. What are his options, realistically? I can’t think of any club jobs that fit his personality. I’m not sure how comfortable he would feel working for one of the netspend mafia.
41 min Dunk scored an own goal, one of three by Brighton players, when they lost 6-1 at Anfield in the FA Cup 11 years ago.
A left-wing corner was cleared towards Lamptey, 25 yards from goal. He ran impatiently towards the ball and cut across a shot that was going wide until it hit Dunk and wrongfooted Alisson.
GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Liverpool (Dunk 39)
A stroke of luck for Brighton!
38 min Or, in the case of the goal, from the passing of Salah and the movement of Elliott.
37 min Liverpool look really dangerous on the break, particularly through the passing of Elliott and the movement of Salah.
36 min “C’mon people!” pleads Joe Pearson. “You do realise that two years after FSG bought the Red Sox, the team broke an 86-year drought to win the World Series and have been consistently competitive since. Yes, they are a little more thoughtful with their money than say Todd Boehly. But then, who isn’t? Just chill a bit.”
34 min Mitoma is looking increasingly dangerous for Brighton, though the in-form March has been relatively quiet on the other side.
32 min There was a VAR check for handball against Keita in the build-up, but as he didn’t score the goal himself it can only be disallowed if it was a deliberate handball. It wasn’t.
Dunk got in front of Salah to win the ball near the halfway line, but his momentum meant he was out of the game when Keita quickly lobbed the ball into space down the right. Salah made 30 or 40 yards and then weighted his pass perfectly behind Webster for the onrushing Elliott. He dragged a first-time shot that hit the outstretched right hand of Steele and dribbled slowly into the far corner.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Liverpool (Elliott 30)
Harvey Elliott does it again in the FA Cup!
30 min Estpuinan feeds the ball into Ferguson and keeps running. Ferguson lays it off first time to Mitoma, who angles a beautiful first-time pass into the path of Estupinan. His touch takes him away from Gomez but also runs the ball out of play.
29 min March receives the ball on the edge of the area, uses the overlapping Lamptey by not using him and curls a shot that is well blocked by Gomez.
28 min The hitherto anonymous Gakpo charges 50 yards and plays the ball towards Salah in the area. It comes off the sliding Lamptey, and Steele is quickly off his line to beat Salah to the loose ball.
Salah would have been offside anyway, or at least should have been.
27 min All the vital statistics are roughly level, including the most important of all. The first goal feels a bit more important than usual, especially given Liverpool’s fragile confidence.
25 min: Salah misses a great chance! Liverpool should be ahead. Elliott, in the centre circle, threads a superb early pass behind Webster and into the path of Salah, making a textbook angled run. Salah scurries into the area, draws Steele… and drags his shot a few yards wide of the far post.
21 min Gorgeous play from Brighton. Mitoma floats menacingly infield from the left and feeds the ball into to Ferguson on the edge of the area. He returns it with a neat flick behind his standing leg, and Mitoma dummies Gomez before hitting a left-foot shot that has the pace taken off it by Konate and dribbles through to Alisson.
20 min “I’m with Ian Copestake on this … people forget how bad it was under Hicks & Gillet,” says David Horn. “And if the words ‘Hodgson & Konchesky’ don’t strike fear into the hearts of Liverpool fans the world over, it’s because those hearts have already been sold to the Devil’s PIF.
“FSG brought stability, mostly sensible decision making (an unfortunate Dunkin Donuts alliance, and Super League aside), a progressive manager in Rodgers and undeniable success with Klopp. They made us genuinely one of the top three teams in the world playing arguably more thrilling football than any other.
“And we’re going to throw that away because we haven’t bought a midfielder? Wouldn’t it be more sensible just to buy a new midfielder?”
18 min Mac Allister makes a back for Keita, who lands very painfully. He’s okay to continue.
17 min “People have a go at the Mephistopheles Group,” says Niall Mullen, “but you should see the see the new youth academy and, this weekend, they have pledged £1000 to the local food bank for every goal scored by the team.”
17 min March fizzes over from 25 yards. The referee played an advantage earlier in the move and then went back to book Bajcetic for a foul I didn’t see as I was frantically typing the previous entry.
15 min: Off the line by Alexander-Arnold! Gross finds March in space on the right, with Robertson caught up the pitch. Gomez shows March onto his weaker right foot, so he accepts the invitation and fizzes a low ball across the six-yard box. It misses everyone at the near post and reaches Ferguson at the far, six yards from goal. He gets the ball out of his feet and slides a low shot past Alisson that is kicked off the line by Alexander-Arnold.
13 min Liverpool look pretty sharp, with and without the ball, and the teenager Stefan Bajcetic again looks comfortable in his company.
9 min Mitoma beats Alexander-Arnold down the left and lifts a cross towards the near post, where Konate gets in front of Ferguson to clear. It’s been a really entertaining start to the game.
9 min “The FSG-out groupthink is so depressing,” says Ian Copestake. “We got lucky ridding ourselves of truly awful owners and now look gift horses in the mouth. Anfield developed, millions spent on strikers, defenders but yes no midfielder. So the owners have to go?”
Yeah but think how many £200m midfielders you’ll be able to buy if you’re taken over by the Mephistopheles Group.
8 min A tame long-range shot from Elliott is easily saved by Steele. Was going wide anyway.
7 min Alexander-Arnold spins a delicious outside-of-the-boot pass to release Salah, who wins a corner off Estupinan.
4 min: Off the line by Dunk! Liverpool almost score with their first attack. Salah, on the right side of the area, threaded a left-footed shot that was blocked by Webster in front of the diving Steele. It came back to Salah, who shoved it towards goal with his right foot, and Dunk stretched to make a superb clearance off the line.
3 min March’s inswinger is claimed confidently by the backpedalling Alisson.
3 min Lamptey wins an early corner down the right. Brighton have made a fast start, trying to replicate the intensity that overwhlemed Liverpool in the league.
2 min Kaoru Mitoma has his first run at Alexander-Arnold, who defends well and concedes a throw-in.
1 min Peep peep! Naby Keita gets this mouthwatering game under way.
“Many of my Liverpool-supporting brethren on the WhatsApps (zero sistren obviously) are #FSGOUT primarily for a failure to invest in players like, say, Moises Caicedo,” says Niall Mullen. “But really, so far at least, it’s been money going to the wrong part of the team. Unless Klopp knew all along that Bajcetic would be the new Busquets then it’s the failure to refresh the creaking midfield rather than a failure to splash the cash that has really hurt the team.”
In his defence, he did try to sign Aurelien Tchouameni and he would clearly sacrifice his favourite baseball cap to buy Jude Bellingham. I suppose the debate is at what point you should compromise and take somebody from the B-list.
Maybe Klopp thought – and it wouldn’t have been unreasonable given their age, even if the signs have been there with Henderson – that he could get one more season out of the old midfield while integrating the younger players. But yes, the alarm bells were ringing when they being outrun by allcomers at the start of the season.
Roberto De Zerbi on Moises Caicedo (and other matters)
“The fear your preamble instilled in me,” says Ian Copestake, “could equally have been evoked in two words: Steve Foster.”
And here he is, using his headband to great effect in the FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday 40 years ago.
The pre-match thoughts of Harvey Elliott
Brighton’s famous win at Anfield in 1983 wasn’t the only time they took care of England’s best team in the FA Cup.
Team news
Roberto De Zerbi had to choose between Evan Ferguson and Danny Welbeck up front. In fact he’s picked both, which might mean a slight change of system.
In all Brighton have made four changes from the 2-2 draw at Leicester last weekend. Jason Steele, Tariq Lamptey, Adam Webster and Ferguson replace Robert Sanchez, Jan Paul van Hecke, Adam Lallana and Moises Caicedo, who is Absent With Official Leave.
Jurgen Klopp has made one change from the bloodless 0-0 draw with Chelsea eight days ago. Trent Alexander-Arnold replaces James Milner at right-back.
Brighton (possible 4-2-4) Steele; Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Gross, Mac Allister; March, Welbeck, Ferguson, Mitoma.
Substitutes: Sanchez, Sarmiento, Enciso, Undav, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Veltman, Moran, Hinshelwood.
Liverpool (possible 4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Gomez, Robertson; Keita, Bajcetic, Thiago; Salah, Gakpo, Elliott.
Substitutes: Kelleher, Fabinho, Milner, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Tsimikas, Nunez, Matip.
Preamble
There are so many reasons to love Brighton: the Bella Union record shop, a general vibe of tolerance and inclusivity, the steak bulgogi. And then there’s the football club. Pound for pound, Brighton might be the best and most exciting team in England right now.
The side that walloped Liverpool a fortnight ago cost just £31m, which is about half of what they’ve been offered for Moises Caicedo alone, and since Christmas they have scored 19 goals in six games. It would be an insult to Graham Potter to say that Brighton have gone to the next level under Roberto De Zerbi – but they have gone to a different, more invigorating one.
Last season Potter took Brighton to their highest-ever top-flight finish of ninth. Brighton could yet top that – they are currently sixth – but what De Zerbi would really love to do is win their first major trophy. They have only reached one FA Cup final, a story we all know well – forty years later, Smith still must score.
On the way to the final in 1982-83, Brighton took out the champions Liverpool in the fifth round, when Jimmy Case scored a spectacular winner against his old club and Phil Neal missed a penalty before retreating instantly to his station like an obedient Labrador.
Liverpool will return to the Amex Stadium with maybe one part trepidation, three parts determination. Jurgen Klopp called their performance the worst of any team throughout his managerial career. They don’t necessarily have a score to settle, but they certainly have a wrong to right.
Kick off 1.30pm
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