Liverpool enter the international break having once again failed to hold their ground late on, this time drawing 2-2 against Brighton thanks to two Mo Salah goals.
AMEX Stadium, Brighton and Hove Albion 2-2 Liverpool Premier League (8), October 8, 2023
Adingra (20′), Dunk (78′), Salah (40′, pen 45′).
6 (out of 10) for Alisson Becker
From a positioning standpoint, he didn’t get much credit for Brighton’s opening, but that’s the price of always being available for the ball. Maybe I could have recovered faster, but it was a really quick shot.
After the restart, great save against the same guy one-on-one and no chance for Dunk’s leveller – not much to do in between.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6 points
He still appears to be out of match shape, and it was surprising that he came right back in, given how well Joe Gomez had been performing.
There were a few great passes and swaps, but he was sluggish to get back into position, frequently jogging as Brighton poured forward, and one-on-ones were constantly hit-or-miss.
Mitoma was stopped by one solid stretch, but it was far from enough overall.
7 Joel Matip
Good at passing out and intercepting many attempted through balls.
When it came to the plan of stepping out into midfield to make the early challenge on attackers receiving to feet, he performed better than Virgil.
For one challenge, he took a knee to the thigh, which may have caused him to be subbed out.
6 Virgil van Dijk
To be honest, it’s not huge. Caught a few times in the channel and made a bad pass out that was intercepted and led to the first goal. He, more than Mac Allister, was most likely to blame.
In the first half, we did some terrific aerial work against a bombardment of set plays, but it was not a very controlled performance, and we lacked true authority when we needed it.
4 Andy Robertson
Adingra, in reality, gave him the runaround. We couldn’t catch up to him after he’d been run over, which didn’t stop the cross from coming in or the attacker from checking back in.
Some decent moments as an outlet down the left and some overlapping runs went unnoticed, but the most significant influence was simply failing to clear the ball from a free-kick, from which Dunk scored.
4 Alexis MacAllister
Playing the Argentine in this role will result in days like this: when the No8s aren’t on point, when the press isn’t on point, when the runners aren’t being tracked – Alexis will simply not be a barrier to the defense.
He committed many fouls, shown some sloppy passing even farther upfield, and was completely caught in possession for Brighton’s opener.
You have to feel terrible for him because this isn’t what he signed up for.
6 Dominik Szoboszlai
One of his less impactful performances, although he still performed some excellent bits and pieces in midfield. When the Reds finally get their passing game going, the No.8 was constantly involved, and he was unlucky not to pick up an assist for Diaz.
