Liverpool - Home, Falmer Years
LIVERPOOL PREM record from 11/12 to 17/18; 8, 7, 2, 6, 8, 4, 4. Best finish = 2, Worst finish = 8, Ave finish = 6th.
C21; Ave = 5th (19yrs), Runner-up - 3 times, Top four - 11 times from 19, Top ten - 19 times. Anfield AVE GATE; 53K, CAP; 54K
RECENT managers; Jurgen Klopp (2015-19), Brendan Rodgers (2012-15), Kenny Dalglish (2011-12)
PODIUMS; 13/14 - Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea.

Run-in; Burnley (H), Fulham (A), Spurs (H), Southampton (A), Chelsea (H), Cardiff (A), Huddersfield (H), Newcastle (A), Wolves (H)

LIVERPOOL AWAY;
18/19 - P13 W9 D3 L1 F24 A8 GD+16 Pt30 Po2 = 2.30pt/gm or 46.1% of total points. Wins = 69.2%, Loss = 7.6% - Jurgen Klopp.
17/18 - P19 W9 D5 L5 F39 A28 GD+11 Pt32 Po4 = 1.68pt/gm or 42.6% of total points. Wins = 47.3%, Loss = 26.3% - Jurgen Klopp.
16/17 - P19 W10 D5 L4 F33 A24 GD+9 Pt35 Po4 (Po4 away) = 1.84pt/gm or 46% of total points. Away wins = 52.6% - Jurgen Klopp.
15/16 - P19 W8 D4 L7 F30 A28 GD+2 Pt28 Po8 = 1.47pt/gm or 46.6% of total points. Wins = 42.1% - Brendan Rodgers & Jurgen Klopp.
14/15 - P19 W8 D3 L8 F22 A28 GD-6 Pt27 Po6 = 1.42pt/gm or 43.5% of total points. Wins = 42.1% - Brendan Rodgers.
13/14 - P19 W10 D5 L4 F48 A32 GD+16 Pt35 Po2 = 1.84pt/gm or 41.7% of total points. Wins = 52.6% - Brendan Rodgers.

Season8 Premier League (H) 12/1/19 - L 0-1
The current league leaders visited the Amex a week after Albion had gotten through to FAC4, with a first k-o away victory at Bournemouth - their previous PL nemises. On paper this fixture was a miss-match but perhaps if Seagulls could prevent a drubbing like last term (see season7 below) fans wouldn't feel too bad. And it should be a measure of how far BHA had come to try and establish in this top division during their second season. Chris Hughton had rested several 1st 11 players last week and 'reserves' had scored three goals in the Cup, so he had lots of options available from the team-sheet regarding starters & subs. In the event he went with tried & tested, which on the day was probably the best option.
Albion got beat by a penalty after the interval in a match with a single goal score. Seagulls put up a good defensive display throughout but were pretty toothless up front despite a late rally. Ref pointed to the spot when Gross made contact in the area as the striker threw himself down. Button nearly got gloves on the kick as he dived the right way (50min). Hughton responded by hooking Murray & March and inserting Andone & Knockaert to boost attacking forays as Seagulls chased a game on domestic turf (66min). Later Kayal came on for Gross and blue & white pushed up in hope of chance for an equaliser. Everything changes and nothing changes - Liverpool got yet another win and Albion suffered their 3rd top-six defeat in 11 Amex fixtures. Ref came in for booing & chants from Albion fans because he had a mare as far as they were concerned. Hughton said, 'I have no complaints about the penalty but feel the balance of decisions favoured Liverpool. I'm delighted because we ran them so close.' Brighton fans went home disappointed to get nowt but pleased their heroes seemed an ok Prem side at this stage of the season.
Stats; ht 0-0, goals 50, shape 451-433, poss 29%-71%, on target 0-3, off target 5-5, blocks 2-2, o/s 5-0, crosses 14-16, corners 2-7, tackles 11-9, fouls 15-5, yellows 0-0, subs 3-3. MoM - Locadia. Gate 30,682 ground record, away 2995.
27 Button, 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong, 20 March (11 Knockaert 66), 6 Stephens, 24 Propper, 9 Locadia, 13 Gross (7 Kayal 79), 17 Murray (10 Andone 66)
P22 . W5 D3 L3 F15 A12 . W2 D1 L7 F7 A16 . Pt26 Po13 = 1.18pt/gm. Wins = 31.8%, Loss = 45.4%

Manager - JURGEN KLOPP (2015-19)
Total; P30 W D L F A GD Pt Po = pt/gm. Wins = %, Loss = %
3qtrs; P26 W20 D5 L1 F59 A15 GD+44 Pt65 Po2 = 2.50pt/gm. Wins = 76.9%, Loss = 3.8%
Hlfwy; P19 W16 D3 L0 F43 A7 GD+36 Pt51 Po1 = 2.68pt/gm. Wins = 84.2%, Loss = 0% - Klopp.
Start; P10 W8 D2 L0 F20 A4 GD+16 Pt26 Po2 = 2.60pt/gm. Wins = 80%, Loss = 0%
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE; 16 - B Munich (H) (A). Group C - Paris SG 3-2 (H) 2-1 (A), Napoli 1-0 (A) 1-0 (H), RS Belgrade 4-0 (H) 2-0 (A).
EFL CUP; 3rd rnd - Chelsea 1-2 (H)
FA CUP; 3rd rnd - Wolves 2-1 (A)
JK record; to Aug 18 - P155 W81 D44 L30 Wins = 52.2%
Aug; been inching closer to the real deal under Klopp. His next mission is to actually win something. Are 4 competitons just 3 too many?
October; challenging for leading the div, unbeaten and free scoring. But out of EFL Cup.
New Year; in pole position and although just defeated by City, are true title candidates for sure. Out of FA Cup.
March;

INS; pre Aug - Alisson (Roma 66.8m), Naby Keita (Leipzig 52.7m), Fabinho (Monaco 39.9m), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke 13m), Isaac Davies (Chelsea)

Season7 Premier League (H) 2/12/17 - L 1-5 ~ Murray
December arrived and Albion were ahead of schedule in the Premier League survival race. Going into this contest against one of the top six elite, Seagulls sat 10th with 17pts and a gap of 7pts between that tally and 18th place. An average of 1.05pt/gm overall would see a target of 40pts being possible. So far this index registered 1.21pt/gm, hence the top ten slot. But reality was expected to bite this month and by New Year at least a 20pts total was required prior to reciprocal fixtures beginning for 2018. 17th place was quite acceptable come May and nobody anticipated BHA getting points off the like of Liverpool anyway. And Brighton had fallen to Man City (H), Arsenal (A) and Man Utd (A) already, with Spurs (A) & Chelsea (A) also to come this month.
The result was a catastrophe for Blue and a triumph for Red, as witnessed by a record crowd at the community stadium. Albion gave visitors too much respect from k-o and home & away teams looked reversed. And the game plan went out of the window after half an hour of play all in BHA's half. Reds opened the scoring from a corner with a header (30min). Then they hit us on the counter from our k-o and went two up (31min). In the second period Seagulls opened out but were immediately caught again by a sucker punch straight after after Murray's attempt was blocked (48min). Murray then converted a fortuitous penalty (51min). March & Izquierdo came on for 20 mins and later Schelotto but the damage was done and Albion appeared a spent force. Two late goals added to a miserable afternoon at the Amex for suffering Brighton fans (87, 89min). Hughton said, 'you have to have a level of performance to compete - they gave us a harsh lesson but we were also well below the level we have been.' The reality was that even if Albion had played a blinder they would not have reached the quality & skill set of the away eleven.
Stats; shape 4411-32311, h-t 0-2, goals 51-30,31,48,87,89, poss 43%-57%, on target 2-6, off target 3-3, blocked 1-3, corners 2-2, crosses 13-12, o/s 0-2, tackles 18-14, fouls 8-7, yellows 1-0, subs 3-3. Gate 30,643 (away 3015)
1 Ryan, 2 Bruno (21 Schelotto), 22 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 3 Bong, 11 Knockaert (20 March), 6 Stephens, 24 Propper, 37 Brown (19 Izquierdo), 13 Gross, 17 Murray
Prem P 15 . W 4 D 5 L 6 . F 14 A 19 . Pt 17 Po 11

LIVERPOOL 17/18 Stats -
Total; P38 W21 D12 L5 F84 A38 GD+46 Pt75 Po4 = 1.97pt/gm. Wins = 55.2%, Loss = 13.1% - Jurgen Klopp. R1 Y44
3qtrs; P29 W17 D9 L3 F67 A32 GD+35 Pt60 Po3 = 2.05pt/gm. Wins = 58.6%, Loss = 10.3%
Hlfwy P19 W9 D8 L2 F41 A23 GD+18 Pt35 Po4 = 1.84pt/gm. Wins = 47.3%, Loss = 10.5%
Start P10 W4 D4 L2 F17 A16 GD+1 Pt16 Po6 = 1.60pt/gm. Wins = 40%, Loss = 20%

Aug - faces very stiff competiton to make the top four again. Europe is a further test with regard to depth of the squad as well.
New Year - in 4th and progress in 2 of 3 knockouts.
March - competing for runner-up spot. EFL & FA Cups early exits. Champions League QF.

PREVIOUS FIVE;
17/18 - P38 W21 D12 L5 F84 A38 GD+46 Pt75 Po4 = 1.97pt/gm. Wins = 55.2%, Loss = 13.1% - Jurgen Klopp.
The engaging German took over two seasons ago with a remit to take Reds forward. It is still a work in progress but his man-management skills appear sound enough.
16/17 - P38 W22 D10 L6 F78 A42 GD+36 Pt76 Po4 = 2.00pt/gm. Wins = 57.8%, Draws = 26.3%, Loss = 15.7%, CS = 32% - Jurgen Klopp.
It was a good campaign when viewed with a backward glance this decade. And so the Klopp revolution gathered momentum.
15/16 - P38 W16 D12 L10 F63 A50 GD+13 Pt60 Po8 = 1.57pt/gm. Wins = 42.1% - Brendan Rodgers & Jurgen Klopp.
The charismatic German coach came in during October and set about taking Reds out of a blue period. Some useful results from knockout action home & away (Eng & Europe) also added to the positive experience. P52 W23 D17 L12 Wins = 44.2%
14/15 - P38 W18 D8 L12 F52 A48 GD+4 Pt62 Po6 = 1.63pt/gm. Wins = 47.3% - Brendan Rodgers, P155 W80 D35 L45 Wins = 51.6%
Reds seemingly returned to type, as a team expected to be top six at least. BR had a tougher campaign and was disappointed in both domestic Cups & Champions League as well.
13/14 - P38 W26 D6 L6 F101 A50 GD+51 Pt84 Po2 = 2.21pt/gm. Wins = 68.4% - Brendan Rodgers.
The Merseyside outfit had a runners-up campaign to remember during recent mediocre times, as Brendan Rodgers upped the ante in his second season.

FA CUP from 13/14; 5th rnd, s-f, 4th rnd, 4th rnd, 4th rnd, 3rd rnd.
LEAGUE CUP; 3rd rnd, s-f, runners-up, s-f, 3rd rnd, 3rd rnd.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE; nq, group stage, nq, nq, Finalists, ?
EUROPA LEAGUE; nq, last 32, runners-up, nq, nq, nq.
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Season1 (H) 21/9/11 League Cup r3 - L 1-2 ~ Barnes
Brighton were unbeaten at the Amex for a fantastic start to our inaugral year at Falmer in the Championship. Not just content with heading the league table at end of August, we'd already disposed of Gillingham and Sunderland for super-duper knockout night matches in the Community Stadium. Gates of 16k & 17k for these brilliant opening rounds under floodlights was sure to be bettered once this incredible draw for r3 was announced. Talk about living the dream, although fourteen years of waiting for a state of the art facility was more than enough nightmare for long suffering Albion supporters. Bill Archer promised the earth would move to Waterhall, soon after he sold the Goldstone in that headline grabbing midsummer murder of 1995. Then it was Toads Hole Valley around Xmas, before he tried to chat up McAlpines in 1996, who were already allied with Dick Knight's consortium taking over BHA. He resigned as Chairman, initially kept almost half of shares in our revamped club but also left us homeless from end of April 1997. Go to the Archive tab and select Characters and Falmer, for much more info during the infamous Withdean era. On the night nearly 22k attended - an Amex sell-out.
Gus Poyet made several changes to his regular eleven and during the first half Albion were a tad hesitant and fell behind early to slick Prem movement (7min). Reds had several more chances to bury us but could merely strike woodwork. Gus read the riot act at half time and Seagulls responded with a much better second period display. Noone and Buckley began to exploit runs down flanks and suddenly B'ton put Liverpool under pressure in their area. New signing Vicente Rodriguez replaced hamstrung Buckley on the hour mark and performed well on debut. Poyet made a double sub swap with ten minutes to go, introducing all-out attack. Against run of play, Reds doubled the lead from a counterattack (81m). In a frantic climax, Seagulls were awarded a pen when Vicente got tripped and sub Barnes netted. It was a cup tie worthy of knockout stuff and BHA could hold heads high as they exchanged shirts in a full floodlit and atmospheric Amex stad.
Ankergren, Calderon, Greer, Cook, Vincelot, Buckley (Rodriguez), Navarro (Barnes), Bridcutt, Sparrow (LuaLua), Noone, Mackail-Smith.

Liverpool - Away, Falmer Years
REDS FANS Expectations - take the previous positives forward into producing an even bigger campaign completion.
FORECASTS at start; title 4/1, top four 1-5, top n-w 3/1. Sack JK 10/1, 1st sack 66/1. FA Cup 6/1, EFL Cup 13-2

LIVERPOOL @ HOME;
18/19 - P13 W11 D2 L0 F35 A7 GD+28 Pt35 Po2 = 2.69pt/gm or 53.8% of total points. Wins 84.6%, Loss = 0% - Jurgen Klopp.
17/18 - P19 W12 D7 L0 F45 A10 GD+35 Pt43 Po4 = 2.26pt/gm or 57.3% of total points. Wins = 63.1%, Loss = 0% - Jurgen Klopp.
16/17 - P19 W12 D5 L2 F45 A18 GD+27 Pt41 Po4 (Po5 home) = 2.15pt/gm or 53.9% of total points. Home wins = 63.1% - Jurgen Klopp.
15/16 - P19 W8 D8 L3 F33 A22 GD+11 Pt32 Po8 = 1.68pt/gm or 53.3% of total points. Wins = 42.1% - Brendan Rodgers & Jurgen Klopp.
14/15 - P19 W10 D5 L4 F30 A20 GD+10 Pt35 Po6 = 1.84pt/gm or 56.4% of total points. Wins = 52.6% - Brendan Rodgers.
13/14 - P19 W16 D1 L2 F53 A18 GD+35 Pt49 Po2 = 2.57pt/gm or 58.3% of total points. Wins = 84.2% - Brendan Rodgers.

Season8 Premier League (A) 25/8/18 - L 1-0
Our second away game of the 2nd PL campaign was expected to test the revised 25 man squad to very limits. This in view of the fact we'd been here before merely a few weeks previously (see season7 below). Pay tv coverage put the k-o back to the late Saturday afternoon slot to boot. Chris Hughton had added Martin Montoya, Ali Jahanbakhsh, Yves Bissouma, Bernardo da Silva, Leon Balogun, Florin Adone and homegrown keepers David Button & Jason Steel to the 25 man squad prior to start of the season. Reserve c-d Dan Burn signed on deadline day. The promotion winning U23 group had also been upgraded & revamped, ready now for PL2 div1 fixtures versus elite second squads. On the day Hughton started Balogun (Dunk injured), Montoya (Bruno injured) & Bissouma (tactics) from new arrivals
Albion stayed in the game and produced a reasonable display without actually earning a point at the death. An error in midfield got punished when Reds found their striker free and he did the biz (23min). After that floodgates remained closed as visitors hung in there with a robust display of defending with countering. Hughton got tatics spot on and made changes count for good effect as well. A double sub of wingers kept pressure on hosts until the final whistle and Gross came on late too, nearly equalising with a header from distance. Hughton said, 'we were close to coming away with a great result, even though they were the better team. We had a very good chance at the end and it needed their keeper to make a very good save.' Brighton fans were not too unhappy, knowing may rivals would leak goals there, which made this result kinda ok as a second away fail to score stat.
Stats; shape 433-4141, h-t 1-0, goals 23, poss 70%-30%, on target 8-2, off target 7-2, blocks 7-2, corners 8-5, crosses 24-11, o/s 1-3, tackles 22-21 fouls 8-14, yellows 1-1, subs 3-3. Gate 50,752, away 1852
1 Ryan, 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 14 Balogun, 3 Bong, 11 Knockaert (16 Jahanbakhsh 74), 6 Stephens, 8 Bissouma (13 Gross 80), 24 Propper, 20 March (9 Locadia 74), 17 Murray.
Bench; 27 Button, 29 Suttner, 30 Bernardo, 7 Kayal.
P3 . W1 D0 L0 . F3 A2 . W0 D0 L2 . F0 A4 . Pt3 Po12 = 1.00pt/gm. Wins = 33%, Loss = 67%

Season 7 Premier League (A) Sunday 13/5/18 - L 4-0
Yes folks, we had at last reached the final fixture of Seagulls very first Prem season. And what a time to report that BHA had already survived in the PL with 2 games to go, after a hard fought campaign of 38 matches. The worst position that Seagulls could finish in was 15th, so in a way expectations on day1 had been exceeded to finish 17th with 38points - ie 1pt/gm average. Credit to Chris Hughton and his regular eleven & subs who overall pretty much stayed ahead of that basic points index all season long. In fact the only month Albion were found in the bottom three places was right at the start during August. We got as high as 8th in November but generally were safely in mid-table and kept a healthy gap above the drop zone - bar a slight glitch in January. So now the team were within sight of the beach, with flip-flops added to contents of the sports bag.
In the event Albion looked like a beach team compared to a rampant Reds outfit heading for the Champions League. Seagulls were in a flap from the word go and never carried anything of a threat to opposition. Goals against went in regularly and but for Ryan, visitors could have been beaten by eight or more. Even Ref helped a little when denying a pen at the kop end as the home crowd howled for the opener. It was all one way traffic throughout and BHA defence was working hard just to stay still. Most blue & white shirts couldn't live with the pace & skill of opponents who opened us up like a can of sand worms. Chris Hughton said, 'our season has shown more good than bad. It's just a shame that we haven't finished in the way we would have liked. They caused us so many problems. The disappointment was we didn't keep possession well enough.' Brighton fans tried to take positives from the outcome but the fact remained that away form wasn't near good enough in the final analysis. But at this moment BHA had survived in the PL this term and to some extent was an achievement in being on the right side of fine lines for the division. Albion ended 7pts clear of the drop which was an excellent benchmark to take into their second season.
Stats; shape 4411-4231, ht 2-0, goals 26,40,53,85, poss 72%-28%, on target 11-1, off target 5-0, corners 7-3, o/s 1-1, fouls 3-6, yellows 0-0, subs 3-3. Gate 52,752 (away 5k)
1 Ryan, 21 Schelotto, 22 Duffy (18 Goldson 71), 5 Dunk, 3 Bong, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper, 11 Knockaert, 7 Kayal (13 Gross 57), 20 March, 25 Locadia (17 Murray 57)
Prem P 38 . W 9 D 13 L 16 . F 34 A 54. Pt 40 Po 15
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Season1 (A) 19/2/12 FA Cup r5 - L 6-1 ~ LuaLua
Previously, Brighton were fortunate to get past non-league Wrexham on penalties, after a replay in r3 but then battled hard to defeat Newcastle in r4 at the Amex. Travelling fans snapped up 6k tickets for Anfield, where Albion were able to turn out in home kit. Blue & white devoted knew it was a big ask to go k-o super Reds but hey, it was one helluva weekend away. Gus Poyet wanted his team to stick to tried and tested methods that had been very successful before at League1 level and also now in the Championship, where we weren't far off play-off places. He was keen on variations of 433, with one or two wingers employed and usually a sitting m-f player. Gus tended to tinker with starting elevens and in all honesty, would probably pick one totally different in 2012 to original squad members from back in summer.
After five minutes Albion were behind and facing a drubbing when failing to mark at a corner. But Seagulls got back into the tie when LuaLua levelled from a rocket f-k from down range (17min). Prior to h-t visitors had given good account of themselves but fell behind again when a defensive header rebounded off Bridcutt (44m). Gus sent Noone on immediately after the break. The second period proved to be a disaster in making as giant-killing dreams turned into nightmare. Liverpool scored four more times (57, 85), or rather we netted two more own goals (71, 75) to become FA record breakers. They were all over us like a rash and even when it struck defenders, the ball went goalwards as if by magic. Poyet put two subs in for last twenty mins, going three in rearguard but we kinda fell apart. Brezovan had a mare but actually saved a pen and the follow-up, by three red-shirts hungry to get on the lengthening score sheet. It was certainly a day to live long in memory - if only for the wrong reasons regarding that hammering on Merseyside.
Brezovan, Calderon, Greer, Dunk, El-Abd (Vicente), Bridcutt, Navarro, Barnes, Buckley (Noone), Vokes, LuaLua.