Post Match report for the Liverpool game - Sunday, 8th October 2023
PREMIER LEAGUE 23/24: Brighton V Liverpool - 8/10/23 P8
* * * * * TWO STEPS FORWARDS AND TWO BACK * * * * *
RESULT: 2-2 ~ Adingra, Dunk . (h-t 1-2)
VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - fifth home match of 8 fixtures to date . Sun 2:00pm.
BEFORE KICKOFF: here we were back home in all senses after that initial Thursday evening of enlightening engagement way over in southern Europe.
Albion had lost three and drawn one of our last five games in all competitions:
UEL - Athens 2-3 (H), EFL Cup - Chelsea 1-0 (A), PL - Villa 6-1 (A), UEL - Marseille 2-2 (A)
WEATHER: warm . GATE: 31,752 . ATMOSPHERE: flat as a biscuit until snatching something to chew on.
ROBERTO de ZERBI realised subtle nuances between French Riviera receptions and now receiving invading Scouse hoards.
He was a well-travelled man of the moment, perceiving of several cultures and understanding worlds of difference in the football universe.
RdZ philosophised he would resume a strategy of rotation between various occasions to suit ongoing circumstances.
INJURED: 2 Lamptey 6 Milner 10 Enciso 15 Moder 30 Estupinan
SQUAD: 38 McGill 40 Buonanotte 43 Samuels
STARTING SHAPE: 4-2-3-1
TEAM . . . . . . 1 Verbruggen
. 34 Veltman 5 Dunk 3 Julio 7 March
. 24 Adingra 13 Gross 20 Baleba 22 Mitoma
. . . . . 28 Ferguson . . . . . . 9 Pedro
SUBS: 18 Welbeck (60), 29 van Hecke (63), 31 Fati (89)
BENCH: 23 Steele (gk) 4 Webster 8 Dahoud 11 Gilmour 14 Lallana 41 Hinshelwood
GOALS:
1-0 - 20 . ADINGRA robbed the ball in the final third and unleashed a daisy-cutter that bounced over the keepers dive.
1-1 - 40 . shocking lack of preventative rearguard action presented visitors with an easy free hit which went thru Verbruggen.
1-2 - 45 . sixes & sevens does not represent locals numerical challenges when Reds gained a spot kick from strong offence.
2-2 - 78 . DUNK had a split second to react at a low f-k off the flank from March as the ball flashed across the line of players.
YELLOWS: Baleba . De Zerbi - multilingual backchat
CHANGES: 60 Welbeck for Ferguson . 63 van Hecke for Julio . 89 Fati for Pedro
FIRST HALF: hosts were never in control and led via individual effort.
Before halftime travellers upped the ante and got into the driving seat.
No clean sheet, no home advantage, chasing the game again.
SECOND HALF: huff & puff ensued while visitors sought to kill off any possibility of a late blue & white comeback.
Seagulls abandoned playing out from the back and were more direct in approach. Opposition relied on counter attacking.
IN THE END: failure of early high-risk slo-mo tactics meant locals had to net three times to win by outscoring the away 11.
The reward in making up for initial mistakes was eventually regaining parity after further furious end to end nip & tuck.
NUMBERS: poss 46%-54%, on target 3-4, off target 11-10, corners 8-1,
fouls 12-20, yellows 1-2, subs 3-3, shape 4231-433 . . . . . gd5 pt16 po6
FS
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