Post Match report for the Liverpool game - Saturday, 30th November 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool v Brighton - 30/11/19, P14.

ALBION CHASE GAME WITH LATE RALLY VERSUS TEN


VENUE: Anfield, Liverpool - seventh away match of fourteen fixtures to date.
RESULT: 2-1 ~ Dunk . (h-t 2-0) . SHAPE: 4-3-2-1 .
REF: an unusual afternoon at this stadium compared to the norm.


PRE-KICKOFF: Brighton fans returned to the northwest where during this whole Prem tenure results had been negative. Nobody wanted a drubbing but in reality it was hard to see past recording yet another zero on that long road out of Sussex.
GATE: 53,319 . WEATHER: cold but fine.

GRAHAM POTTER had been rewarded for raising Seagulls into midtable with an immediate two year contract extension.
As part of slowly evolving work in progress he elected to make changes to personnel and formation as typical.
Connolly was fit but March was not. Bissouma started but Maupay did not. Gross came in but Trossard went among subs.


TEAM: . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 22 Montoya, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . . 18 Mooy, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper
. . . 13 Gross, 44 Connolly, 8 Bissouma

BENCH: 27 Button, 4 Duffy, 21 Schelotto, 17 Murray, 46 Alzate (69), 11 Trossard (69), 7 Maupay (76)


GOALS: 18 - 1-0. Their big Dutch international centre back got his nut onto a high ball a little too easily.
24 - 2-0. Ditto above with knobs on.
79 - 2-1. Dunk pumped a low drive direct from the delayed f-k for sub keeper past the wall straight into the net.

INCIDENTS: 76 - a ball chipped over the backline saw hosts keeper advance and handle outside the area. Ref issued a straight red card.

YELLOWS: none.

SUBS: 69 - Alzate & Trossard for Montoya & Bissouma. 76 - Maupay for Connolly.
Potter pushed two into the fray, upping the ante at a psychological period from an offensive perspective.


ANALYSIS: visitors twice got caught cold at static situations during the first half hour. Locals were cruising, having assumed they had already done enough to take all three points. Seagulls missed goal scoring opportunities and merely began to threaten when adopting the plucky losers role. Ryan did his bit down at the other end.
Widening the field of play via substitutions allowed travellers to carry yet more of a threat. Then the red card incident altered the score and BHA were back in the game.
Critical moments came and went, although once again blue & white failed to capitalise on momentum, attacking intent and aggressive desire to create an impact.
The team is a mix of experience and otherwise which when put up against a top team does not have the skills or nous to reach parity. The manager wanted a second half response and partly achieved that, however, thinking a good game is not the real deal.
Pukka Prem players are instinctively half a second ahead of opposition and own ability to coordinate mind & body quickly & accurately. They also score goals. Not too many of the current Brighton squad have such a good record.
MoM - Dunk, did his best to set a decent standard.

NUMBERS: poss 45%-55%, on target 7-5, off target 8-7, corners 4-5, fouls 3-10, yellows 0-0, red 1-0, subs 3-3.

FS