Holders out as the Sword of Damocles edges nearer for an unlucky Liverpool
Brighton 2 Liverpool 1, 29th January 2023.
Brighton 2 Liverpool 1, 29th January 2023.
BRIGHTON 2 (Dunk 39, Mitoma 90+2)
LIVERPOOL 1 (Elliott 30)
“Onside check complete. Winning goal” and with that pronouncement from ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley, one part of the brilliant chuckling brothers commentating duo alongside Ally McCoist who bring such a flavour and colourful offbeat flair as arguably the greatest footballing companions televised football has to offer here in England, the current holders of the FA Cup were no more. Kaoru Mitoma’s brilliantly taken goal two minutes into injury time was a just reward for his individual display this afternoon as in concert with Solly March he was a constant thorn on the attacking right of the home team “Seagulls”. World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister eventually won his fascinating midfield duel with the Reds 18 year old starlet Stefan Bajcetic (though the youngster more than held his ground in a fiercely individual contest), Tariq Lamptey again demonstrated why he should be getting more regular game time either here at Brighton or elsewhere and Evan Ferguson impressed once more leading the forward line before an ugly and crude late tackle from Fabinho should have seen the Brazilian seeing a red rather than a yellow card. One hopes the young Irish striker makes a swift recovery. Brighton captain Lewis Dunk was named “Man of the Match” but he was edged in that department by both Mac Allister and Mitoma but it matters not, the south coast team are in the FA Cup “hat” for the 5th round.
Whereas the Reds of Liverpool are out and the defence of the trophy won on penalties at Wembley Stadium just eight months ago is over. Arguments can and will be made that despite their recent run of poor results this was the Reds best, most cohesive and rigidly compact display for some time. Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate were a defensive rock behind Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago Alcantara, though the Spaniard’s influence faded on the game in the second half. Mo Salah had a fantastic, energetic first half before fading alongside Thiago and recent signing Cody Gakpo toiled hard in the unfamiliar single central striker role. Liverpool were compact and ahead in both the score line and a boxing Judge’s scorecard until Lewis Dunk’s fortunate, if brilliantly instinctive, equaliser on 39 minutes, and way ahead on the same Judge’s scorecard come injury time, the score still level at 1–1, and an Anfield replay looming. An argument can also be made that Mitoma’s winning goal, albeit wonderfully taken under pressure and a reward for his individual performance, was more than a little unjust on the Reds from Liverpool.
Harvey Elliott was largely absent before his coolly taken goal on the half-hour but grew into the game before fading in the second half alongside a number of his colleagues in red. A triple substitution from manager Jurgen Klopp on the hour mark grabbed the initiative of a game they’d now dominate until the final whistle but without really threatening to score a second goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold was arguably Liverpool’s best player in the first half alongside Ibrahima Konate, and although his substitution on the hour was a surprise, veteran James Milner immediately injected a forward thrust and energy needed for a team moving their defensive line higher and higher to squeeze the play into the Brighton half of the field.
In control of a game petering out into a tame draw from a very exciting beginning and continual promise, the Reds were sucker punched in injury time and their grasp on the FA Cup permanently loosened from their fingers in this self titled “Sword of Damocles season” that threatens yet more footballing heartache in the coming weeks.
Afterword — The Author
I proclaimed this season to be a Sword of Damocles affair purely in deferential and reverential terms to this mighty, mighty team and the beautiful man with the beautiful beard who manages them. Short memories may not remember that this team/squad of players played every single possible competitive match open to them last season, bagging two trophies whilst losing on the barest of margins with the other two available. From a height such as this only a fall could follow. Injuries have ravaged a team not helped by the rumblings at board and owner level. The loss of Sadio Mane and the injuries to the mercurial Roberto Firmino have broken up the three attacking musketeers and Mo Salah (whisper it) looks decidedly uninterested. Jurgen Klopp is thick in the mire of a Shankly or Paisley “moment” of yore and having to break up a team and squad of players who have all reached the pinnacle in recent seasons and so nearly created a footballing history that can never, ever surely be made just a few short months ago.
Right behind you Boss.
Afterword — The Boss
“We came here to go through to the next round, with the game a couple of weeks ago in mind, which was pretty much rock-bottom of the performances we had in my time here. So that was better today, much better. But still, in the end, we concede two goals from set-pieces. We pretty much closed the gaps where they passed through last time, but around set-pieces that doesn’t help, so you have to do different stuff, so twice we were not close enough to avoid the goal. That doesn’t feel great, obviously. That’s not cool, but we have to take it”.
“Look, I am not over the moon about this performance but, again, the only thing that happened really is that we lost against a good side, who we lost [to] two weeks ago in a horrendous game. Today was much better. With the performance from today two weeks ago, that would’ve looked different as well. There are really steps. But I understand 100 per cent. I don’t sit here and think, ‘What are they talking about?’ I understand 100 per cent where you are coming from. But it’s just the situation we are in”.
“There’s no other way — and you know it as good as I do — to fight through. You never hear a manager sitting in a situation like this, ‘By the way, we change that and then you will see against Wolves.’ It doesn’t go like this and that’s why we keep working 100 per cent. Again, I’m very sorry, probably a lot of Liverpool fans are from Brighton, so they saw us now twice in two weeks. They were brilliant, absolutely brilliant again. Today we paid a little bit back, I would say. They saw a goal, they saw chances, so it was better. In the end, one goal is deflected and one is in the 92nd minute, so that’s a bad piece of the truth as well. You should not forget that, but we are still out and that’s obviously the worst outcome of a game you can have. But from here we can go and we will”.
*Quotes taken from www.liverpoolfc.com
Thanks for reading. There is a wealth of past and present articles on Liverpool FC within my archival lists here or alternatively, my three most recently published articles from this season:
Mid-table bore draw helps neither Chelsea Blue nor Liverpool Red
Liverpool 0 Chelsea 0, 21st January 2023.medium.com
Elliott wonder strike keeps the holders in the FA Cup
Wolves 0 Liverpool 1, 17th January 2023.medium.com
Brighton March to Solly’s tune
Brighton 3 Liverpool 0, 14th January 2023.medium.com