Spurred on by their victory just days after beating Tottenham 1-0 at the Amex, Brighton continued their upsurge with Steven Alzate’s second-half goal sufficient to seal their second victory over Liverpool since 1984. The win, and fourth consecutive clean sheet, lifts the Seagulls into 15th, ten points above the relegation zone.
Liverpool are now visibly rattled having suffered two back-to-back home league games losses, following the defeat against Burnley. Which also means Liverpool have failed to defend their turf in three consecutive games at Anfield for the first time since October 1984.
“Brighton won and rightly so,” Klopp admitted after the game. “We lost too many easy balls.
“The best way to defend against Brighton is to keep the ball. We didn’t control or create a lot.
“Tonight we looked fatigued, mentally fatigued. That leads to not the best legs.
“It was a tough week. Today we were not fresh enough. Not good enough to break the formation of Brighton to score a goal.”
Klopp admitted he was ‘not surprised’ by the performance of Brighton, who held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at the Amex earlier this season.
He added: “I see Brighton quite frequently. They are good.
“We had our moments [but] we had to keep the ball, and pass the ball from A to B. Very often B was Brighton.
“That helped Brighton.”
Gracious in defeat, Klopp reiterated in his interview with the BBC that:
“Brighton deserved to win, no doubt about it.
“For me, it’s more important to find an explanation for why we lost this game and understand what happened here. We didn’t look convincing.”