They are accustomed to the No. 11 scoring hat-tricks at Anfield. It is just that it is normally Mohamed Salah,
rather than Leandro Trossard. Yet the Belgian garnished Roberto De Zerbi’s bow as Brighton manager with a historic hat-trick.
Not since Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin scored four in 2009 had a visiting player
left Anfield with a treble to his name in a Premier League game. Trossard did to ensure that,
on a day of fluctuating emotions and a rapidly shifting scoreline,
Brighton deservedly avoided defeat.
Liverpool – Brighton – Played on 10/01/2022
For De Zerbi,
it seemed an ideal start when his side surged into a 2-0 lead;
perhaps it was too good to be true,
and Liverpool illustrated that Jurgen Klopp did not brand them “mentality monsters” for nothing with a terrific response to their own terrible defending.
Yet when they led,
Trossard pounced with an equaliser to keep Brighton four points ahead of their hosts in the table. If De Zerbi could not claim Albion’s second notable scalp this season, after Graham Potter won at Old Trafford,
he found a way of outdoing his predecessor. Potter drew 2-2 at Anfield last season. In sharing six goals, De Zerbi took the excitement a step further.
For Liverpool,
however, it continued their worst start to a season under Klopp. They showed a fighting spirit,
but also a slipshod nature that has characterised too many of their performances this season.
They keep needing to chase games and their comeback came courtesy of Roberto and Robert:
Roberto Firmino’s brace took him to five goals in three games at Anfield and means that he is now Liverpool’s top scorer,
a development few would have predicted when Liverpool signed Darwin Nunez to join Salah.
Then Robert Sanchez blundered as the unwitting Adam Webster accidentally put Liverpool ahead; it was probably not what De Zerbi
intended when he said the centre-backs were the most important players in his squad.
If nothing else,
it illustrated that costly defensive mistakes were not confined to Trent Alexander-Arnold on a chastening day. The chances are that Gareth Southgate’s mind is already made up,
but this was not a persuasive case to take him to the World Cup.
Klopp had mounted a vehement defence of Alexander-Arnold’s defending; one answer on Friday took five minutes and 40 seconds but,
within four minutes of kick-off,
Liverpool were behind. If there are times when Alexander-Arnold’s culpability has been exaggerated, he was partly to blame for Brighton’s first two goals.
Proceedings were barely underway when Brighton were gifted
possession by his poor header; while Liverpool appealed for a foul for Moises Caicedo’s challenge on Jordan Henderson,
Danny Welbeck released Trossard with a backheel and Alexander-Arnold
was at fault for a second time as the Belgian span away from him and angled a shot beyond Alisson.
iverpool’s habit of conceding first continued.
Trossard whipping a shot past Alisson after a low cutback from Welbeck and a lovely, cushioned pass by Solly March.
Yet the initial problem stemmed from Alexander-Arnold again: chesting the ball up in the air
De Zerbi had opted for continuity, making a solitary change by bringing in Pervis Estupinan for the ill Enock Mwepu,
but reaped a rich reward for a tactical switch.
Liverpool were unable to stop him.
Before their fightback began,
the deficit could have been greater;
Alisson twice stopped Brighton doubling their lead earlier, holding the unmarked Welbeck’s header and advancing off his line to block Trossard’s shot after a deft turn by the striker. If it showed each side of Welbeck,
who is yet to score this season but otherwise playing superbly, it demonstrated Liverpool were far too open defensively.
Liverpool have won just two of their opening seven Premier League
games after drawing 3-3 with Brighton on Saturday.
Liverpool’s poor start to the season has continued after a dramatic 3-3 draw at home to Brighton. Leandro Trossard struck twice inside 20 minutes
to spell disaster at Anfield but Liverpool managed to stem the flow before fighting back with a brace from Roberto Firmino before Adam Webster’s
own goal handed the hosts the lead.
But there was one final twist in the tail when Trossard bagged his hat-trick late on as both teams shared a point. Express Sport takes a look at four things learned from the comeback win.
Anfield fortress questionable
This was the fifth time in Liverpool’s last six home league games dating back to May this year that they have fallen behind with the only anomaly being the 9-0
thrashing of Bournemouth. Prior to January 2021,
Liverpool had embarked on an incredible 68-game unbeaten run at their home ground with visiting sides finding it nearly impossible to break them down.
Anfield had re-established itself as a fortress,
but performances this season have failed to inspire the home crowd and the nervous atmosphere has clearly had an affect on the team. Klopp needs to find a way to get his side back to their fast-starting best so they’re not always chasing games in the second half.
Leandro Trossard launched the Roberto De Zerbi era in style with a clinical hat-trick that earned Brighton a merited point at Liverpool. The Brighton forward
scored the first treble by a visiting player at Anfield since Andrey Arshavin’s four goals for Arsenal in 2009 as Jürgen Klopp’s inconsistent team dropped valuable Premier League points for the fifth time this season.
