It was a hard-fought three points down on the South Coast for Liverpool against Brighton. Jurgen Klopp's side were made to work hard for the spoils they travelled back to Merseyside clutching tightly after being allowed little time on the ball and not much space by a well-organised, well-drilled Seagulls side. Chris Hughton's men sat deep and were happy to let the Reds keep possession so the visitors had to be patient and wait for their chance. Liverpool pressed and probed to try and work an opening but for the opening 50 minutes were denied any opportunity to work their magic and challenge David Button between the sticks. It was only when Mohamed Salah was allowed a moment to dance around Pascal Gross in the penalty area that he was hauled down as the Egyptian winger went to pull his left-foot trigger. The resulting spot kick was confidently dispatched by the forward into the left corner and it proved the difference between the two sides as Liverpool stretched their lead to seven points at the head of the Premier League table. See how we rated the players in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Brighton - HERE Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Of course, with the penalty and first goal coming so early in the second half it gave Brighton time to pull something back and, to their credit, the Seagulls came out to play and launched a couple of dangerous counter-attacks only to be snuffed out by some excellent defending. Klopp, the Reds, the travelling Kop and just about everybody concerned with Liverpool knew they needed to win this game after losing their proud unbeaten Premier League record to Manchester City before being knocked out of the FA Cup at Wolverhampton Wanderers.It was, therefore, a precious one-goal advantage that needed protecting and while the defending was good and the attacking play got better when Liverpool found more space, there was something else that Klopp's men displayed during the contest to keep hold of their slender lead that has been rarely spotted in recent Anfield teams. You could call it the dark arts, but it's the side of football that is never admired by opposition fans and never really spoken about - particularly with this Liverpool team - but is a tactic that has been employed by even the greatest teams across Europe throughout history to win trophies and competitions. First came the goal. Salah struck the penalty sweetly across his body into the left corner of the goal with such venom and accuracy that the diving Button could not reach it. The Egyptian forward celebrated and was stood in front of the Liverpool supporters for so long after the goal that Brighton had lined up and were ready to restart as Salah sauntered towards the Reds' own half. It was a sign of things to come as there was a clear tactic to use as much time as possible to control the game. There were slower goal kicks from Alisson and time spent with the ball nearly in hand as
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The dark arts that are proving an unspoken force behind title bid
Dandy
January 17, 2019
It was a hard-fought three points down on the South Coast for Liverpool against Brighton. Jurgen Klopp's side were made to work hard for the spoils they travelled back to Merseyside clutching tightly after being allowed little time on the ball and not much space by a well-organised, well-drilled Seagulls side. Chris Hughton's men sat deep and were happy to let the Reds keep possession so the visitors had to be patient and wait for their chance. Liverpool pressed and probed to try and work an opening but for the opening 50 minutes were denied any opportunity to work their magic and challenge David Button between the sticks. It was only when Mohamed Salah was allowed a moment to dance around Pascal Gross in the penalty area that he was hauled down as the Egyptian winger went to pull his left-foot trigger. The resulting spot kick was confidently dispatched by the forward into the left corner and it proved the difference between the two sides as Liverpool stretched their lead to seven points at the head of the Premier League table. See how we rated the players in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Brighton - HERE Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8Cancel Play now Of course, with the penalty and first goal coming so early in the second half it gave Brighton time to pull something back and, to their credit, the Seagulls came out to play and launched a couple of dangerous counter-attacks only to be snuffed out by some excellent defending. Klopp, the Reds, the travelling Kop and just about everybody concerned with Liverpool knew they needed to win this game after losing their proud unbeaten Premier League record to Manchester City before being knocked out of the FA Cup at Wolverhampton Wanderers.It was, therefore, a precious one-goal advantage that needed protecting and while the defending was good and the attacking play got better when Liverpool found more space, there was something else that Klopp's men displayed during the contest to keep hold of their slender lead that has been rarely spotted in recent Anfield teams. You could call it the dark arts, but it's the side of football that is never admired by opposition fans and never really spoken about - particularly with this Liverpool team - but is a tactic that has been employed by even the greatest teams across Europe throughout history to win trophies and competitions. First came the goal. Salah struck the penalty sweetly across his body into the left corner of the goal with such venom and accuracy that the diving Button could not reach it. The Egyptian forward celebrated and was stood in front of the Liverpool supporters for so long after the goal that Brighton had lined up and were ready to restart as Salah sauntered towards the Reds' own half. It was a sign of things to come as there was a clear tactic to use as much time as possible to control the game. There were slower goal kicks from Alisson and time spent with the ball nearly in hand as
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