The scoreline belied the actual anxiety of the game, but we’ll take it.
It’s always good to walk out of an away game with three points in hand, especially when those three points help close the gap on Manchester City just that tiny bit more. The game against Brighton was marked by everything we’ve come to expect from this season, including controversial (see: absolutely ridiculous) calls, a goal from Mo Salah, and some exhilarating stops from Alisson.
“Difficult game, good opponent, we needed a few minutes to find into the game,” Klopp said in his post-match interview. “From the moment on when we found ourselves into the game, we controlled it in a really good way. I don’t think you can deny Brighton constantly or completely because of the quality they have, but we did quite well and scored a wonderful goal in a really good situation. We could have scored more, won good balls, real chances from open-play situations or counter-attacking moments, or both. I liked that a lot and I don’t expect us to be two or three-nil up or whatever at Brighton. I really respect Brighton too much, so fine for half-time.”
“We showed the boys a few situations – how we have to play, how we have to defend them. We expect them to change formation maybe again, that’s what they usually do against us. The second half started again with a situation for Brighton but then after that we controlled it again, scored the second goal and in the last few minutes, they had a chance.”
The fact that the pressure on Liverpool remained till the last few minutes of the game isn’t something that the boss is particularly pleased with, but he did take the chance to laud praise on Alisson who kept a clean sheet for the team.
“Ali is a world-class goalie but from my understanding he should not have to show that in each game,” Klopp added. “He showed it again and that’s good, that’s why we have a clean sheet. I think we deserved the three points and that’s actually all what I am interested in. I am happy about most of the things.”
