Liverpool’s return to action ended up being largely depressing, perhaps we were better off without football to ruin our weekends!
The Reds produced another worrying performance on Saturday afternoon, losing more points against Brighton after receiving first place once again – that’s now seven of the nine games this season that has happened.
The initial 2-0 deficit turned into a 3-2 lead, but it never looked like Jurgen Klopp’s side would hold on to victory, as the coach himself admitted after the game.
Here, This Is Anfield’s Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) is joined by Liam Togher (@liamtogher88) and David Comerford (@Dave_Comerford) to assess another poor result and discuss the decline of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Let’s start with the best things…
LIAM: Dare we try to find positive aspects of that crap? Fair enough, then…
I guess three goals were scored and two of them for Roberto Firmino should be a feather in his cap amid much criticism in recent months and doubts about his place with Darwin Nunez now.
Also, if it hadn’t been for Alisson, we probably would have lost as he made a couple of vital saves.
DAVID: To be honest, those are the only two players that I really have any inclination to praise.
Firmino’s composure for the second goal was impressive. He has already scored more goals at Anfield than in all of last season.
And then you would have to say Alisson.
Naturally, goalkeepers are often the only players to come out of losing streaks with their reputations improved; without him Brighton would have been out of sight in the first half.
You can’t even celebrate the comeback from two goals down, unfortunately, because the Reds threw away the victory at the end.
HENRY: As the others say, Firmino was the clear and bright spark and it’s great to see him make a bigger impact again.
He was far from perfect, don’t get me wrong, but he took both goals well and was at least trying to create a spark throughout.
Diaz also changed the game when he came on, while Alisson and Joel Matip did their best, if not perfect.
And the not-so-positive parts…
LIAM: I’ll try to be brief.
Virgil van Dijk continues to sport a shadow of his imperious 2018-2022 self.
In fact, the defense as a whole seemed all too willing to allow Brighton to loiter undeterred in dangerous territory.
James Milner and Jordan Henderson did little or nothing to silence the myriad critics who feel they belong to Liverpool’s past.
Kostas Tsimikas was not even close to his best level either.
DAVID: The defense was pitiful. So passive and ignorant of any danger.
At this point I would have to say that any decent Premier League or Champions League manager would be able to spot the gaps they can exploit. It’s too easy to play against us.
At 3-2, I’m sitting there looking at the clock, telling myself that we’ll probably be fine, as any top team should be after completing a comeback at home.
But what I’m seeing gives me a bad feeling that I can’t shake, and then sure enough, they get the draw.
Some might argue that Liverpool didn’t have the personnel to control the game, but there was also a lack of intelligence. It always felt like at least one big opportunity was coming Brighton’s way.
HENRY: Where to start!
That first half was absolutely pitiful – it felt like watching a group of strangers playing together who had once been best friends!
Trent was clearly awful, but Van Djik, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Henderson and Salah were also far from their best.
Something just isn’t right right now, not helped by the backbone of the struggling team, and I really hope it’s not because this is an aging side running out of steam.
And how concerning is Trent’s form?
LIAM: If there was ever a player to take out of the line of fire, it’s Trent right now.
After an international hiatus during which he unwittingly dominated the headlines, he had an opportunity to silence his doubters.
Instead, he loaded the gun for even more bullets to fire.
Lazy in possession and caught up in Brighton’s second goal, this display is likely to further undermine the right-back’s self-confidence.
It’s probably too big of a risk to include Calvin Ramsay in the squad given how raw he is and just coming back from injury, but it might be time to consider Joe Gomez at right back for the next few games.
He may not have seemed entirely convincing lately, but right now it feels like Trent needs time and space to recharge, come back, and get back to the levels we know he can achieve.
DAVID: This was hard to watch. At this point, I have to admit that Trent is a net negative for this Liverpool team.
We don’t see enough performance in attack to make up for their shortcomings on the other side of the ball. If we had a version of Tsimikas on the right flank, he would already be on the team.
I was hoping Gareth Southgate’s snubs would leave Trent with a chip on his shoulder, as we saw at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Unfortunately, however, his confidence seems to have been further dented. There was a real air of vulnerability about him.
HENRY: It’ll be absolutely fine, but it’s also important that we don’t ignore what a really scary depression is.
Trent looks so out of touch right now that I almost wonder if there’s a problem on the field, after all, they’re just human beings.
As Liam says, an off-team spell might be necessary, but there just isn’t a custom-built backup to come in and do similar work.
I would also say that Klopp’s use of him in this more advanced central role isn’t working, so going back to his previous role would make sense.
Steven Gerrard had a massive slump at a similar age (I remember a shocking display in Basel when he was replaced at halftime) and came through as Trent will.
Towards the Rangers…
