Salah ends Klopp blip
Back-to-back losses forgotten, as Liverpool go 7 points clear
CALL it a blip. Or a dip. Or a slump. Or a wobble. It does not matter any more. Whatever it was, it is over.
Beaten in the Premier League by Manchester City and knocked out of the FA Cup by Wolves in the last nine days, Liverpool ground out a dour 1- 0 win on the south coast against a well-organised Brighton who had not lost in four games.
It was not pretty or fluent but it does not matter. All that mattered was that Liverpool proved they were not going to go weak at the knees at the first sign of adversity. All that mattered was that they rebounded. All that mattered was the three points.
‘It’s like when you fall from the horse,’ Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. ‘The best way to ride again is to get straight back on the horse. We didn’t make a big fuss when we lost. I’m happy with the way we did it. We have moved on.’
They are seven points clear at the top again now, at least until Spurs play Manchester United today and City face Wolves at the Etihad tomorrow. If any of their pursuers were expecting a Liverpool collapse, the victory at the Amex will have cooled their ardour.
Klopp’s side was far from its best but his players dealt with the pressure well. They knew it was vital to avoid dropping more points as City watched for more signs of vulnerability and they did the job. It was not an exhibition of flowing football but Klopp did not care.
‘ We are not the Harlem Globetrotters,’ he said. ‘We have to deliver results. It was not easy because Brighton are doing very well.’
The 1-0 victory was won with a penalty from Mo Salah after he had
bamboozled Pascal Gross in the area in the second half and been pulled down. But it was built on another titanic display by Virgil van Dijk, described by Mats Hummels before the game as the best defender in the world. ‘It’s nice when these guys compliment each other,’ said Klopp. ‘That’s cool.’ Van
Dijk’s command in the air and his composure on the floor was the foundation of Liverpool’s win, even though the Brighton fans preferred to give the credit to referee Kevin Friend for his award of the penalty and a perceived bias towards the league leaders.
‘One-nil to the referee,’ they sang towards the end but Liverpool did not mind. The ship has been steadied.
Before the game, Klopp had reacted with amusement to talk of a crisis because his team had suffered two successive defeats. Until the turn of the year, he pointed out, people had been telling him that Liverpool had built an unassailable lead in the league.
‘Nothing happened,’ said Klopp. ‘Each team in the world can lose at Man City. So we spoke about why, what we did, what happened, what we could have done better — but
that’s how we do it always. And then we moved on.’
Liverpool came close to opening the scoring in the 10th minute when Fabinho, playing as a makeshift centre-half, spread a long o g pass wide to Andy Robertson on on the Liverpool left. ft. Robertson is one of the e best crossers of the ball in the league and his curling pass was measured for Roberto Firmino to run on to, only for the Brazil forward to slice it wide from six yards.
Brighton kept their ir opponents at bay until ntil midway through the e half when Liverpool’s pressure almost told again. The move started, as many of Liverpool’s had already done, with a perfectly judged chipped pass from Van Dijk to
Robertson and the ball was worked across the face of the Brighton box to Trent Alexander-Arnold. There had been suggestions that Alexander-Arnold had sprained an a ankle e in the warm-up and that h his participation in the game was in doubt, bu but he showed few s signs of discomfort a as he turned inside Gaetan Bong and curled a left-foot cross into the box. X Xherdan Shaqiri r rose to meet it and gl glanced it towards D aD avid Button’ s right right-hand post but it flashed just j wide. It was a rare headed chance for either side. Much had been made before the game of the aerial dominance of both defences. Shane Duffy had made 91 headed
clearances this season already before the game began, the most of any defender in the league. Van Dijk had won more aerial challenges than any defender in the league. It was no surprise that high balls into the box yielded little joy.
Liverpool began the second half with more conviction and Salah went close after a mistake from Lewis Dunk had ceded Liverpool possession. It was a short reprieve. Four minutes after the interval, Sadio Mane played the ball into Salah in the box and he turned past Gross. As Salah shaped to shoot, he was brought down from behind by Gross and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
Salah’s movement in the box is so sharp he has won a succession of penalties recently and, when he stepped up to take it, he dispatched it confidently past Button, who guessed the right direction but was
beaten by the pace of the ball. Brighton pressed for an equaliser as best they could but Liverpool were always able to keep them at arm’s length.
‘I thought we played well against the best team in the country,’ said Brighton manager Chris Hughton. ‘They are at the top of the table so that speaks for itself. They are in pole position and I think they are favourites.’
When the final whistle blew, Klopp turned to Salah, who had been substituted a minute earlier and wrapped him in a bear hug. Liverpool have momentum again. The blip is over.