Brighton vs Liverpool

Amex Stadium

FT: 1-1

Goals: Jota (60′) Pascal Gross (90+3′) P

November 28th of 2020

The nature of this strange season means there are a lot of games like this one, where players are tired, get injured and ridiculous referee decisions are made.

It was late drama at the Amex, that denied Diogo Jota an extension of being Liverpool’s game-changer, as Pascal Gross converted a controversial penalty to earn Brighton a home point.

Saturday’s early kick-off was full of incidents: two disallowed goals, two spot-kicks- one of which was missed- and three more injuries!

Jurgen Klopp again gambled with his selection; giving a first league start to the season for Takumi Minamino in midfield, and at the back, there was an 11th different centre-back pairing of the season for Liverpool (in 17 games) with Nat Phillips alongside Fabinho.

Liverpool started brilliantly, thanks to the Reds No9 Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian may be criticised for his lack of goals this season, but he is crucial to the balance and creativity of the team. And inside the opening two minutes, he had turned beautifully on the halfway line and slipped Jota in behind the Brighton defence.

Brighton had seen very little of the ball but should have scored in their first attack when Aaron Connolly missed a good chance on 10 minutes, and then Neil Maupay missed the target from a penalty on 20 minutes.

He put his spot-kick wide after Neco Williams had given away a penalty, with a really poor challenge.

The Reds were far from their fluid or impressive self, and Liverpool fans will have to agree that Brighton were the better side.

But Klopp’s men thought they had taken the lead when Firmino played in Mo Salah- and he finished in style, only for VAR of course to rule the goal out on a very marginal offside decision.

The Reds ended the first half, with a further two chances courtesy of two balls over the top for the Egyptian-one from Fabinho, and the other from Firmino.

A very obvious and needed change came at half-time, with Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson replacing the struggling Neco Williams, with James Milner moving to right back.

Henderson’s presence saw Liverpool looking far more dominant, especially in midfield. It allowed Minamino to play higher up; were for me, he is far more effective.

The deadlock was finally broken on the hour, with Jota danced in the box and finished an excellent dribble with a good finish into the corner for his fifth league goal this season.

Soon after, Klopp subbed Salah shortly, replacing him with Sadio Mane. The Egyptian was not happy, leaving the pitch without even a handshake to the boss.

The next sub was forced on when James Milner went down with a hamstring injury; another injury added to Liverpool’s casualty list.

Then VAR featured again, ruling out Mane’s header from an Andy’s Robertson free-kick, but this time it was less marginal; and the right call was made.

Towards the final minutes of stoppage time, VAR advised referee Stuart Atwell to watch a replay of an Andy Robertson challenge on Danny Welbeck and Atwell awarded a spot-kick, which Pascal Gross dispatched past keeper Alisson.

The Premier League prides itself in stating there is a “high bar” for VAR intervention, but that seems to be severely lowered! For me, there is no bar! It was one of the softest penalties I have ever seen given.

To overturn the decision, the incident has to clear and obvious, and it wasn’t. Even Danny Welbeck admitted the penalty was “soft” in his post-match interview; and the reaction from the Brighton players showed, they didn’t believe it was a penalty either!

I can’t quite believe I’m writing another Liverpool match report, where VAR dominates proceedings!

For the final time, the Premier League needs to USE COMMON SENSE, AND STOP FORENSICALLY ANALYSING THE INCIDENTS IN SLOW MOTION (apologies for the capitals!)

An awful game for so many reasons, which Jurgen Klopp will be glad to get out of the way.

Liverpool moves to the top of the Premier League, well at least temporarily.

Put simply, a day at the office, that Reds fan will be happy to forget!

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