In football, everybody has a so-called “bogey team”.
No matter what your side does, what line-up your manager picks or how well the players perform, the result never goes in your favour.
For Liverpool over the past four seasons, their bogey team have been Brighton & Hove Albion. Jurgen Klopp’s men have won only one of their last seven games against them.
Their most recent loss to them in the Premier League — 3-0 in January — was one of Klopp’s lowest moments during his eight-year Anfield reign, with Liverpool well beaten by Roberto De Zerbi’s rampant home side.
Speaking ahead of the clubs meeting at the Amex Stadium again tomorrow (Sunday), Klopp said of Brighton: “They made really big steps, super consistent, different players and line-ups, but you always see Brighton football and I couldn’t respect that more. I am really looking forward to the game because we have to put a few things right.”
The Athletic broke down Brighton’s winning tactics and what Liverpool can expect on the south coast this weekend…
Attacking the right side
Focusing your attack down Liverpool’s right is not an uncommon tactic, targeting the space behind Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In the clubs’ two league meetings last season, Brighton’s attack was heavily weighted to Liverpool’s right flank, including the build-up for two of the goals in that 3-0 league victory in January.
It was a similar story in the 3-3 draw at Anfield a year ago this week — De Zerbi’s first game as Brighton coach — when all of their goals came down that flank.
At the Amex, Kaoru Mitoma was a constant threat with his pace, movement and dribbling.
On Merseyside three months earlier, Mitoma caused plenty of problems off the bench, including an assist for the final goal of Leandro Trossard’s hat-trick. Brighton preyed on Liverpool’s defensive lapses down the right, reacting quicker to second balls and playing at a pace too quick for Klopp’s players to react.
We have yet to see this match-up since Liverpool moved to three-box-three shape late last season, which is likely to be used more effectively with Alexander-Arnold now returning to full fitness after a hamstring injury. But Brighton’s direction of attack is likely to continue.
Playing through the lines
Brighton’s growth in recent seasons has been underpinned by their confidence in possession, building play patiently and cleverly. Drifting into pockets of space to receive the ball and aid ball progression is vital to this approach.
They have used it to great effect against Liverpool. In their electric opening 25 minutes in that 3-3 draw last October, Trossard and Pascal Gross repeatedly positioned themselves on either side of an isolated Fabinho.
Klopp acknowledged afterwards that it was a problem: “Usually you adapt quicker, but before we adapted we were 2-0 down and then we understood better what they did and reacted on it: (we) kept them on the outside, where the gaps were not that open anymore and they could not play each ball through the half-spaces.”
The example below led to a golden opportunity for Danny Welbeck that day.
Joel Veltman progresses the play into midfield, with Solly March eventually getting on the ball.
March finds Welbeck, who has drifted into another pocket of space…
… and he plays the ball quickly in to Trossard…
…which results in a crossing opportunity for March.
Brighton’s late equaliser had similar traits — a line-breaking pass by Adam Webster to Welbeck begins a move that sees Trossard finish off a Mitoma cross.
Rewind to the previous season — a 2-2 draw at Anfield — and it led to both of Brighton’s goals.
The move for the first Brighton goal starts with Veltman. He then finds Enock Mwepu…
…who quickly slides a pass forward to Adam Lallana.
This forces Liverpool back and leaves Mwepu free on the edge of the penalty area to find the top corner.
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Liverpool will need the energy of midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai to plug such gaps quickly and effectively on Sunday.
Out-to-in runs
One of Liverpool’s main shortcomings against Brighton in that 3-0 defeat last season was falling into the trap of following the striker dropping deep, who would make space for out-to-in runs from his wide forwards.
Much in the same way that Roberto Firmino was a master at pulling centre-backs into uncomfortable positions to create space for Liverpool wide men Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to run into, Brighton accomplished the exact same trick.
Below, as left-back Pervis Estupinan looks to play the pass, centre-forward Evan Ferguson drops into space to receive it as wide forwards Mitoma (left-winger) and March (right-winger) make their runs in behind.
Alexander-Arnold is close to Mitoma, but the Japan international makes a run on his blind side, meaning Joel Matip is caught between tracking him and getting tight to Ferguson.
He elects to go with Mitoma, which allows Ferguson to receive the ball and turn. It also creates a huge gap between Matip and his centre-back partner Ibrahima Konate — something Ferguson exploits to find March’s out-to-in run.
Alexander-Arnold is in no-man’s land defensively, as March lifts a finish over goalkeeper Alisson.
With three of Liverpool’s back four in a near-vertical line up the pitch as the scoring shot is taken, you know that something has gone wrong.
Brighton’s attacking patterns are clear and repeatable, and while Liverpool have improved defensively in the early part of this campaign, Klopp’s men must be wary not to fall into the same trap again.
How to put it right…
Liverpool can find weaknesses in this weekend’s opposition. As seen in recent weeks, teams are starting to think of ways to use Brighton’s strengths in possession against them — namely, counter-attacking.
Brighton’s measured build-up play is designed to draw the other team onto them and create space between the lines for their midfield and attacking players to utilise.
That has served them well in the year since De Zerbi’s arrival, but the blueprint to nullify this threat was shown by Everton at the end of last season, when they walked away from the Amex with a surprise 5-1 victory.
How did they manage that? By not getting sucked into the press, staying compact, and counter-attacking quickly.
It was a similar story in their Premier League defeats this season to West Ham United (3-1 to home) and Aston Villa (6-1 away) and in the 2-2 Europa League draw at Marseille on Thursday.
Opponents have frustrated Brighton by blocking off the passes into their midfielders. Subsequently, Brighton conceding from counter-attacks seems to be a pattern that has emerged in the early part of this campaign. No Premier League side has conceded more direct attacks — defined as sequences starting inside a team’s own half with at least 50 per cent movement towards an opponent’s goal, ending in a shot or a touch in the box — this season than Brighton’s 29.
That is not to say that Liverpool are much tighter at the moment, with only four fewer direct attacks conceded in the opening seven games.
If both sides play how we know they can, you can expect to see an open game.
Another vulnerability that has plagued Brighton since the start of last season is their inability to cash in on set pieces.
Just eight set-play goals scored in that time is a record that is in stark contrast to Liverpool’s 22 — more than any other side. Even accounting for the volume of opportunities taken, Brighton’s 2.3 goals per 100 set pieces suggest they do not maximise their chances.
Brighton’s 5.4 goals conceded per 100 opponent set pieces is the second-worst defensive record in the Premier League since 2022-23, meanwhile. It’s a statistic that should give Klopp’s side confidence that they can dominate in both penalty areas tomorrow.
With three goals scored from corners already this season, Liverpool would be foolish not to refine some set-piece routines ahead of this game.
Both sides are recovering from Europa League exertions on Thursday night, but this match still promises to be an end-to-end affair.
Liverpool have made mistakes against Brighton in their recent exchanges, but we’re about to see whether they have learned from them.
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