Cody Gakpo competes for the ball with Mats Wieffer
Image Credits: Liverpool FC
As the season concludes, Liverpool and their manager have been relaxing the last week or so.
Irrespective of this, it’s interesting to see just how far ahead Liverpool are of the rest of the league despite being in second gear.
Harvey Elliot opened the scoring, converting Conor Bradley’s cutback before Yasin Ayari drove clear of Liverpool’s defensive line to equalise.
Brighton pegged Liverpool back again as Kaoru Mitoma continued his good form against Liverpool, cancelling out Dominik Szoboszlai’s cross that ended up in the back of the net.
In the second half with nothing to lose Brighton pushed on, having 12 shots on target as they scored to win the game 3-2 as Jack Hinshelwood was adjudged to be onside.
Liverpool may not have anything to play for, but the games they play are still entertaining.
Here are five things we learnt from the game:
1) Federico Chiesa minutes
Chiesa is clearly a fan favourite. Liverpool fans enjoy the mention of his name and whenever the Italian gets minutes.
It’s open-ended in terms of the attacking spots next season. Though Egyptoan Mohamed Salah has a spot nailed down, in terms of outgoing and incomings, there may be a lot of movement.
Chiesa has got on with it, never shirked responsibility when called upon and looked sharp when passing.
It’s nice that the end of the season has seen the Italian get more minutes after leaving Juventus under difficult circumstances.
2) Liverpool cutting through Brighton’s press
Obviously, the entire game is asterisked by the fact there isn’t jeopardy for Liverpool, but it doesn’t mean there wasn’t interesting information to grasp from the game.
It’s encouraging that from a Liverpool perspective when Brighton pushed high in the press Liverpoool cut through them on more than one occasion.
It goes to show that though the Red have changed under Arne Slot they are capable of playing a game at a high-octane pace as the game at times felt end to end.
Liverpool have retained their ability as a team that thrive in chaos, they have just moulded it together with the patient possession-heavy football Arne Slot has successfully implemented.
3) Wait for Mohamed Salah goes on
Mohamed Salah’s remarkable season needs to be appreciated and celebrated.
Though most realise just how good he’s been, the Egyptian deserved the record of most goals and assists contributions in a single Premier League season.
Though Salah has another game to achieve this feat, he will come to rue the big missed chance he had.
It’s miniscule but the striker is still clearly chasing the record and frankly he deserves it, so it would be great for him to bag an assist/goal vs Crystal Palace.
4) Brilliant Harvey Elliot
An assist and goal capped off a brilliant performance from Harvey Elliot.
The three spots in Liverpool’s attack are pretty much nailed on and difficult to get into, but what isn’t mentioned is midfield is the same.
It’s difficult to break into the first eleven when Liverpool are in title-winning form but Elliot was creative, positive and clinical.
He couldn’t have had a better performance when given a platform to shine.
5) Needed rest for Van Dijk
Virgil Van Dijk’s run of starting for 69 straight Premier League games came to an end as he was benched vs Brighton.
What isn’t taken note of is when he had a huge injury in the 20/21 season that saw him out for a long time, he has come back and been just as good if not better.
A lot of players are blighted by injury, particularly after suffering a big ACL injury. The amount of appearances in a row for Van Dijk is indicative of his role as a leader and defender in the team.
This end of season period for Liverpool is a strange one. They have to enjoy the rest and success that they’ve earned and can afford to rest their biggest players.
The hope is, it well help players recharge batteries for the summer and make them hungrier for next season.
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