How the national media reacted to Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Brighton in the FA Cup on Saturday evening
Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the FA Cup fourth round match against Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield on February 14 2026
Liverpool's Curtis Jones celebrates after scoring the opening goal of the FA Cup fourth round match against Brighton and Hove Albion at Anfield on February 14 2026
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Up for the cup. Liverpool cruised through to the last 16 of the FA Cup when they notched an impressive 3-0 win over Brighton at Anfield on Saturday evening in their fourth round tie.
After Curtis Jones had opened the scoring shortly before half-time, a well-worked goal by Dominik Szoboszlai and a penalty from Mohamed Salah ensured a second home triumph of the season against the Seagulls.
It made for an ultimately enjoyable night. And while the ECHO was in attendance and provided our usual level of coverage, here's how the national media viewed a positive result for Arne Slot's side.
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Paul Joyce, formerly of this parish, discussed how Anfield embraced the growing self-confidence of Liverpool.
"Liverpool have been waiting during these difficult recent months for a moment to send spirits soaring and for belief to flood back into their stride," he pens.
"When it came, it was as easy as one, two, three. A raking ball was delivered by Cody Gakpo from just inside his half over to the right where Mohamed Salah cushioned a sumptuous pass first time with his instep for the marauding Dominik Szoboszlai.
"The midfielder did not have to break stride before battering a rising shot beyond the Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper, Jason Steele, from a few yards inside the penalty area.
"On the touchline, Arne Slot shook his fists in celebration. A scintillating, three-touch team goal had extended Liverpool’s advantage following Curtis Jones’ first goal since Boxing Day 2024 and eased passage into the FA Cup fifth round."
Andy Hunter, another ex-ECHO scribe, contemplated the change in fortunes for Mohamed Salah over the last few months.
"There was rancour and recrimination when Mohamed Salah last faced Brighton, at Anfield in December, along with doubt over whether he would be seen in a Liverpool shirt again," he scribes.
"Fast forward two months and the Egyptian great is starting, scoring and shaping games for Arne Slot again. Appeasement between the pair is for the greater good.
"Salah produced a sublime assist, his fourth since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, and scored from the penalty spot as Liverpool moved into round five with a commanding victory over Fabian Hurzeler’s struggling team.
"There was no evidence of Brighton not performing for their under-pressure manager but their lack of cutting edge was glaring, as was the case when visiting here in the Premier League."
Richard Jolly of The Independent focused on an evening when Slot's main decisions were all justified.
"Whatever the summer holds for him, Liverpool could enjoy the sight of Salah looking irrepressible," he says. "Perhaps, too, they could be grateful that what looked a crisis was defused. That may reflect well on Slot and if the Dutchman has had too few games this season when every decision he has made has brought a rich reward, this victory came with sweet vindication.
"As the Liverpool manager fielded his latest line-up without a specialist right-back, the assumption might have been that Dominik Szoboszlai was in the back four and Curtis Jones in midfield. Instead, it was the other way around.
"Each was on the scoresheet, and in a way that reflected the role Slot had given him. Jones scored for the first time since 2024 by materialising at the far post. Szoboszlai used his running power to burst through the inside-right channel and unleash his second unstoppable shot in as many weeks at Anfield."
Ian Herbert, another once of these parts, looked in the Daily Mail at the improvement of Milos Kerkez.
"Milos Kerkez has taken some time to convince the Liverpool public," he writes. "There has been an adjustment to British football to make and the Kop’s understandable embrace of Andy Robertson, arguably the greatest warrior soul among Jurgen Klopp’s band of brothers. Kerkez has taken his share of negativity.
"But the 22-year-old left back provided sparkle and the steel, delivering the cross from the wide area which met the arriving Curtis Jones and sent the side on their way — and far more besides.
"It was he who added the fizz to a game which took time to burst into life. A take-down and shot on an angle which Jason Steele touched over, to go with a beautiful cut back and shot, from an offside position it turned out, 20 minutes earlier.
"And then, within five minutes of setting up Jones, he was going nose to nose with Brighton, holding his ground. There is no more improved Liverpool player these past few months than this."
Finally, the tall man Paul Gorst opined in the ECHO about how Slot can now have a proper kip.
"If an apparently restless Arne Slot admitted to sleepless nights before this FA Cup visit from Brighton, the Liverpool boss will at least rest easy for the remainder of his weekend," he taps.
"And with a full week now to strategise for the visit to Nottingham Forest next Sunday, he has a rare luxury of a one-game week as the quest for Champions League qualification returns to centre stage.
"Definitive statements about 'turning a corner' have often come back to bite this term, but a hugely positive few days - against Sunderland on Wednesday and now the Seagulls - might just be enough to see some whisper it quietly once more."
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