Liverpool have a hole at their heart at the moment, both on and off the pitch

In losing to Brighton – the second time they’ve conceded three in 2023 – Liverpool showed up glaring deficiencies, and the midfield isn’t their only issue…

Never mind the relative sizes of the clubs concerned, this was Liverpool’s second successive Premier League defeat to the teams either side of them in the current Premier League table. Even if we strip away both the context behind of their 3-0 defeat at Brighton – because this result both was and wasn’t a bolt from the blue – this was a colossally bad result for Jurgen Klopp’s team. Add to that a home draw against Wolves in the FA Cup, and the team’s start to 2023 couldn’t have been much worse. And all this after a less-than-stellar second half of 2022 really left them needing to hit the ground running after the pause for the World Cup.

A moment first though, please, to pour praise upon Brighton & Hove Albion. They were, again, exceptional. It was reported after the match that ‘Since the resumption of club football after the World Cup, no side in the top five European leagues has scored more goals in all comps than Brighton’, and it isn’t difficult to see why. They now move with such fluidity and pace that they can find the space which creates chances. This upswing started before the end of last season. In their last four games of last season, Brighton scored just 42 goals, the joint second-lowest of the all bar the three relegated clubs. 

But in their last four games, something seemed to click. In their last four games of last season, Brighton scored three against Wolves and West Ham and four against Manchester United, and they scored five against Leicester in their last game this season before Graham Potter abruptly left. But after a slow-ish start, they’ve turbo-charged under Roberto De Zerbi since the end of October with four goals against Chelsea and Everton, and now three against Southampton, Wolves and Liverpool.

And they have the one thing that Liverpool don’t at the moment; a functioning central midfield. It’s clear that they needed upgrades in both midfield and attack, but it does seem surprising that Liverpool have forked out on Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in the last year, two wingers and a striker, when the team is crying out for some urgent midfield renovation.

This was reflected in the one-sidedness of Brighton’s win. It was just too easy for them to move into space. Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister controlled the centre midfield…