Liverpool v Brighton | 5 Things We Learnt

1. Liverpool can win ugly

It was only last week that Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp was saying that Liverpool need to learn to win ugly, as cliché as the statement may seem there was still an element of truth to it; if Liverpool wanted to compete for Premier League titles then they needed to pick up points even when it’s an off day at the office.Since then Liverpool have shown up to Selhurst Park and today welcomed Brighton to Anfield, on both occasions the overall performance was sub-par and yet here we are three games in with 9 points and 3 clean sheets. In the past it’s felt like if Liverpool were not at 100% then a win would be difficult to come by and with City being the powerhouse they currently are Liverpool need to ensure they drop as little points as possible, it’s a long season ahead but early signs are showing that maybe Liverpool have added something different to their locker.At times the game today got scrappy and some tackles were flying in from both sides, with Liverpool dominating the ball this was a way for Brighton to get themselves into the game and leave an impact on some Liverpool players. Quite the opposite actually happened out on the pitch, when Brighton were ready to get rough Liverpool matched them tackle for tackle; Milner was hit time and time again and kept getting up, if you want to ensure wins against some of the lower teams then you need this in your game and James Milner led by example out on the pitch.

2. Defence is no longer the weak spot

Arnautovic, Benteke and Murray all proved to be difficult tasks in their own right yet Gomez and Van Dijk dealt easily with all of them. In the fixtures that we’ve played in it’s important not to concede cheap goals and Jurgen Klopp and the back 5 have ensured that chances have been hard to come by for the opposition so that one chance is all the attack needs to put the game to bed and claim all three points.Since Virgil Van Dijk’s arrival at Liverpool, Klopp’s team have conceded the fewest amount of goals at home and kept seven clean sheets in a row. This is the team’s best run since 2008/09 when Rafa Benitez and his team had 9 home clean sheets on the run. At Borrusia Dortmund Jurgen Klopp conceded around 40 goals in his first two seasons as his team finished 6^th and 5^th, the next season in 2010/11 Klopp’s Dortmund stormed towards the top of the table and won by the league by 7 points, conceding only 22 goals; almost half the amount they conceded the season before. It’s early days but with the quality of the defence and goalkeeper Liverpool aren’t conceding many chances never mind goals. At some point Alisson won’t keep a clean sheet but to have not conceded a goal in the first three games is a good showing, last season De Gea won the golden glove award with 18 clean sheets; so with only 3 games played into the season Alisson is already 15% of the way to matching the record from last season.

3. Gomez isn’t there to keep Lovren’s spot warm

Dejan Lovren, the self-proclaimed world class defender crashed back to earth after his world cup run by admitting in an interview that he hadn’t told the club about an injury. Chances are the Croatian will be back in and around the squad after the international break but he won’t find his starting XI spot waiting for him. Since coming to the club we’ve all known Gomez was a natural centre back but in order to get into the squad he had to make do with starting at wing back.A lot of times a player can make their career at the expense of a fellow team-mate, this could be the same situation here with Joe Gomez. No World Cup meant that the Englishman got the chance to impress alongside Van Dijk at the back and the subsequent injury crisis meant that the partnership carried over into the Premier League season. Since then Gomez hasn’t looked back; putting in world class performances alongside the Dutchman who is rightly or wrongly getting all the plaudits.Chris has said many times over the past few weeks regarding Gomez that he is going to be targeted by every striker they come up against, seemingly the ???weak spot’ when compared to the £75 million man. We’ve seen this in all three games so far and so far Gomez has stood up to every single one of them, still only 21 Gomez’ potential is frightening and long may his good run of form continue.

4. Wijnaldum is making the 6 his own

With the big money signing in Fabinho, many people didn’t think they would see Gini Wijnaldum starting in the six role by the time West Ham rolled around. Three games later and here he still is, bossing the midfield with ease and keeping captain Jordan Henderson out of the side.The time at Newcastle was kind of a false showing of who Gini Wijnaldum is, the Dutchman has always been a box to box midfielder who is capable of playing further forward or further back if needed, but at Newcastle he was the attacking playmaker of the team. Klopp knew this when he signed him and his defensive abilities went pretty much under the radar.We saw glimpses of Wijnaldum playing in the six towards the end of last season but the truth is that Klopp has had this plan for him since the beginning of the last pre-season, in the friendly against Tranmere Wijnaldum lined up just like he has the past three games and the fact that Gini has reached the level of performance that he has in this role shows how Klopp is five steps ahead of the rest of us.

5. Henderson’s class off the bench

As mentioned, Wijnaldum’s performances have meant that captain Jordan Henderson has had to make do with a place on the bench for now. However, in each of the three games Henderson has been the first substitution made by Jurgen Klopp and every time he has heavy influenced the game in Liverpool’s favour.In each game, whether we were strolling to victory against West Ham or protecting our lead against Palace and Brighton; Henderson was subbed on at points in the game where the opposition were getting into the game and Liverpool were giving the ball up cheaply. The captain’s presence got Liverpool’s foot on the ball again and set them up to keep possession and control.Until midweek games start and rotation will be needed, Henderson will need a big mistake or injury to Gini Wijnaldum in order to start games but until that point he is an excellent option to have off the bench with 20/30 minutes left to play.Article by Louis ConnorTwitter: @Loui_Connor