New Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi has revealed how pleased he was with his side’s performance against Liverpool on Saturday.
The Seagulls stunned all inside L4 as they went 2-0 up inside 17 minutes. The hosts turned it around and led 3-2 until Leandro Trossard completed his hat-trick inside the final 10 minutes to ensure the spoils were shared.
The Italian, who replaced Graham Potter after he left for Chelsea, insisted he’s aware of how difficult it is to perform at Anfield in what makes the result and the manner of his side’s performance that much better.
“I am happy with this game. We played a very good match, we could have scored more but we play at Anfield,” the Italian told the BBC (via Liverpool World).
“It’s my first game in the Premier League but I know Anfield, I know how difficult it is in this stadium.
“A crazy game. I am happy and proud for my players and my club. There was a possibility to win the game but Liverpool is a fantastic team. I knew before the game it could be difficult and it was very difficult.
“Of course, the point for us is really important because Liverpool at the end of the day is Liverpool but we had a lot of chances to score the goals and if we had won the game I wouldn’t have felt like we had stolen anything here.
“In that moment I didn’t think we had to win the game. It is 90 minutes plus additional time at Anfield.
“[On Leandro Trossard] When he was in the national team I sent a message to him and I told him he needs to increase the number of his goals and I think he made me happy!
“We have to learn how to improve with the ball possession and to increase our ball speed and it is up to us to decide it. It is really hard to control the game in the Premier League – only Manchester City is doing that. Our target is to start to control much more of the game.”
The south coast outfit were by far the better side during the first-half and we were lucky to not find ourselves more than 2-0 down before the comeback began.
Brighton passed the ball round with pace and precision and many of our lads just weren’t at it – not for the first time this season.
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Credit must be given to the visitors, but the likes of Fabinho, Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold aren’t performing at the level that we know they’re capable of and the side are struggling as a result.
We had star men in Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez all on the bench and you’d therefore expect Klopp to make a number of changes for the visit of Rangers in the Champions League on Tuesday.
We’ve said it far too often this season but a huge reaction is needed from the lads.
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