Brighton dominated Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, but a first-half howler saw Jurgen Klopp’s side fall behind, prompting Jamie Carragher to pounce on the Reds.
Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher pointed to the failure of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Alexis MacAllister as the reason Liverpool conceded their first goal against Brighton.
Simon Adingra put the Seagulls ahead in the 20th minute at the AMEX Stadium as pressure from the hosts left Jurgen Klopp’s side at sea. When Brighton’s attack broke down, Alisson carried the ball from his own box before passing it to Van Dijk.
Alexander-Arnold moved into midfield and his goalkeeper occupied the right side of the defense. Van Dijk then decided to pass to Mac Allister but the midfielder was attacked by three Brighton forwards.
The Argentine lost the ball, with Adingra bursting forward before hitting a shot into the bottom corner, with Alisson unable to get across to make a save. That led to Richards singling out the three stars for being at fault.
“In this position here, you see Trent going into midfield and Alisson almost creates that back four and they are trying to get the Brighton strikers to come onto them,” the former Manchester City star told Sky Sports.
“Like Brighton have done with the Liverpool players, but he doesn’t want the ball there. Then, Alisson is out of position because he has made that four in the defence.”
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However, former Arsenal star Theo Walcott blamed Van Dijk for the goal. He criticized the Dutchman’s decision to play the ball to Mac Allister when he saw the midfielder surrounded.
He said: “What I like about this goal is that they are all waiting to catch, they are trying to catch Liverpool. They all have triggers in certain areas of the field. But as a player I’ve been in the position Mac Allister is in and it’s terrible to deal with and I think Van Dijk has realized he doesn’t want that.”
Meanwhile, Reds legend Carragher has expressed his concerns about Mac Allister’s defensive qualities. The former Liverpool captain praised Brighton for their pressure but claimed the goal was reckless from the visitors’ point of view.
He said: “They paid a penalty. We said Mac Allister had defensive problems but it’s great from Brighton. Clumsy pass by Virgil Van Dijk and did the keeper react quickly enough? Did he expect this? He shoots early but should do better, Alisson.
Liverpool got back into the game when Mohamed Salah equalized five minutes before half-time when he fired home from Darwin Nunez’s pass. And the Egyptian put Klopp’s side ahead with a penalty on the stroke of half-time, but Lewis Dunk was able to salvage a point for his side.
