If Carlsberg did Albion home games, they would look like Brighton 2-1 Liverpool. The sun shining. Two teams putting on an entertaining 90 minutes of football with none of the gamesmanship nonsense which comes with playing say, Arsenal, for example. Ending in three points for the Seagulls.
This was just the perfect football day. How can it be this same squad and same manager were so woeful over three months covering December, January and most of February?
And now here they are, taking apart the reigning Premier League champions? Who themselves took apart Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday night?
Much of the focus in the aftermath of Brighton 2-1 Liverpool has been on the visitors playing badly. The narrative of shambolic title defence is easy to make when you can compare it with what happened the last time the Redmen came to the Amex – in party mood having just been crowned champions.
But the narrative of Liverpool merely being a shadow of their selves from the previous campaign and delivering a below-par showing against the Albion does Brighton a massive disservice.
Because the Albion were brilliant. They made Liverpool look poor and fully deserved the win which left them eighth in the table at full time – firmly back in the race for European football.
The final seven words of that preceding sentence seemed unthinkable six weeks ago after Crystal Palace won 1-0 at the Amex.
As would the reception Fabian Hurzeler received celebrating with the North Stand afterwards. Hurzeler finally seems to have developed a much-needed connection with Seagulls supporters.
Who knew all it needed was for Brighton to hit rock-bottom against Palace and then have him call out Arsenal time wasting for it to happen?
Danny Welbeck double a timely reminder for Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel named an extended 35-man England squad for two March international friendlies on Friday morning. Yet despite having enough room to call up Ron Benson and Tony Hedges, Danny Welbeck missed out.
Just over 24 hours later and Welbeck sent Tuchel a perfectly timed reminder of his talents. 14 minutes were on the clock when Redmen goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili passed the ball out of play for a throw.
From there, Ferdi Kadioglu crossed to the back post. Diego Gomez headed back across goal. And there was Dat Guy to nod the Seagulls into the lead.
Mamardashvili was deputising for the injured Alisson Becker – but being without their number one was not an excuse Liverpool could reach for to explain their 2-1 defeat at Brighton.
The Georgian made some vital saves through the second half to prevent the Albion racking up a more convincing victory.
Bigger injury issues for the visitors came from the absence of Mo Salah and seeing Hugo Ekitike substituted before Welbeck struck following a collision with James Milner.
Ekitike scored both the Liverpool goals when Brighton were beaten 2-0 at Anfield in December. And no Seagulls supporter needs reminding of Salah’s record facing the Albion.
The second-best Egyptian footballer of all time after Adam El-Abd has 11 career goals and 10 assists against Brighton.
But the Albion were that good in the second half that even having Salah and Ekitike may not have prevented the outcome.
Welbeck cupped his ears at the away end after scoring his first. A gesture aimed at Liverpool fans as a Manchester United academy product rather than Tuchel, as the BBC pondered might be the case in their match report. Dat Guy has too much class to bait the England manager.
Brighton 2-1 Liverpool winning goal highlights damage of VAR
The winning goal in Brighton 2-1 Liverpool arrived 12 minutes into the second half. Welbeck was again the scorer in a moment which highlighted the damage VAR has done to football.
A left wing cross from Yankuba Minteh was square back across goal for Welbeck to tap home. With the naked eye, it looked like it might have been offside. Dat Guy certainly had doubts as he instantly looked at the assistant referee.
Before VAR, Albion fans would have taken a quick glance themselves. Spotted no flag. And then gone berserk with all the unrestrained joy of going 2-1 up against the champions.
But in the world of VAR, the celebrations remained muted until Stockley Park drew their lines and confirmed the goal could stand.
When a bloke watching a super slow motion replay on a TV screen somewhere near Uxbridge eventually gave the okay, Welbeck did a gymnastics leap over Lewis Dunk. Who is 6’2 by the way.
I struggled getting off a low sofa aged 35. Let alone jumping over a giant teammate from a standing start. Welbeck is some athlete.
Dunk back header finally goes awry
Liverpool responded well to the first Welbeck goal. Alexis Mac Allister drew a good save from Bart Verbruggen before an equaliser arrived on the half hour mark.
Dunk tried one of his trademark back headers to Verbruggen but after many years successfully copying the favourite move of the great Danny Cullip, it finally went awry.
The Albion captain was unaware that Milos Kerkez has anticipated what was going to happen. Meaning Dunk only succeeded in flicking a long Mamardashvili kick straight into the path of Kerkez to dink over the stranded Verbruggen.
Mamardashvili keeps the score down in the second half
As already noted, Brighton would have come away with a bigger win than a mere 2-1 over Liverpool had Mamardashvili not been in such inspired form.
He pushed away a Minteh cross at the end of the first half and saved from Kadioglu at the start of the second before Welbeck struck. Mamardashvili then clawed a Gomez free kick out of the top corner.
Liverpool tried to force the issue after that but this seemed to suit Brighton, who were happy playing on the break.
Verbruggen saved low down from Curtis Jones. The Albion went up the other end, where Mamardashvili stayed big to keep out a Minteh one-on-one.
There was another good Verbruggen stop from Cody Gakpo with Jan Paul van Hecke calmly heading the rebound back into the arms of his goalkeeper.
To have the confidence to do that after seeing what happened with Dunk earlier shows Van Hecke is a defender at the top of his game.
Brighton fans already know this of course. Along with Welbeck, Van Hecke and Minteh were two standout performers.
Both Van Hecke and Minteh have attracted interest from Liverpool this season and so a cynic might suggest this was a successful audition ahead of potential summer moves to Anfield.
Challenge for Brighton – backing this form up after internationals
A perfectly timed Van Hecke tackle on Federico Chiesa stopped another dangerous looking Liverpool attack. After which it was Brighton who came closest to scoring in the closing stages.
Van Hecke saw a header from a Gross corner cleared off the line by Ryan Gravenberch. Substitute Yasin Ayari connected with a flying volley met by an unbelievable block from Jones.
Not that the Albion needed a third goal in the end. Most of the Amex even appeared to stay until the full time whistle to give Brighton – and Hurzeler – the reception they deserved.
A fine way for the Albion to sign off ahead of two weeks off – which presents a challenge in itself for Hurzeler. Brighton have tended to struggle coming back from international breaks under Hurzeler.
The most obvious example being this time 12 months ago. The Albion went into the March internationals as FA Cup quarter finalists and in the race for a top five finish.
A disastrous run of April form when returning to action put paid to any hopes of European football or a trip to Wembley.
If Hurzeler can address that issue and Brighton maintain their current form when back on the pitch at Burnley in three weeks, then who knows where the final two months of the 2025-26 campaign might take the Albion…
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