Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Liverpool: 5 Talking Points, Premier League 2018-19

Liverpool weren't at their best. But Liverpool beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 at the Amex Stadium. What's that cliche about champions and winning while not being at their best?

It took an early-second-half penalty from Mohamed Salah to separate the two sides on the night. It was a clear penalty as well, with Pascal Gross pulling the Egyptian down, to give him the opportunity to plunder his 14th league goal of the season from the spot.

This win now takes the Reds seven points beyond Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, with Pep Guardiola's side not playing until Monday night, when they host Wolves.

Here are the biggest takeaways from a tough afternoon on the South Coast for Jurgen Klopp's men.

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#5 Brighton's containment tactics worked. Almost...

It was clear from the very first minute that Chris Hughton's game-plan was more a containment exercise than an offensive. one. It was, on face value, a clever plan given the attacking prowess that the Reds do possess.

Brighton were superbly organised in the first half, and succeeded in frustrating Liverpool throughout the half. The league-leaders were forced to have meaningless possession at the back. Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum had so much possession in that first half, yet the only real options available to them were behind them.

Brighton's narrow shape meant that Liverpool's only option was to go wide, where their full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson were playing as auxiliary wingers. But both Solly March and Jurgen Locadia worked their socks off to ensure that neither full-back had enough space to create anything meaningful.

One might have said that Hughton could have attacked Liverpool a little bit more given that they had Fabinho playing as a makeshift centre-back, but no one can really question him being sceptical of the Reds' fearsome front three.

Even after Salah put Liverpool ahead with the penalty, Brighton didn't get out of their shape until the last few minutes of the game, when they pumped balls into the box.

It was unfortunate for Brighton that despite having a sound plan and executing it almost to perfection, one moment of madness meant they got nothing from the game.

It is difficult to defend against a player of Salah's ability inside the box, but it was a daft move from Pascal Gross to pull the Egyptian down inside the box.

#4 Liverpool's rearranged rearguard didn't matter

Trent Alexander-Arnold took a knock to his ankle in the pre-match warm-up

With Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren missing, and Joel Matip only fit enough to make the bench, Klopp had to fit Fabinho in at centre-back, and was given a further scare in the pre-match warm-up.

Trent Alexander-Arnold had pulled up with an ankle knock, and for a few minutes, it did look likely that further rearrangement would be a necessity. But the youngster pulled through it despite carrying the knock.

He did look visibly uncomfortable in the first half, especially. in the early exchanges. Brighton really should have taken notice of that side of the Liverpool defence, and they did mount all of their rare attacks through that side.

But Alexander-Arnold did just enough to stop Locadia for most of the game, whereas Fabinho was excellent, in general, up against the hefty threat of Glenn Murray.

Given that Brighton almost outright refused to attack on Virgil van Dijk's side, most of their long-balls towards Murray went to Fabinho's side, and the Brazilian dealt with the threat expertly, winning ALL of the aerial duels that he contested.

In the end, despite the uncertainty in terms of availability of personnel, it didn't change much for Liverpool as they came out of the game with their 13th clean sheet in 22 league games. Quite astonishing.

Helps when you have someone like this fella, doesn't it?

I wouldn't mess with Virgil van Dijk 😳 pic.twitter.com/ULgFpzisd1

— RF9 🇧🇷 (@SambaRole) January 12, 2019

#3 Liverpool needed to be more progressive in midfield

There wasn't enough attacking drive from Jordan Henderson from Liverpool's midfield

In the first half, Brighton had locked out Liverpool's forward players - of whom there were four, as Klopp decided to pick Xherdan Shaqiri from the start to compliment his front three.

That meant the onus of Liverpool's attacking play fell on Wijnaldum and Henderson. On face value, it did feel a little bit too defensive against a side like Brighton, who were not really going to play another way.

If Liverpool had a progressive ball-carrier in midfield from the start, it could have possibly made a difference, as it would have given the Brighton rearguard another problem to think about.

Liverpool did have an option, in Naby Keita, but the Guinean has been woefully short of confidence since his move to Anfield, and it's understandable that Klopp didn't pick him in the starting line-up. Having said that, a good performance from the start in a game like this could have been just what Keita needed to kickstart his Liverpool career.

Liverpool had just one presentable opportunity in the whole of the first half, and that only came about thanks to a lung-bursting Robertson, who crossed to Firmino. Apart from that, Liverpool did exactly what Brighton wanted them to do. The Reds played too narrow, and there was too much possession at the feet of Henderson and Wijnaldum.

Neither of them are the most progressive players, and at times in the first half, the exchanges between the two midfielders and the centre-backs were truly sleep-inducing.

#2 Liverpool's long-ball confusion

Brighton were combative and contained Liverpool's attackers

It really was an open secret that Brighton's biggest and most-used weapon of choice is to build their attacks with long-balls forward for Murray to hold up and bring other players into play.

Liverpool dealt with that threat well enough, but they were lulled into playing the same way by a stout, thoroughly organised Brighton side. When, after the first 10-15 minutes, Liverpool realised it was going to be difficult to have too much combination play between the front players, they decided to go route-one whenever they could.

That was exactly what Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy would've wanted Liverpool to do, as they were always going to be favourites to win aerial balls up against the much smaller Liverpool attackers.

The long-balls that Liverpool played weren't even those in behind the Brighton defence, allowing the pace of their attackers to get the better of Dunk and Duffy. It was truly perplexing that Liverpool chose to play that way, because Brighton weren't even playing a high defensive line.

Their tactic of going long in the first-half only played into Brighton's hands, and the Seagulls were only too happy to take it.

#1 Liverpool's perfection against a long-time Achilles' Heel

13 Clean Sheets out of 22. Another day's job well done.

Liverpool have now played 16 games against teams outside the top 5 of the Premier League. They have won all of those 16. What a change!

Over the previous seasons under Jurgen Klopp, the Reds' biggest problem has been their inability to win against some of these lesser sides, which has cost them a sizeable chunk of valuable points.

What has changed this time around though? In every way, the credit for that would have to go to the defensive solidity that they now possess. The axis of Van Dijk and Alisson Becker has been hugely important. Where the Reds would drop points through individual errors in previous seasons, they are blemishless in the current term.

There's also the confidence that those two bring to the team. Liverpool now know that if they score one goal, that, very often, could be enough to win them games. That has meant that they aren't going gung-ho as often as they would.

They say the ability to keep clean-sheets will always keep a team in the hunt to win titles, and Liverpool are live examples of that, this season.

Over the course of the season, Liverpool have 30 games against teams outside the top 5. If they keep up their current record against those teams in the remaining 14 games, they probably would end up winning the league.