1) We can win ugly
For me, the main thing we should take away from today's victory over Brighton is the fact that Liverpool are now a team that can "win ugly". It's a phrase that's been thrown around regularly for teams such as Manchester United or Chelsea, teams who are always in the mix at the top of the table and seem to have that annoying ability to see out a result despite playing terribly.
I wouldn't go as far to say Liverpool were terrible on Saturday, far from it, but the Reds were definitely below par. For me though, instead of being a negative, this is actually extremely encouraging. Similar to the Palace result, the Reds were able to hold on to a slim lead and convert it into an all-important three points.
Brighton were always going to be a difficult side to play against because the Reds have always struggled under Klopp against organised teams. This season however, Klopp seems to have found the key to unlock the points in these tight situations and I for one take that as a massive, massive positive.
2) Salah's slow start?
Some on social media, would you believe it, have been suggesting that Salah is having a slow start or that he doesn't quite look himself. I think some people are just getting very nervous that he won't be able to live up to the previous season but people need to calm the hell down.
Salah netted again today and while some of his shots and passes were slightly questionable, on the whole, he has already had a huge impact on the first three games of the season. Let's not forget that he also started slowly in his first season. I'm not worried.
3) Alisson has the skills
Alisson made a sublime save late on to ensure the Reds secured all three points. As mentioned in a previous post one of my key phrases this season is "strikers win you matches, goalkeepers win you titles" and I truly hope that the introduction of Alisson can help us meet that mantra.
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However, he does seem to like to take on outfield players haha! Both sides of this were displayed against Brighton, on the one hand, the piece of skill chipping the ball to remove the danger from the striker outside his box was mesmerising but on the other hand, coming out to tackle a player outside of the box with your feet and completely missing? Not so great haha.
It reminds me a bit of Pepe Reina, I still laugh my head off now whenever I see the infamous Robben clip. Importantly though, this kind of behaviour from a goalkeeper only happens if the shot-stopper is confident and Alisson simply oozes confidence. I just think he may need to tone down his out of the box antics.
4) Clean sheets are no longer a pipe dream
On the back of another solid defensive performance and thanks to a great save, Liverpool have yet another clean sheet, their third of the season. Clean sheets used to be something Kopites could only dream of, we'd still win a lot of matches but we'd win by scoring more. A lot of 2-1s or 3-2s etc and that's fine but again, if you want to be serious about contending for a title, clean sheets can make all the difference.
The partnership of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez worked brilliantly again today against Brighton.
5) Gerrard's influence remains?
Steven Gerrard may currently be managing Rangers but his influence and style can still be seen around Anfield. Trent Alexander-Arnold made me double take this afternoon when the youngster performed a pin perfect long range pass diagonally across the field.
It was stunning, very Gerrard-esque. He was also unlucky with a free-kick earlier in the game as it smashed off the bar.
I'm sure Steven would be proud.