Match Report
Surprise Surprise: Two Goals In Four Minutes And A Lorra Lorra Disappointment
· Admin
Liverpool 2-0 Brighton | Premier League | 25 October 2026 | Anfield, 2pm
Proper away day, this one. M6, service station sandwich priced like a hostage negotiation, and a van full of people who'd convinced themselves that 15-0 across four league wins meant something at Anfield. Surprise surprise. It didn't.
Four Minutes That Did The Lot
Before any of it, Yasin Ayari was played in with Alisson nowhere and blazed it over. Remember that one, because it mattered.
Seventeen. Florian Wirtz let fly from outside the box, it clipped Pascal Gross on the way through and spun past Bart Verbruggen. Own goal on the sheet, and Gross deserves better than that after the season he's having.
0-1
Twenty-one. Bradley Barcola got to the right by-line, cut it back, and Alexander Isak finished it emphatically. Sixth in seven league games, scored in three on the spin.
0-2
Those were the first goals we'd conceded in any competition in over nine hours of football. Gone in four minutes, like a bus timetable.
The Second Half We Bossed And Lost
Ayari hit the post. Trey Nyoni threw himself in front of Maxim De Cuyper when it looked on. Verbruggen had to deal with Ronald Araujo and Cody Gakpo at the other end, because they kept breaking on us.
Here's the number that'll annoy you over breakfast: 66.7% of the ball in the second half, nine attempts, not one of them on target. One shot on target all afternoon. We finished on 1.35 xG to their 0.87 and lost 2-0, which is football explaining itself very slowly to someone at the back.
What They Said
Hürzeler called it a missed opportunity, said we made two easy mistakes and gave them a present, and reckoned only one team was playing to win. He's not wrong on the numbers. He's also not getting the points back.
Andoni Iraola, first home league win of his season, said they needed to start aggressively because they'd been coming from behind lately. They did, and we obliged.
Verbruggen, to his credit, fronted up afterwards and said we came believing we could win here. We did. That's the bit that stings.
The Table, Briefly
Third, 16 points, five off the top and one ahead of Liverpool, who go fourth. Second defeat of the season. Not a crisis. Just a Sunday.
Final Thought
Anfield was Anfield, the welcome was fine, the drive home was long and quiet. Man City twice this week, League Cup Wednesday and the league Saturday, both at the Etihad. We're a minibus and a laminated seating plan, nothing to do with the club, and we'll be pointing north again before the sandwiches have gone stale.
Take care of yourselves. And each other. Especially Ayari, who'll see that first chance every time he closes his eyes. What's it all about, eh.
Liverpool at the Amex, Sunday 23 May 2027. Minibus from across Sussex, £25 return. Home game travel