A lot can happen in a week or so. Mohamed Salah’s interview will go down as one of the most explosive in Premier League history, but now, he’s breaking records against Brighton like nothing ever happened.
Hugo Ekitike opened the scoring in the first minute after Joe Gomez nodded a botched clearance right into the striker’s path, giving him plenty of space to thunder his striker beyond Bart Verbruggen.
Gomez didn’t last much longer and was forced off through injury. Salah then made his return from the bench, with Dominik Szoboszlai dropping into the right-back role.
Salah went on to assist Ekitike’s second goal, in the process becoming the outright record holder for goal involvements with a single Premier League club, reaching 277 in total (188 goals and 89 assists).
Salah and Slot bury the hatchet
Following their 3-3 draw with Leeds, Salah stepped out to say that he believed he had been “thrown under the bus”, later saying that he no longer had any relationship with Slot and the game against Brighton could be his last.
So, either Slot called his bluff, or the two have managed to talk it out. The Dutchman’s post-match press conference would suggest the latter after he said there are "no issue to resolve" between them, which is certainly a positive for Liverpool.
The Egyptian proved his worth when he came on, not only providing the assist for their second goal, but also creating five chances, having eight touches in the Brighton box, and making five recoveries. Perhaps everyone can get along after all.
Carlos Baleba continues to struggle this season
The Cameroonian was fantastic last season, if fact, he was so good, Brighton were asking Man United to spend a massive £100 million on him. Judging his performance so far this season though, he isn’t worth half that.
Fabian Hurzeler has previously said that the transfer rumours over the summer got to him, it’s a pretty human response for a 21-year-old, but he needs to get his act together soon or risk being dropped by Brighton never mind joining a club like Man United.
Substituted in the 64th minute, Baleba, a defensive midfielder, didn’t make a single clearance or interception, and completed just one pass into the final third in what was a nothing performance.
It could have been worse, he didn’t make any major errors, and his pass accuracy rate was good (90%), even if they were mostly sideways and backwards. More is expected from Baleba, though, and he needs to step up.
Liverpool didn’t need to sign Alexander Isak
It sounds harsh, but it’s starting to look like Liverpool should have kept the £125 million they spent on the striker and stuck with the man they had already signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for nearly half that.
Ekitike has been their best player of the season so far, alongside Szoboszlai, and his brace once again proved that he should be Liverpool’s starting striker, without a shadow of a doubt.
To make matters worse for Isak, he came off the bench, which admittedly isn’t ideal, and was anonymous. The Swede is so clearly completely bereft of confidence, so much so that he looks like he’s lost some pace.
Isak can no longer use the excuse that he didn’t have a pre-season. If he doesn’t start scoring soon, he could go down as the worst signing in the competition’s history.