Liverpool Player Ratings vs Brighton: Salah & Jones Shine in FA Cup Win

Liverpool player ratings, winners and losers vs Brighton as Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones were among those to play well, ensuring a second successive win for Arne Slot this week

ANFIELD, LIVERPOOL // Mohamed Salah impressed and Liverpool won well against a disappointing Brighton side struggling under Fabian Hurzeler, with Arne Slot getting a much-needed boost.

In the first half, Cody Gakpo had the ball in the net from a Dominik Szoboszlai cross, but he was clearly offside. It was a 45-minute period lacking quality until Milos Kerkez found Curtis Jones, who finished well.

Salah teed up Szoboszlai for the Hungarian to score his 10th goal of the season in all competitions 11 minutes after half-time, effectively sealing the tie. He then emphatically converted a penalty, meaning the Reds’ name will be in the fifth round draw on Monday.

Winners

Jones will not have enjoyed the fact that he was playing right-back, even if it gave him the chance to make a rare start. He made the most of the opportunity, though, delivering a solid defensive performance and popping up with a goal.

Kerkez, the man who assisted the opener, was lively too. He squared up to his man at one point and was running it a little close to the line at times, but he grew into things and put in another solid showing.

Most of all, though, it was Salah who was the big winner. Even before his goal and assist, he looked bright. The pass and the penalty only added to it.

Losers

Italian forward Federico Chiesa is not likely to get many chances to start matches and even had he done well here, that wouldn’t have changed. He struggled to make much an impact, though, and his lack of speed is glaring.

His best role is as a late impact substitute and he can still make a difference like that this season. His main contribution here was simply to give Hugo Ekitike a much-needed rest.

Player ratings

Alisson Becker (7). Slightly surprising that he started, given Giorgi Mamardashvili got the Barnsley game in the last round. Didn’t have loads of saves to make and was a bit slow with his distribution on occasion, but came for a couple of crosses well.

Curtis Jones (8). Back in the starting XI for the first time in almost a month, he was filling in at full-back, which is far from his best role, but he did really well. Dallied in possession a few times early on but hit a good shot just wide and was generally composed before breaking the deadlock with a calm finish from close range. A genuine option there when required.

Ibrahima Konate (7). Absolutely brilliant at Sunderland on Wednesday, he had his hands full again with a tricky customer in Charalampos Kostoulas here. Stepped up and did well, though.

Virgil van Dijk (7). Decent enough but didn’t have to be spectacular. Good on the ball in the main.

Milos Kerkez (8). He was through on goal but offside at one point, when he was looking straight along the line and should have held his run. Made up for it with a great assist for Jones in the first half before being quieter in the second.

Dominik Szoboszlai (8). He doesn’t like playing right-back and he was back in midfield here. Got through plenty of running; wasn’t as involved as he has been for a lot of this season in the first half but that changed after the break, when he scored a great goal.

Alexis Mac Allister (6). Sloppy on the ball early on and didn’t always find it easy against his old club. More than willing to put a tackle in but he is still lacking something when it comes to sharpness.

Mohamed Salah (8). His last open-play goal for Liverpool came against Aston Villa at the start of November. However, he was better in terms of his overall play here, and he seemed to have a bit more of a spring in his step, with his assist for Szoboszlai a real touch of class. He won and then emphatically scored the penalty and was a strong performer.

Florian Wirtz (6). In great form of late, the German struggled to get his first touch right. More often than not, he was unusually sloppy when the play broke his way. Perhaps he was a little jaded, and if so, a full week to prepare before Nottingham Forest will help.

Cody Gakpo (6). Headed into the back of the net in the first half but was clearly offside when, like Kerkez, he should have done better. Not as involved in the game as he would have liked but played his part in the second goal with a perfect cross-field pass.

Federico Chiesa (6). Starting up top to give Hugo Ekitike a much-needed rest, he lacks a yard of pace to get away from his man. There was space in behind but he wasn’t able to exploit it.

Joe Gomez, Rio Ngumoha and Hugo Ekitike came on late-ish, but only once the game was already done. Ngumoha should have had a goal, but was wrongly pulled back for offside. Trey Nyoni and Calvin Ramsay were also introduced too late to earn a rating.