Alan Shearer took aim at Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton, claiming the centre-back pairing were ‘absolutely bullied’ by Danny Welbeck.
Liverpool can have been feeling confident heading into Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off on the back of a comprehensive midweek victory over Galatasaray to secure a spot within the Champions League quarter-finals.
But Arne Slot’s men were slow out of the blocks on the Amex Stadium and were punished for his or her sluggish start as Welbeck outjumped Konate to go Brighton in front after only 14 minutes.
Milos Kerkez was alert to capitalise on a mistake from Lewis Dunk to make all of it square on the half-hour mark, dinking the ball over Giorgi Mamardashvili in some style from 12 yards out.
The Seagulls refused to lie down against the reigning champions, though, and were rewarded for his or her efforts as Welbeck scored from close range to revive the hosts’ advantage within the 56th minute.
The brace took Welbeck two goals clear of Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the list of the highest English scorers within the Premier League this season – the right response after being not noted of Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man England squad only a day earlier.
In his post-match evaluation for the BBC’s Match of the Day programme, Shearer argued that the previous Manchester United and Arsenal striker had every right to feel aggrieved having been neglected by the Three Lions.
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‘I believe Welbeck can count himself really unlucky that he’s not within the England squad,’ the ex-England and Newcastle forward said.
‘Considering the shape he’s in and the variety of goals he’s scored… while you take a look at Dominic Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Solanke has three goals, Calvert-Lewin has three within the last 12.
‘I believe he’s really unlucky to not be in that 35-man squad.’
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In keeping with Shearer, fifth-placed Liverpool could have been eager to kick on after their win over Galatasaray – but were ‘far and wide’ on the south coast.
He added: ‘There have been query marks concerning the opposition in Galatasaray, who I believed were really poor, but we were saying: let’s see what they’re like against higher opposition.
‘Today, against Brighton, I believed they were outfought, they were by Brighton and I believed they were far and wide, Liverpool, particularly defensively.
‘He absolutely bullied those two centre-halves today, did Welbeck. Those two were far and wide.’
Focussing in on Brighton’s early opener, Shearer explained: ‘It’s a terrible pass from the goalkeeper, an awful touch from the defender.
‘Watch Van Dijk’s response, he’s screaming at his players to get back and help them.
‘Then the throw-in comes, [Brighton] take a touch, no pressure on the ball, take one other touch, and one other, ping it in as you would like, free header on the far post and he’s Welbeck is throughout Konate.
‘He bullies Konate, as I said, and he gets the goal with ease.’
Shearer felt Liverpool were massively thrown off their game after Hugo Ekitike was forced from the sector with an injury just eight minutes into the competition.
‘There’s little question that the situation with Hugo Ekitike upset them when it comes to the rhythm and so they had to alter one or two bits,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer – went on.
‘But there have been three different right-backs today, clearly that doesn’t help.
‘I just thought there was no pressure in midfield, no real threat up front and, defensively, the spaces in between were glaring. It was so obvious what was missing.’
Shearer’s Match of the Day colleague, Wayne Rooney, was similarly impressed by Welbeck’s showing, praising the forward’s ‘excellent’ work-rate and movement throughout.
‘He’s been excellent this season and I believe he’ll be barely disenchanted that he hasn’t been called up into the England squad together with his form,’ Rooney said of his former United and England team-mate.
‘He’s the best goalscoring English player this season within the Premier League.
‘I believed he was excellent against Liverpool. His work-rate, his movement, the whole lot about his game really caused Liverpool big problems.
‘He’s 35 years of age but he’s showing no signs of slowing down. He’s there working for his team, which he’s at all times done as a player.’
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