Liverpool have a hole in their heart right now - on and off the pitch

In losing to Brighton - the second time they have conceded three in 2023 - Liverpool showed glaring shortcomings, and midfield is not their only problem...

Regardless of the relative size of the clubs involved, this was Liverpool's second successive Premier League loss to teams either side of them in the current Premier League table. Even if we both strip away the context behind their 3-0 defeat at Brighton - because that result was and was not a thunderbolt - it was a colossally bad result for Jurgen Klopp's side. Add to that a draw at home to Wolves in the FA Cup, and the team's start to 2023 couldn't have been much worse. And all of this after a less than stellar second half of 2022 really forced them to get to work after the World Cup break.

A moment first though, please, to praise Brighton & Hove Albion. They were, once again, exceptional. It was reported after the game that 'Since club football resumed after the World Cup, no team in Europe's top five leagues has scored more goals in all compositions than Brighton', and it's not difficult to understand why. They now move with such fluidity and rhythm that they can find the space that creates opportunities. This recovery began before the end of last season. In their last four games of last season, Brighton scored just 42 goals, the second lowest of all three relegated clubs.

But in their last four games, something seemed to click. In their last four games of last season, Brighton scored three against Wolves and West Ham and four against Manchester United, and they scored five against Leicester in their last game this season before Graham Potter left abruptly . But after a fairly slow start, they have accelerated under Roberto De Zerbi since late October with four goals against Chelsea and Everton, and now three against Southampton, Wolves and Liverpool.

And they have the one thing that Liverpool don't have at the moment; a functional central midfielder. Clearly they needed improvements in both midfield and attack, but it seems surprising that Liverpool relied on Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo last year, two wingers and a striker, as the team screams for some. urgent renovation of the midfield.

This was reflected in the one-sidedness of Brighton's victory. It was just too easy for them to move through space. Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister controlled central midfield as if they were playing in a World Cup, while Solly March was a mischievous presence up front, his perpetual motion propelling him to two goals while Evan Ferguson, who only signed a full contract on his 18th birthday in October, playing like he's been doing this for years. It's no understatement to say that it wouldn't have been so surprising if they had won by five or six.

Liverpool's current existential crisis has left them in a similar position to Chelsea, but it comes from a very different place. Chelsea made a lot of changes very quickly. New owners, lots of new players, new manager and coaching staff, almost everything new. And the acquisition of all these new players coincided with a horrible series of injuries that ran the gamut of bad luck. It's not an excuse, as such. The richest clubs have no excuses.

But that's an explanation. There are a lot of new moving parts that need to be put together quickly at Stamford Bridge. The problem is that there have been so few signs of improvement, and in a results-based business, patience is tested closer and closer to breaking point with each passing defeat. Also, there is no guarantee that everything will eventually fit together.

Liverpool's situation is almost the opposite of that. Liverpool have refreshed themselves this year. It's hard to say they didn't spend any money when they lost £64m (possibly as much as £85m) on Nunez alone. But their refreshment seems to have been partial. They have injuries, but nowhere near as many as Chelsea. And although it has been confirmed that Liverpool are for sale, no sale has yet taken place despite the manager having been there for seven years. If Chelsea have changed more than their stability could tolerate over the last year, Liverpool are heading in the opposite direction to something approaching the same destination.

None of this is to say that Klopp should be sent off at Anfield, or that Liverpool should run like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka's factory in the January transfer window. Chelsea's scattergun transfer policy is far from a uniform success and Liverpool should note t...