Liverpool's 2-0 victory over Brighton at Anfield lifted Andoni Iraola's side into the Premier League's top four, moving them within six points of leaders Manchester City and Arsenal. The win, secured by Alexander Isak's sixth league goal of the season and a Pascal Gross own goal, marked Iraola's first league triumph at Anfield, following away successes against Bournemouth and Brentford.
Despite the result, not everyone was impressed with Liverpool's performance on Sunday afternoon, with Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler delivering a pointed assessment of the match.
Hurzeler criticises Liverpool's display
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler, who has been linked with the Manchester United job should Michael Carrick be sacked, was far from magnanimous in defeat. During his press conference, he said: "I think everyone in the stadium saw that there was one team who really tried to create and try to win this game and therefore I have to praise my players."
He added: "I think everyone in the stadium, and you as well, felt there was a missed opportunity for us, because it's not only after the goal or the goals they scored. Also, before they scored, we had one, two big chances and today I think it was just the difference that they scored, we didn't score."
Hurzeler acknowledged Liverpool's defensive resilience, noting: "They kept a clean sheet because they defended well with their centre-backs, with full-back [Ronald] Araujo and with [Milos] Kerkez. I think they blocked a lot of shots. They really defended the box well. We didn't have that efficiency. We couldn't keep the clean sheet because we made easy mistakes, we lost some important personal duels."
Araujo wins over Liverpool fans
Liverpool supporters have shown their admiration for Ronald Araujo, who joined on loan from Barcelona this summer. The 27-year-old Uruguay international impressed by putting his head in danger to block a scoring chance, and later suffered a boot to the face from Malick Yalcouye in the dying moments to stop a counter-attack.
The club holds an option to purchase Araujo for approximately £47m at the end of the season, though it remains unclear whether they will make the move permanent. Manager Iraola spoke highly of the defender after the game, saying: "It helps a lot [to have Ronald]. I think we all enjoyed watching Ronald fighting. I think he's very good in the duels."
He continued: "Even the first goal, I think he wins two duels in a row, he arrives at the byline and after, it's not an assist, but it's worth an assist. And defensively, I think he's been really, really really good. I'm happy for him because I've taken him out in the last two games, because we needed more offensive things, at half-time and he has continued working with no issues and today we needed him more. He has given a very, very good 90 minutes."
