Jurgen Klopp was unlikely to admit it after his side’s 5-1 win at Brighton, but when it came to the threadbare Liverpool defence at the Amex Stadium he got away with it.
For all that the club’s moneymen will be grateful the manager and his free-scoring team kept the volume of calls for defensive reinforcements in the January transfer window low, the set up on Saturday was no solution to the team’s undoubted weakness.
Klopp lost Joel Matip for up to a month with a thigh injury in the build-up to the game, and with Joe Gomez ill and Ragnar Klavan only well enough for the bench, fans must have feared the worst.
Jurgen Klopp was forced to put out a very makeshift defence as Liverpool faced Brighton
The answer of the ever-attacking Liverpool manager was to turn midfield into defence and look for security in numbers.
He used Georginio Wijnaldum and Emre Can as makeshift centre backs in a three alongside Dejan Lovren, and drafted in the almost-forgotten Andrew Robertson as a wing-back on the left, and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right.
Jordan Henderson also dropped deep to help out, and sometimes it looked more like a back-four diamond than a back five.
But they were only sporadically tested. Glenn Murray was Brighton’s only out-and-out frontman, and Liverpool enjoyed enough possession in the match to ensure he would largely be starved of service.
Emre Can had to put the team before himself and take up a position at centre half
The German managed to get among the goals as Liverpool adopted their attacking mentality
The striker still caused a few nervous moments for Klopp, though. He got between the Liverpool defenders several times and exposed the poor understanding between them.
In the first half, a simple chip forward wasn’t far from reaching him despite all five defenders being close by. Not long after, the striker should have done better from close range when Izzy Brown was allowed to cross to him from the left.
Liverpool’s flanks looked vulnerable and will need to be worked on if this system with these personnel is used again.
Robertson, the £8 million summer signing from Hull who hadn’t featured in the Premier League since September, took up an advanced position for much of the game.
He covered a lot of ground, but he contributed little in either attack or defence and may have to wait a while before he gets another chance.
Much the same could be said of the performance of Alexander-Arnold on the other side, but he was called into defensive duties more often – and although he was beaten too easily on several occasions, he made one crucial saving tackle in his penalty area late on.
Frailties at the back were masked by Liverpool’s free-scoring attacking line
Philippe Coutinho put in an inspired performance and ensured the Reds could not be caught
Wijnaldum on the left of the back three frequently look a little lost, not knowing where to position himself or who should be marking whom.
Can’s performance was encouraging but it was hard to say on the basis of this whether he could tide things over for the Liverpool defence while Matip is out.
In the quieter periods, he showed great anticipation, intercepting well and turning defence into attack. He scored with a powerful header, too, which can’t have hurt his cause.
But the German looked a little ragged as the game wore on, tripping Brown on the edge of Liverpool’s area and getting away with allowing Murray time and space to shoot from close range in the 72nd minute.
The defence could not be blamed for the penalty though, from which Murray scored, as the justification for giving it seemed flimsy at best. After five goals were scored at the other end, few could complain but tougher opponents could cause them problems.