Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left to bemoan a lack of freshness in his side, after the Reds were beaten 1-0 by Brighton at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Having seen his team win their last two outings, including an attack-minded and impressive win away to West Ham at the weekend, the performance against the Seagulls was a shock to the system.
Despite dominating possession, Liverpool were lethargic and lacking speed or invention in the final third, with Brighton having more shots and shots on target in the game.
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Klopp made only two changes to his line-up from the West Ham game, with Roberto Firmino replacing Divock Origi in attack and Caoimhin Kelleher replacing the ill Alisson Becker in goal - and perhaps that led to the lack of energy he felt his side showed.
“We played against really good opposition. For us it looked like this week was too tough,” said the Reds’ manager to BT Sport.
"It looked like we were mentally not fresh, then you can’t be physically ready.
"They had good players, they deserved to win, that’s fine, but we wanted to play better and more convincing.
“We lost too many balls in promising situations. I know they can play the pass from ‘A’ to ‘B’, but tonight 'B’ seemed not reachable.”
Klopp failed to immediately put his finger on the issue at full time, with Liverpool’s lack of clear chances and inability to test the visiting 'keeper a feature of the latter stages of the game.
"I have no explanation at the moment other than we had a tough week and a tough opponent.
“We didn’t create enough. We had good a phase in the second half and [Brighton] felt it, but they came through and we didn’t, that’s a fact.”
