Alan Shearer says two Liverpool stars were ‘absolutely bullied’ in Brighton defeat

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 may have been feeling confident heading into Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off on the back of a comprehensive midweek victory over Galatasaray to secure a place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

But Arne Slot’s men were slow out of the blocks at the Amex Stadium and were punished for their sluggish start as Welbeck outjumped Konate to head Brighton in front after only 14 minutes.

Milos Kerkez was alert to capitalise on a mistake from Lewis Dunk to make it all 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 their efforts as Welbeck scored from close range to restore the hosts’ advantage in the 56th minute.

The brace took Welbeck two goals clear of Dominic Calvert-Lewin on the list of the top English scorers in the Premier League this season – the perfect response after being left out of Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man England squad just a day earlier.

In his post-match analysis for the BBC’s Match of the Day programme, Shearer argued that the former Manchester United and Arsenal striker had every right to feel aggrieved having been overlooked by the Three Lions.

‘I think Welbeck can count himself really unlucky that he’s not in the England squad,’ the ex-England and Newcastle forward said.

‘Considering the form he’s in and the number of goals he’s scored… when you look at Dominic Solanke, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Solanke has three goals, Calvert-Lewin has three in the last 12.

‘I think he’s really unlucky not to be in that 35-man squad.’

According to Shearer, fifth-placed Liverpool will have been desperate to kick on after their win over Galatasaray – but were ‘all over the place’ on the south coast.

He added: ‘There were question marks about the opposition in Galatasaray, who I thought were really poor, but we were saying: let’s see what they’re like against better opposition.

‘Today, against Brighton, I thought they were outfought, they were by Brighton and I thought they were all over the place, Liverpool, particularly defensively.

‘He absolutely bullied those two centre-halves today, did Welbeck. Those two were all over the place.’

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 reaction, 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 another touch, and another, ping it in as you want, free header at the far post and he’s Welbeck is all over 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 field with an injury just eight minutes into the contest.

‘There’s no doubt that the situation with Hugo Ekitike upset them in terms of the rhythm and they had to change one or two bits,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer – went on.

‘But there were 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 think he’ll be slightly disappointed that he hasn’t been called up into the England squad with his form,’ Rooney said of his former United and England team-mate.

‘He’s the highest goalscoring English player this season in the Premier League.

‘I thought he was excellent against Liverpool. His work-rate, his movement, everything 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 always done as a player.’

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