Alan Shearer says two Liverpool stars were ‘absolutely bullied’ in Brighton defeat
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Your football fix Metro's Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week's biggest stories direct to your inbox every week. Konate badly struggled against Welbeck at the Amex Stadium (Picture: Getty) Welbeck’s double moved the Seagulls up to tenth in the Premier League table (Picture: Getty) ‘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.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 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.
Those two were all over the place.’ Van Dijk had an afternoon to forget on the south coast (Picture: Getty) 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.’ Ekitike lasted just eight minutes of the match (Picture: Getty) 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.’ Welbeck will be ‘disappointed’ to be left out of Tuchel’s latest England squad, says Rooney (Picture: Getty) 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.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page.