Jurgen Klopp suggests Liverpool have unfinished business against Brighton after 3-0 defeat last season

Jurgen Klopp has urged his Liverpool players to perform better than they did last season against Brighton & Hove Albion ahead of their trip to the Amex Stadium.

The Reds were beaten comprehensively in the corresponding fixture last season as Roberto de Zerbi's side romped to a 3-0 courtesy of a Solly March brace and a late goal from Danny Welbeck. Liverpool were in a dismal run of form when the two sides last met in the league but have started the 2023-24 campaign on a positive note despite losing 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Liverpool's clash against the Seagulls, Klopp admitted that his side would have to be on their toes to avoid another 'massive knock' against De Zerbi's side. He said (quotes via Liverpool's official website):

"Whichever options you have, if you play like you played last year, you will get a massive knock again. That’s how it is. So we should play better and I think we can play better, that’s the first step into the right direction, that’s what we have to make sure. Brighton had now I think a few results which didn’t go exactly in their way, but that’s a completely normal situation in a development."

"They had a lot of changes, lost top players – one of them we got – and still played incredible football. We could watch a little bit before the game; we couldn’t see the first half when they were 2-0 down [on Thursday night], I saw the second half when they put Marseille massively under pressure and got a point there."

Brighton have carried on from where they left off last season and have racked up 15 points from seven Premier League games so far, which is an impressive tally considering their UEFA Europa League adventure. Klopp described De Zerbi's side as the 'best-coached' team in the league and lavishes praise on the Seagulls for appointing the Italian manager after Graham Potter's departure.

He said: "So, we expect a really tough game, a really tough game against one of the best sides in the league, best-coached team in the league, I would say, because where they’re coming from and yes, Graham [Potter] did already a lot of stuff and that’s a really smart move from Potter to De Zerbi, to be honest. But they made really big steps and super-consistent, different formations, different players, line-ups – wow, in the end you always see Brighton football and I couldn’t respect that more.

"But I’m really looking forward to the game because we have to put a few things right, because you can look once silly but you should not look a second time silly. It still can happen because they are really good, but we have to do better and we will give it a proper try to do better definitely."