Liverpool's defence needs to match the standards set by its attack

Defensive mistakes took centre-stage as Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw against Brighton in Sunday's early-afternoon kick-off.

Off the back of last weekend's refereeing abomination at Tottenham, Reds fans were hoping the injustice would only add fuel to Liverpool's fire, and there was belief that this weekend's contest would see Klopp's side bounce back with a vengeance.

Instead, we witnessed a deeply frustrating game littered with defensive errors, with the Reds never getting going throughout the 90 minutes.

This is despite leading at the break - something which was admittedly undeserved, and only came about due to a six-minute capitulation from the Brighton defence.

That said, our goals were taken well, with Mo Salah coming in at the double to overtake Kenny Dalglish as the club's all-time leading goalscorer... against Brighton & Hove Albion.

The first came five minutes from the break, with the Egyptian finishing off a brilliant move after Alexis Mac Allister pounced on a wayward pass on the halfway line.

Then, just a couple minutes later, Dominik Szoboszlai caught Pascal Gross in possession in his own box, forcing the German to drag him down.

Many have rightly argued that it was a red card offence, with Gross making no attempt to play the ball in what was surely a goal-scoring opportunity - but nevertheless, the Reds had a penalty.

Salah coolly converted, giving Liverpool an unlikely lead going into the break.

As we know, though, scoring goals isn't the issue for Klopp at the moment - it's down the other end of the pitch where we've got problems.

The game marks yet another Premier League outing without a clean sheet, an occurrence made ever the more frustrating by the fact both of Brighton's goals were completely preventable.

Former Seagull Mac Allister was caught napping for the opener, with Simon Adringa nicking the ball from under his nose before catching a back-peddling Alisson off his line and slotting into the corner.

Every party involved could have done better here.

Alisson shouldn't have been in a position to be caught off his line, but probably should have saved Adringa's effort anyway; Virgil van Dijk's initial pass wasn't great as it put Mac Allister in a vulnerable position; and Mac Allister should have acted with more caution and been aware of those around him.

It once again begs the question whether Liverpool's Argentinian playmaker can really be the long-term solution in defensive midfield - it was another tricky outing for him today, and it's obvious that the position doesn't get the best out of Klopp's summer recruit.

After encouraging performances from Wataru Endo in the past fortnight, maybe it's time to give the Japanese national team captain a sustained run in the team - which would in turn allow Mac Allister to move up into a more natural attacking position.

Solutions in the midfield are plentiful for Klopp, so he'll be able to try various trio combinations to see which one works best.

The same can't really be said for Liverpool's defence, though.

It was another imperfect performance from the back four, encapsulated by the Reds' defending of Solly March's 78th minute free-kick, which directly led to Brighton's equaliser.

The main culprit for the second goal was unfortunately Andy Robertson, who pulled his leg away from the whipped ball in fear of knocking into his own net, inadvertently allowing Lewis Dunk to volley home and make it 2-2 at a time when Liverpool felt in control of the game.

That said, Liverpool's back line looked most vulnerable during the opening stages of the contest - something which has become a bit of a trend this season, that I'm sure Klopp is keen to cut out.

Many a joke has been made about Liverpool's tendency this season to concede first and still go on to win 3-1 - now though, leaking goals is finally beginning to cost the side points.

If the Reds have any hope of keeping up with the likes of Manchester City (and dare I say it, Ange-ball Tottenham) in this season's title race, Klopp's defence is going to have start matching the standards set by the attack - kicking into gear from the word go rather than half an hour in.