Return of the Mac as Brighton host Liverpool

There are good ways to leave a football club and there are bad ways to leave a football club. Unfortunately, most recent departures from Brighton have chosen the latter with Alexis Mac Alister a rare exception in his summer move to Liverpool.

Mac Alister should expect a warm welcome on his first return to the Amex as a result. Unlike Robert Sanchez, he did not refuse to play.

Unlike Moises Caicedo, his agent did not play out every single step of a transfer saga though agents and the press with total disrespect for the Albion.

And unlike Marc Cucurella, Mac Allister did not come out with all kinds of incredible bollocks upon leaving, such as driving past Stamford Bridge and it becoming his dream to play for Chelsea.

Even though it had been his dream to play for Manchester City a week earlier. And his dream to play for Barcelona a month before that.

Instead, Mac Allister cried as he saluted the Brighton support at the end of what we all suspected would be his last game in the stripes on the final day of last season.

He acted like the ultimate professional as the Albion and Liverpool negotiated. He has been nothing but complimentary about Brighton since leaving.

Mac Allister is the man who put the Albion on the map by becoming the first Brighton player ever to win a World Cup, not to mention the integral part he played in taking the Seagulls to their highest finish and into Europe. What a bloke – and one who rightly occupies a special place in the history of our football club.

The form has Mac Allister showed last season has followed him to Anfield, where he is already an important part of what many are calling Liverpool 2.0.

The insinuation being this is the second great Redmen team built by Jurgen Klopp after his Champions League and Premier League winning side of 2018-2020.

From the point of view of anyone not connected with Liverpool, it does seem a little early to be throwing down such platitudes.

Especially when Klopp is already resorting to saying a defeat to Spurs needs to be replayed because the officials made and acknowledged mistakes.

Using Klopp logic, Brighton should have both their matches at Spurs and Crystal Palace last season replayed. Those 180 minutes of football yielded three PGMOL apologies and just a single point for the Albion, who might otherwise have taken six.

With those six additional points, Brighton would have finished in fifth spot above Liverpool. We can probably find some more terrible refereeing errors to make up another three points to take the Albion ahead of Newcastle United and into the Champions League.

Contrary to the popular belief held on Merseyside, Liverpool are not the only side to be wronged by VAR and bad officiating.

What their public statements about it and Klopp calling for replays does is ramp up the pressure on officials. Every decision which goes against Liverpool when they visit Brighton will now be under the microscope.

No referee, assistant or anyone in the VAR room is going to want to get something wrong. And that could well work against the Albion, should they all err on the side of caution and favour the Redmen. Which is probably want Klopp secretly wants.

Facing Liverpool right now would be tough enough for Brighton without this potential for bias in favour of the visitors.

The Seagulls have struggled a little for form recently, a result of playing twice a week and the significant amount of rotation Roberto De Zerbi has opted for in response to that schedule.

De Zerbi himself said after the 2-2 draw against Marseille on Thursday night: “I want to be honest more than other days, other games. I think we are not playing well, it’s a very tough period for us in this moment. It’s difficult to show our quality like last season.”

What coming from 2-0 behind to draw in the hostile environment of Stade Velodrome did show, however, was character. Or as De Zerbi would say, big balls.

Brighton should take a lot of confidence from their second half display in which they were much the better side. Not many teams go to Marseille and recover from giving away two goals in the space of as many minutes.

The Albion will need to show similar character against a Liverpool side who, regardless of what happens with the decision making in the game, will be fired up to right the wrongs of their loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week ago.

Speaking to fellow Brighton fans, expectations are that there will be one of two outcomes against Liverpool. The first is that Brighton return to their glorious best, delivering a performance and result to match last year’s 3-0 win over the Redmen in the Premier League or the 2-1 FA Cup victory a fortnight later.

The other is that losing 6-1 to Aston Villa was only a precursor to what Liverpool might do; another heavy defeat is incoming, leaving the Albion to go into the international break with their tails between their legs.

One thing we can say with certainty is that it will not be dull. It never is, watching Brighton under De Zerbi. And it is never is when the Albion face Liverpool.

Expect refereeing controversy. Side line antics from De Zerbi and Klopp. Mo Salah to dive. And hopefully, a warm welcome back to the Amex for Mac Allister. He deserves it before all the fun and games begin.