Liverpool and Brighton both learn tough lesson as Arne Slot improvement quickly undone

Liverpool emerged from the Amex with a 3-2 win over Brighton, a hard-earned result that sees Arne Slot's side advance into the League Cup quarter-finals. But as well as progression, there were also some lessons to take away, many of which were just as applicable to Fabian Hurzeler and the Seagulls.

Of course, it won't be long before we see which manager learned their lesson, with Liverpool and Brighton set to meet again on Saturday in the Premier League. The venue will be different, with the upcoming fixture taking place at Anfield, but Slot and Hurzeler will be keen to ensure that the same mistakes are not made.

Some of that could come down to personnel. It was a tough evening for Jarell Quansah, for example, and we can expect to see Ibrahima Konate in from the start in the league encounter.

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However, despite a rather inauspicious start to the Slot era for Quansah, neither the head coach nor anybody else will hold him solely responsible for making the Brighton match closer than it needed to be. There are broader things to improve upon ahead of the weekend's clash.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Andy Hinchliffe highlighted how Brighton's first goal came out of the blue. It undid much of Liverpool's hard work to gain control of the contest up to that point:

"Liverpool were cruising but they gave the ball away cheaply," Hinchliffe said. "The goalkeeper should have done better. Out of nothing, Brighton are back in it."

That was a tough assessment of Vitezslav Jaros, who was always second-favorite after the Quansah mistake. The stand-in goalkeeper had earlier kept Liverpool ahead in spectacular fashion, springing back the way he had come to keep out a Simon Adingra header.

But regardless of the specific players at fault, Liverpool did jeopardize the result with a simple lapse in concentration. We've yet to see much of that under Slot, who has overseen the best defensive record in the Premier League, but perhaps this was a warning about what to expect from higher-level opposition.

Hinchliffe conceded that Brighton's second was more of a fluke:

"When the deflection happens, there is no chance for the goalkeeper," he said. "A huge chunk of good fortune for Brighton."

But if nothing else, this will teach Slot and Liverpool the value of killing games off while in control. Shortly before Cody Gakpo got his second of the night, he had fluffed an opportunity to extend the lead, squaring to Dominik Szoboszlai as they bore down on goal but making things harder than they had to be for the Hungarian.

Fortunately, Liverpool was not made to pay, because Brighton was busy learning a similarly tough lesson. Ahead of the repeat fixture, Slot will be quietly buoyed by how well his side was able to slice through the defense and do damage.

"Defensively, it is just so poor," Hinchliffe said of the Luis Diaz goal that ultimately settled the contest. "The clearance is just not good enough.

"There were defenders everywhere but they were just too passive. The ball is squeezed in — that's what good teams will do."

So perhaps both managers will be looking to tighten up in the second bout. Certainly, Slot will be keen to prove that the defensive uptick he has inspired is not only relevant against "lesser" sides — and both coaches will be stressing concentration and commitment for the full 90 minutes in order for their game plans to work.

Liverpool.com says: That is two games in a row now where Liverpool has conceded two, a real shock to the system for a side that has only conceded five league goals all season. But there's no reason to fear that all of Slot's hard work has come undone on any kind of permanent basis.

There's no doubt that it's a warning sign about what can happen against the better sides in the division, and it will be interesting to see how Slot approaches the repeat game in just a few days' time. But ultimately, Liverpool did enough to get the win, and that's a habit of the new head coach that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.