Steele assesses De Zerbi's performance as he vies with Amorim to replace Klopp

It was sold as an audition for Roberto De Zerbi. If not for the Liverpool job, for which he has been regularly mentioned, but for the soon-to-be vacant positions at Bayern Munich, Barcelona and, who knows, perhaps also Chelsea and Manchester United.

So from Merseyside to Munich, how did De Zerbi fare? His Brighton side lost 2-1 to Premier League leaders Liverpool but this certainly was not a failure. His case was somewhat strengthened by the fact the wasteful Reds scored just twice from 30 shots.

But Brighton gave this a good go. Where many teams come to Anfield looking to sit back and reduce space, the Seagulls’ approach was brave, daring and caused Jurgen Klopp’s men a number of problems.

From the very first knockings, Liverpool set up in an unorthodox but extremely offensive shape. Conor Bradley, right back on the team sheet, was pushed right up, and the average position map from the first half resembled a 2-4-4 shape.

But Brighton did not sit back and try to counteract that. Instead, they pushed high up the pitch, with Simon Adingra and Tariq Lamptey causing problems from wide areas, plus Danny Welbeck and Jakub Moder staying high and sitting right on the toes of Liverpool’s central defenders.

It caused the Reds, who have not lost a league match at Anfield since October 2022, many problems in the first half especially. Bradley was excellent going forward but often left chasing shadows in a defensive sense.

Worth adding as well is that Brighton were without several key attacking players here, such as Kaoru Mitoma, Joao Pedro, Solly March and Julio Enciso, all key members to the Seagulls’ output.

So, is De Zerbi ready for a top club? Liverpool fans tend to be far from sold on him, with Ruben Amorim the strongest candidate