Mitoma magic for Brighton puts Liverpool to the sword
Liverpool's disastrous season suffered another blow on Sunday as the holders were dumped out of the FA Cup in a 2-1 defeat at Brighton. Kaoru Mitoma's brilliant control and finish in stoppage time earned the Seagulls a place in the fifth round. Liverpool had led at the Amex through Harvey Elliott, but have now won just once in their last six games. Lewis Dunk levelled before the break for Brighton and they were well worthy of the victory given to them by a moment of magic from Mitoma. The Japanese winger cushioned Pervis Estupinan's cross into his path, flicked the ball over Joe Gomez and fired high past Alisson Becker in the 92nd minute. Liverpool are languishing in ninth in the Premier League, 21 points behind pacesetters Arsenal. Their FA Cup exit leaves the Champions League as their only remaining shot at a trophy this season. Last season Jurgen Klopp's men were on the brink of a historic quadruple, which included their first FA Cup triumph in 16 years. But he is now searching for answers to halt their decline after a second defeat on the south coast in 15 days. Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson said the result was "bitterly disappointing." "This season has been nowhere near good enough," he said. "At the start of the year we wanted a fresh start but that hasn't happened. We've been worse. In the league we haven't been good enough and now we're out of both cups. "You can't put your finger on one thing, it's more than that. You can tell we're not as confident in front of goal and in defence we are a wee bit open. We had two clean sheets coming into today but then go and concede two goals." (AFP)