Fabinho comes in for Henderson who has a concussion, Tsimikas for Robertson. Matip is replaced by Konate who plays for the first time since the World Cup final.
Brentford’s star man Ivan Toney is sidelined to injury.
Nunez had yet another big chance missed in the opening 10 minutes. In hindsight, that proved decisive—the game would have taken a distinctly different direction had he scored. Nunez now leads the table for big chances missed, with Salah in 2nd place.
Brentford’s corners gave Liverpool a lot of trouble. Konate scored an own goal from a corner. Brentford could have been 3-0 in the first half from corners alone bar the intervention of VAR.
VAR was Liverpool’s best friend in the first half, ruling out 2 goals by Wissa. But the Brentford man was not to be denied a 3rd time, as the ball marginally crossed the goal line, giving Brentford a double advantage against Liverpool.
It was a shocker of a performance by Liverpool, prompting 3 first-half substitutions. Matip, Robertson and Keita came on for van Dijk, Tsimikas and Elliot.
Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back for the Reds, who struggled to create further good chances. The game was put to bed after Konate went down too softly to allow Mbeumo to finish.
I can see how Brentford managed to beat Manchester City, and Man United 4-0. Liverpool’s 433 was nullified by their opponents robust 352. The pace of Mbeumo was critical for Brentford.
Liverpool have been riding their luck in their previous 4 consecutive league wins and they finally lost points deservedly.
Every game reminds me of the influence of Sadio Mane. The team is lacking an entire leg without him.
Oxlade-Chamberlain at left-wing just doesn’t cut it, but that isn’t his preferred position anyway. For all his qualities and hunger, Diaz is just not as refined a player as Mane and doesn’t synergise as well with the left-back.
Elliot-Arnold-Salah and Diaz/Chamberlain-Thiago-Tsimikas/Robertson just doesn’t gel together as well as Henderson-Arnold-Salah or Wijnaldum-Mane-Robertson. There is less fluidity in the flanks and midfield channels.
Though it was a bad performance I think there’s no need to overreact as the top 6 bar Arsenal have all dropped points against Brentford. I believe Gakpo will give us a boost. Firmino, Jota and Diaz too, when they come back.
The 2 Nunez situations, had he scored, would have gotten us the win on another day.
Player Ratings 😐
Starters
Alisson 7/10
Made good saves. Can’t fault him for anything.
Alexander-Arnold 5.5/10
Assisted the goal. Caught out at the far post by Wissa.
Konate 3/10
Directly at fault for 2 concessions.
van Dijk 5/10
Couldn’t deal with the pace of Mbeumo. Taken off at half-time.
Tsimikas 4/10
Poor showing.
Elliot 4/10
Struggled in midfield. Couldn’t offer anything.
Fabinho 5/10
Can see why he doesn’t play for Brazil.
Thiago 5.5/10
Not his best game.
Salah 4.5/10
Simply lacklustre. Not as sharp and threatening as he used to be.
Nunez 5.5/10
Scored a brilliant goal that was marginally offside. Yellow card for dissent. Lack of service.
Oxlade-Chamberlain 6.5/10
Scored a header. But he’s still not a left-winger.
Subs
Keita 5.5/10
Provided more midfield penetration but not secure enough in possession.
Matip 6.5/10
Liverpool’s best centre-back of the night.
Robertson 6.5/10
Fired up the team as captain when they went 3-1 down. Provided energy.
Jones NIL
Wish we had better players to bring on when trailing.
Net Spend
We need new owners. In the long run, we cannot compete if our net spend season-on-season is consistently lower than that of other teams. Liverpool have had the good fortune of having Klopp as our manager, which helped them outperform their net spend, but it is not sustainable. Ridiculous that our net spend is even lower than Spurs, who built a new 1 billion-pound stadium! And look at Man United! Think of the things we could have done with an extra 300 million pounds or so.
Worrying Stats
BLOGOPUS 