Victory in Frankfurt on Wednesday, it seems, was solely momentary respite. Liverpool didn't simply slip to a fourth league defeat in a row for the primary time since February 2021, however have been totally outplayed and outfought by Brentford. The anxious interval of stoppage time the house facet endured was out of preserving with every part that had gone earlier than.
Brentford have a tendency naturally to a direct method anyway, however Arne Slot's grumbling final week about Manchester United's lengthy balls was an open invitation. Liverpool by no means bought to grips with the tempo of Kevin Schade operating in behind their again 4, they usually appeared uncomfortable as nicely in opposition to Michael Kayode's fusillade of lengthy throws. Each facet now is aware of that Liverpool are weak to balls performed in behind their full-backs. The opening aim, scored after 5 minutes, stemmed from a Kayode throw, however that was the results of Giorgi Mamardashvili mopping up as Schade chased behind Conor Bradley. It was already the second time he had executed so.
Some lengthy throw specialists depend on energy, the physique contorted to turn into a grunting trebuchet, however simply because the quickest bowlers or the golfers who drive the ball furthest are usually probably the most sleek, so Kayode appears to generate his distance with rhythm. There's a lithe fluidity to his run-up and launch, the trajectory oddly flat, extra metallic wooden than seven iron. Some lengthy throws are harmful as a result of they drop so slowly that it's tough for defenders to attain distance with a clearing header, however not Kayode's. His deliveries scud on a low parabola, a extra correct model of a cross from the identical place. Kristoffer Ajer flicked on and Dango Ouattara smashed in a falling volley with Liverpool's defence apparently mesmerised.
It was Schade's tempo that introduced the second on the stroke of half-time. Hugo Ekitiké misplaced possession and Mikkel Damsgaard, who would twice be denied by spectacular saves from Mamardashvili, opened Liverpool up with a sometimes incisive through-ball, Ibrahima Konaté successfully giving up the chase earlier than Schade beat the keeper.
Full-back has been an issue place for Liverpool this season, particularly on the left the place Milos Kerkez seems to be nothing just like the thrusting participant he did at Bournemouth final season. He wasted possession repeatedly, confidence fraying, in addition to accumulating a useless reserving, however he did slam in a low Bradley cross deep in first-half stoppage time.
Brentford's gamers and followers protested about how lengthy the half had been allowed to go on for – too lengthy, it turned out, for the referee Simon Hooper who had to get replaced for the second interval. But when their worry was that the aim had provided Liverpool a lifeline, it was misplaced. The house facet continued to dominate and prolonged the lead when a foul given for Virgil van Dijk's kick on Ouattara was deemed to have taken place contained in the field. Igor Thiago transformed the penalty.
Slot responded with a flurry of substitutions, most of them forwards.
By the seventieth minute, Liverpool have been taking part in a type of 4-1-5, with Florian Wirtz and Federico Chiesa as shuttling inside forwards. Chiesa has now performed extra league minutes this season than he did within the entirety of final.
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Wirtz, in the meantime, continues to frustrate. He has not been as dangerous as some have made out however, equally, when a participant arrives for £116m there may be at all times going to be expectation, and when he's a ahead who fails to attain or register an help in his first eight league video games, that's remodeled into strain. Again within the center for the primary time within the league because the 1-0 win over Burnley in mid-September, he appeared visibly tense and, when an opportunity fell his means halfway by means of the primary half, he snatched at it. However he isn't the one one out of kinds.
Mohamed Salah had barely been concerned when he gathered Dominik Szoboszlai's cross with a high quality first contact and lashed a shot in off the underside of the bar with a minute remaining.
Even that appeared to return from nothing, the results of a second of Brentford carelessness reasonably than of concerted Liverpool strain.
There have been comprehensible nerves as the road approached, however regardless of one other prolonged interval of stoppage time, and a nook given for Caoimhín Kelleher losing time, Brentford completed as they'd been all through: by far the superior facet.
