How Brentford Bullied Liverpool: The Fallout

Analysing how long throws, direct play, and relentless pressing dismantled Arne Slot's Liverpool.

Brentford came out on top at the Gtech Community Dtadium in an outstanding performance, beating champions Liverpool 3-2.

Arne Slot’s side have now lost four league games in a row, a run that would’ve been unthinkable this time last year.

Brentford’s Long Throws

The home side got off to a brilliant start as in the fifth minute, Dango Ouattara scored a volley from a Michael Kayode long throw in.

Arne Slot admitted after the game that Liverpool had only worked on long throws during their Friday training session, though it would prove to be ineffective as Kristoff Ajer beat Hugo Ekitike to the initial header.

Ouattara found space behind Milos Kerkez, allowing him to take on the volley relatively uncontested, which he finished to the right of Giorgi Mamardashvilli, against the momentum of the Liverpool keeper.

Once again, Liverpool showed their weakness in defending set pieces, which has plagued them for some time now and despite Slot’s constant reference to these issues in the media, it was something that saw them go down early once again.

Directness Kills Liverpool

Liverpool looked to progress up the pitch through Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai looking to break the lines, though after the ball left them two, they largely struggled to hold onto it.

This was evident for Brentford’s second goal, as Jones played a ball into Florian Wirtz, who found Ekitike who had dropped deep, looked to play a pass back into Wirtz, it went straight to Igor Thiago.

As soon as Brentford had the ball, Kevin Schade made a run, looking to isolate Konate who had minimal support with Conor Bradley high up the pitch preparing to get forward.

Schade ran in behind onto a brilliant Damsgaard through ball, leaving Konate in his dust before slotting past Mamardashvilli, who should’ve done much better for the goal.

This goal was the ultimate highlight of Liverpool’s problems this season, sloppy and uninspiring in possession and easily beaten in transition, it looks dire at the minute and aside from the impressive win against Frankfurt in midweek, there are very little signs of improvement.

How Brentford Won

Keith Andrews’ side were incredibly up for the game, winning so many of the second balls, showing toughness and looking like they wanted it a lot more than the Liverpool players today.

Liverpool’s goal kicks were met with an aggressive man-to-man press, which tended to see them win the ball, as they looked to put the weaker links in Liverpool’s build-up such as Kerkez and Mohamed Salah under pressure.

They defended incredibly well, limiting Liverpool’s attacking threat with a 4-4-2/4-1-4-1 low block, with many instances where the whole team was sat behind the ball and Liverpool struggled to break through.

Brentford played direct football including dangerous long throws and long balls which caused plenty of issues for the champions, and saw them having more big chances than Liverpool, though the same xG.

Were Liverpool Rattled?

With how well Brentford played and how eager they were to win every loose ball, as well as making the game as difficult as possible for a struggling Liverpool side, it was hard to see any sort of impressive play from Liverpool.

They did have their moments, such as Kerkez’s goal coming from a good Bradley cross, though it could have been dealt with better by Brentford, and a few attacks that looked like they had promise, Liverpool just didn’t seem to be anywhere near as eager to win as Brentford.

The players looked uninspiring in build-up, slow to react defensively in transition and they were bullied by the Bees, to the point where they looked weak and worried.

While Slot obviously has credit in the bank, questions will need to be asked of the Dutch manager when Liverpool continue to look poor due to issues that have been apparent for months now.

The only real positives that the Reds can take from this game is the exceptional performance of Dominik Szoboszlai who seemed to be the only player to give his all, completing the most passes (72), winning the most tackles (3) & duels (11), as well as making the most recoveries (10) on the pitch.

It will also be good to see the Hungarian assisting Salah who scored an exceptional goal, as it might be just what he needs to gain a bit of confidence and kick on this season to the levels we’ve grown accustomed to from him.