Brentford Shock Liverpool in 3-2 Thriller

Liverpool fell to a fourth straight Premier League defeat as they lost 3-2 at the Gtech Community stadium, their worst such run since the 20/21 season. They’ve now made it four times that the reigning champions of the Premier League have lost 4 games in a row after Leicester in 16/17, Liverpool themselves in 20/21 and Manchester City last season.

Mo Salah was back in the starting line up after being rested Vs Frankfurt in their UCL match and Isak who picked up an injury in the same match was not in the squad at all which meant Hugo Ekitike got a well deserved start. Keith Andrews named an unchanged XI from the win over West Ham, an XI that had two ex-Liverpool players in Caiomhin Kelleher and Jordan Henderson.

Liverpool started the match rather slowly and they were punished for it, after ignoring the warning shot that Kristoffer Ajer took in the 4th minute, they went 1-0 down just a minute later as Dango Ouattara finished with a volley after Ajer flicked on Michael Kayode’s long throw-in.

Liverpool finally started to show some intent and Salah tested his ex-teammate Kelleher with a left footed shot in the 9th minute. Liverpool continued to mount pressure on the Bees and in the 19th minute, Florian Wirtz should have equalized, after an intelligent pass to Ekitike that split the defense, Ekitike tried a backheel shot that was blocked but the rebound fell kindly to Wirtz who swiped at the shot with his left foot and sent it wide from close range.

In the 21st minute, Ekitike sent a header off target as Liverpool went in search of an equaliser and just two minutes later Cody Gakpo had a shot of his own that went too high.

Brentford then had to make a forced change in the 28th minute as Yehor Yarmoliuk picked up an injury and was unable to continue, with Vitaly Janelt coming on in his place. Between the 29th and 31st minute, Nathan Collins, Jordan Henderson and Michael Kayode took shots that were either saved or off target as they looked to double their lead in a match where Liverpool had looked unconvincing so far.

In fact, one would not have been wrong to say Brentford were dominating the game despite Liverpool having the lion’s share of possession and the Bees were taking shot after shot on Liverpool’s goal with Kristoff Ajer coming close to scoring again in the 34th minute but his shot deflected off target. In the 45th minute however, they were rewarded for their efforts as Mikel Damsgaard took advantage of an errant pass from Hugo Ekitike and sent a perfect throughball in behind Liverpool’s defense that Kevin Schade got on the end of before finishing coolly past Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Brentford must have thought they were taking a 2-0 lead into half time but Milos Kerkez had other ideas as he scored in the 5th minute of first half extra time. Connor Bradley sent a low cross into the box, Hugo Ekitike touched it on in an actual attempt to shoot and Kerkez stabbed it home with his right foot.

Liverpool hoped to use that stoppage time goal to increase their momentum but Brentford started the second half better as well. In the 51st minute, Igor Thiago fired a shot at goal but Mamardashvili was equal to the task, 2 minutes later Thiago tried again but with the same result, another save from the Georgian goalkeeper.

Brentford could smell blood and they continued to assert themselves in the face of a Liverpool side that looked lost for ideas and in the 57th minute Virgil Van Dijk committed a foul on Igor Thiago that was initially thought to be outside the box but VAR called the play back and asked Referee Simon Hooper to have a second look after which it was confirmed that it was actually inside, which meant that Brentford had a chance to restore their two goal lead from the penalty spot, a chance that Igor Thiago simply couldn’t pass up on as he sent Mamardashvili the wrong way to put Brentford 3-1 up in the 59th minute.

Arne Slot then decided it was time for substitutions as Cody Gakpo, Connor Bradley and Milos Kerkez went off for Federico Chiesa, Alexis MacAllister and Andy Robertson. Salah and Ouattara exchanged shots in the 64th and 65th minute before Chiesa put one wide in the 68th before Curtis Jones was replaced by 17 year old Rio Ngumoha in the 71st minute.

Keith Andrews then made substitutions of his own, bringing on Keane Lewis Potter and Mathias Jensen in place of Kevin Schade and Mikel Damsgaard in the 79th minute.

Mo Salah fired another shot over the bar in the 81st minute and a minute later, Arne Slot went for another change, a strange one given the circumstances as he brought on defender Joe Gomez for Florian Wirtz. In the 88th minute, Salah finally found the back of the net as he controlled with his left and volleyed the shot in with his right after a pass from Dominik Szoboszlai who had only gotten the ball because of a Brentford error in build-up.

Igor Thiago had a great chance to put Brentford back into the lead but the header went just wide of the post. Liverpool tried as much as they could to get the equalizer but it just wouldn’t come and Brentford had appeals for a penalty ruled out by VAR before Keith Andrews brought Frank Onyeka and Rico Henry on to shore up the defense and after 10 minutes of added time, the match was over, ending in a 3-2 loss for Liverpool.

Liverpool’s fourth straight league defeat exposed their lack of control and cohesion once again. Despite dominating possession, they failed to match Brentford’s intensity or organisation. Costly mistakes, like Ekitike’s error before Damsgaard’s assist for Schade, and Van Dijk’s foul that led to the penalty, proved decisive. Salah’s late goal only reduced the margin, not the disappointment. Brentford were sharper, more disciplined, and fully deserved their 3-2 win.