Brentford shocked Liverpool to start 2023 with a bang
Key takeaways:
- Yoane Wissa has netted more goals against Liverpool than any other team in the Premier League.
- Liverpool’s performance in a loss to Brentford was “not good enough”, admits Andrew Robertson, after a series of defensive errors meant the Reds missed the opportunity to lock in on the Premier League’s top four.
The Reds sent three poor goals at the Community Stadium as Brentford ran out of deserved victors.
Errors from Liverpool players:
In a tragic first half, Ibrahima Konate netted an own goal at the set-piece and, having run conceding two more goals at set-pieces because of offside decisions on VAR review, Liverpool trailed two behind when an error from Harvey Elliott, which led to Mathias Jensen to set up Yoane Wissa.
Reds manager Jurgen Klopp decided for a triple substitution at half-time, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lowered the debt. Still, another mistake late on, this time from Konate, allowed Bryan Mbeumo to seal the victory.
Liverpool and Brentford’s season so far:
The Reds, who would have moved within a point of fourth with success, have now plunged 23 points this year – one more than in the whole campaign the previous season.
Brentford, meanwhile, is undefeated in six matches – their best streak in the top flight for almost 80 years – and has moved to seventh.
‘Another’ poor Liverpool performance
Liverpool’s defending was the recall of last week’s showing against Leicester when Klopp’s team ran out 2-1 champions but was cut open occasionally.
Konate was disappointed with the first goal, which got deflected by his calf, but that corner came from Mbeumo running neatly through on the counter-attack and goalkeeper Alisson having to bail out the defence.
The confusing visitors were all at the ocean at the two successive corners, fortunately prevailing on both moments as Wissa turned the ball home, but his effort was ruled out as it hit an offside Ben Mee on the way in.
