Liverpool 3 Brentford 0 (Jan 16 2022)

That was just what we needed. Nothing special, took us a while to get going but ultimately we picked up three points and looked much better than we had the other night against Arsenal. We were never going to suddenly rediscover our best form and blow Brentford away. It’ll be a steady climb.

This was more or less what I expected. I said the other night that we just need games and that we’d be better on Sunday than we had been on Thursday. I also said it wouldn’t be easy but it would be comfortable and that we’d win by two or three. That’s exactly how it played out so let’s hope I’m also right that we’ll smash Arsenal everywhere in the second leg. That’s if they bother showing up.

It’s not that this performance was anything to get excited about. Far from it, but the longer it went the more we improved and that’s a good sign. More important to me was that some of our big players looked like they’d blown the cobwebs off from the other night and looked like themselves again. Specifically Trent and Hendo, who were both excellent. Fabinho as well.

That’s important. Everyone focuses on Sadio and Mo not being here but if the rest of the team play as they should then we can cope easily enough without them. I wouldn’t want to be facing City or Chelsea without them but Arsenal, Brentford and Palace are games we should win even with no Sadio and Mo. As long as everyone else plays to their usual standard.

It’s not like we’re bringing in bums to replace them either. Firmino, Jota and Minamino are all international footballers. The balance and understanding might not be there, but they are all really good players. Taki didn’t start this one of course, but he finished it and looked great when he came on. He’ll start at Arsenal. He’ll probably score too. I’m calling that one now. He’ll score and we’ll win.

I assume he was left out of the starting line up for this one because he’s only just back from injury and they’re being careful. Milner was out too, which was an obvious call to make. He’s more useful off the bench these days. Jones and Ox came in but surprisingly it was Ox in the front three and Jones in midfield. I’d have done it the other way, mainly because I hate seeing Ox in the front three.

He had some good moments, some bad moments and a whole lot of meh in between. But I don’t hold that against him at all as he can’t play that role. It’s as simple as that. He gave it everything he had though and his application was great, as it always is. I’m made up for him that he scored and just hope the injury isn’t serious.

I wish he believed in himself a bit more though because there were a couple of moments in the first half where I felt he should have driven at the last defender and gone past him, but he didn’t have the confidence to try it. On one of those he tried to play it wide to Trent and badly overhit it. It was terrible, he should be backing himself there.

The first half as a whole just wasn’t good though. We didn’t threaten enough but aside from a weird little few minute spell when we suddenly started passing the ball to Brentford players in our half we never looked in any danger either. 

There wasn’t too much wrong with how we played but we just weren’t quite there at the decisive moments. The final ball, the decision making, basically the attacking players just not getting it done. We were moving the ball around the way we usually do but there just wasn’t that magic in the final third. That’s the difference really. Sometimes you can play like this and be 3-0 up by half time because Salah and Mané have done something brilliant.

We didn’t have those maverick type players though. Jota’s great but he isn’t that kind of player; he’s a different type of forward. Then there’s Ox, who isn’t even a forward. So we needed to do it another way. And we did.

It was clear in the first half that set-pieces were going to be important because other than one bad one from Robbo that hit the first man, it seemed like every corner we had caused them trouble. We didn’t create many openings but every time the ball went in the box in the air Brentford didn’t look like they could deal with it.

So it was no surprise that the opening goal came from a corner. Nice finish by Fabinho and big relief around a previously quiet Anfield. Things had started to get a bit edgy in the lead up to half time as we gave the ball away cheaply a few times and Brentford had a few sights at goal.

Before that the crowd was just really quiet but that got the Kop riled up and for a few minutes at least the atmosphere improved. The second half was back to being shite but at least the players upped their game. The loudest chant of the day was for a manager just sacked by Everton though, which to me really isn’t a good look. Singing it at half time when the news broke was fine, but doing it again during the second half? With gusto? I thought it was embarrassing, but whatever.

The Brentford fans did the predictable “library” and “where’s your famous atmosphere?” chants and for once it was pretty justified. The performance of the team was better in the second half but the crowd were still really subdued.

It was still a struggle for a while because until you get the second goal not much changes. We went close when Jota hit the post and also when he was denied by the keeper when he went clear one v one. He was much livelier in the second half and I definitely like him better on the left than on the right. 

In fairness, Brentford didn’t come here to just defend but it definitely was their priority and even at 1-0 they weren’t going to change their approach. Why would they? They’re not good enough to take the game to us so this was their best chance. Keep it 1-0 until 80 minutes and then throw everything at us when we naturally get nervy because we’ve dominated and not put the game to bed. It’s a standard ploy, so you have to get the second goal.

And we did, thanks to a beautiful cross by Robbo and a bullet diving header by Ox at the back post. I’m made up for him as I was expecting him to be subbed any minute and if that had happened he’d have been really down on himself as usual. He’d lashed a volley into the Kop not long before that and it felt like the writing was on the wall for him with Taki warming up.

The goal was a great moment for him but the joy didn’t last long as soon after he went over on his ankle and made way for Taki. Apparently it was Bobby who was in line to be subbed and Ox would have stayed on so this was a blow for him. Hopefully it doesn’t keep him out long.

Taki scored almost immediately but it owed everything to the unselfishness of Bobby. He won the ball in the Brentford box, collected a return pass from Taki and instead of going himself, gave it back to Minamino to score. He then motioned for him to jump on his back so he could carry him to the Kop. “Happy birthday Taki”. What a team-mate Bobby is.

We could have scored more but I wasn’t particularly bothered about that. I just wanted the win to get us back on track and set us up for Thursday night. However, when Kaide Gordon came on and was sent clear through the middle by Taki I was desperate for him to finish that off. What a moment that would have been, but the keeper denied him unfortunately. That keeper had a really good game actually.

So in summary, there were far more positives than negatives and it’s another game under the belt to help us get back to our best rhythm and form. It’s been so stop - start lately and the team has been really unsettled for various reasons, so the more we play the better we’ll get. Fuck all these breaks, they do us no good whatsoever so let the games come thick and fast now.

Trent looked back to something approaching his best and that’s really important, especially with Sadio and Mo away. We need our best players performing so seeing him and Robbo like this bodes well for the upcoming games. I was worried about Trent after some of his recent displays but this was reassuring.

Jota was much better than he was against Arsenal too. Not that he was particularly great, but he was alright and that’s a massive improvement on last Thursday when he was wretched. Bobby was decent enough too. Curtis was good as well. Nothing special and he can certainly play better, but he gives us something unpredictable in there and I’d definitely give him a run of games in the absence of Thiago.

Star man for me though was Matip. What a man. I thought he was superb again. I know we weren’t exactly overworked at the back but we rarely are. We dominate games and often leave the two lads at the back one v one against their opponent. Joel was left isolated against Toney and Mbuemo a few times but he’s virtually impossible to beat isn’t he? He was brilliant defensively and great on the ball again. He’s getting closer and closer to a Maradona 86 solo goal as well. It’s coming, I can smell it.

So Arsenal next. We have to win that game. There’s a Wembley place at stake but more importantly there’s a record that needs to be set straight. You can’t play that badly against them, have them celebrating a draw like they’d won the cup and then not have a big response. Our players should be steaming about the other night and how they didn’t perform and I reckon they are. 

Bigger picture, we’ve won one of the two league games we have to play without Sadio and Mo so if we can beat Arsenal and then find a way to get the points at Palace next week, we’ll have come through AFCON unscathed. Even bigger picture, the title race is still probably a forlorn hope but the only thing we can do is fight and then hope for the best. 

Klopp was bullish about that afterwards and the triple fist pump at full time felt like a significant gesture. I wasn’t really expecting that but it felt like he was sending out a message. That’s all well and good, but the team need to send out that message over the few weeks or so and then we’ll see where we are. 

Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Jones; Oxlade-Chamberlain (Minamino), Firmino (Milner), Jota (Gordon):