Soccer

Liverpool up to second after Mohamed Salah’s double sees off Brentford

Jürgen Klopp’s side end an indifferent week with a comfortable victory over London club

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scores his side's second goal during the Premier League match against Brentford at Anfield. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scores his side's second goal during the Premier League match against Brentford at Anfield. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Andy Hunter at Anfield
Sun Nov 12 2023 - 16:52
Liverpool 3 [Salah 39′ & 62′; Jota 74′] Brentford 0

Brentford came in search of a club record fourth consecutive Premier League win but Anfield records are the preserve of Mohamed Salah these days. The Liverpool striker created another by scoring in the sixth home league game of the season, and twice, as Jürgen Klopp’s side ended an indifferent week with a comfortable victory over Thomas Frank’s visitors.

Salah’s brace and a fine finish from Diogo Jota sealed an ultimately impressive win for Liverpool, although they were also reliant on commanding defending from Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and company for the margin of victory. Brentford were obstinate and dangerous as they so often are under Frank, but no match for the quality of Liverpool’s attack. Darwin Núñez could have enhanced the victory but had two goals disallowed for offside.

Liverpool were stretched, and not only by Brentford’s quality on the counterattack. Injuries and a suspension for Alexis Mac Allister limited Klopp’s options to such an extent that his bench featured seven players aged 20 or under.

The roll-call of inexperience included Trey Nyoni, who would have been Liverpool’s youngest ever player in a league game had he appeared at the age of 16 years and 135 days. There was still recognisable quality throughout the starting line-up, however, and a centre forward in Núñez who relished the battle against Brentford’s powerful five-man defence.

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The Uruguay international was at the forefront of Liverpool attempts to break down a deep and well-drilled defensive line. He was denied twice in the opening stages by Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken, when Liverpool’s fluency in the final third was amiss, and then had two goals disallowed in the space of five minutes by a combination of an offside flag and VAR.

Núñez’s first finish beyond Flekken was via the inside of a post after Dominik Szoboszlai scuffed a shot into his path inside the six-yard area. VAR confirmed the assistant referee’s original offside decision, but only after a lengthy check of a marginal call. The second was an overhead kick from close range after Flekken had saved superbly from Van Dijk’s header, but Núñez clearly came from an offside position before converting Joël Matip’s follow-up header.

Boos circulated around Anfield after VAR’s second review but it took the performance of Klopp’s bête noire in black, referee Paul Tierney, to truly rile the home crowd. Chants of ‘f**k off Tierney’ rolled from the Kop after he penalised and booked Matip for a foul on Christian Nørgaard, despite the defender first winning the ball. An ironic rendition of ‘We love you Tierney’ followed when Liverpool were awarded a free-kick.

The breakthrough arrived amid the referee-bashing. Núñez was heavily involved again, beautifully controlling Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass to the edge of the Brentford area and playing an equally impressive ball into the path of Salah as he swept into the box ahead of Mads Roerslev. Salah steered a trademark finish into the far corner to create yet more history in a Liverpool shirt.

He became the first Liverpool player to score in the opening six home league games and only the fourth in total in the Premier League era, following Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand and Thierry Henry. It also extended Salah’s run of scoring or assisting in Premier League home matches to 15 games, a sequence stretching back to January. And his phenomenal output continued after the break.

Salah and Núñez had chances to double Liverpool’s advantage in first-half stoppage-time but the security arrived just after the hour mark, and only after another lengthy VAR review. Salah’s 10th league goal of the season was a simple header at the back post from a Kostas Tsimikas cross. But no one celebrated, suspecting the ball had gone out of play before Tsimikas delivered.

Brentford players stood and appealed as the ball floated across their penalty area. Salah stood still as soon as his header found the inside of Flekken’s near post. Eventually VAR ruled the whole ball had not crossed the line and Liverpool could finally savour the moment. They had another to savour when Jota received Tsimikas’s pass on the edge of the Brentford area, cut across substitute Frank Onyeka and crashed a superb shot beyond Flekken from 18 yards.

The margin of Liverpool’s victory was convincing but the contest would have been much tighter with sharper finishing from Brentford and without the formidable presence of Alisson in the home goal. The Brazil international denied Bryan Mbeumo when the tireless striker was released through on goal by Roerslev, although it was a weak shot from the forward, and made fine saves from a Mathias Jensen free-kick plus an Ethan Pinnock header in the second half.

But Brentford never threatened to record a club record fourth successive Premier League win against an increasingly confident Liverpool side. – Guardian