Premier League: Liverpool 2 Brentford 0 (Diaz 13, Salah 70)
The Liverpool congregation adore a folk hero and, if this victory is followed by the same at Manchester United next Sunday to make it three consecutive wins, Arne Slot will have made the best of starts, to become their latest.
The midfield and defence require the Dutchman’s attention – each could be too open against Brentford on Sunday – but the attack is exciting and lethal, as this crowd demands of its storied side.
On the hour here came a sequence of prime Slot-ball which had the Anfield faithful cooing. A becalmed Mohamed Salah awoke and drove a pass into Brentford’s area: it was laid off to Alexis Mac Allister and the cutest of tap‑ins behind teed up the on-running Egyptian, who went close to adding to Luis Díaz’s opener. Moments later, Liverpool’s No 7 had Mark Flekken diving low and left to repel what would have been the Colombian’s second.
Diogo Jota created Díaz’s goal and as Slot’s new charges upped the tempo a Nathan Collins block did the business for Brentford, as had a post, previously, from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner.
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Next, though, came Salah’s second goal in two games: Díaz the provider, his chip to the lurking forward presaging a finish that extinguished Flekken as a factor. The grin from the adored No 11 was reflected by the joy that surged through Slot, who cannot have hoped for a better first home game in charge.
Beforehand he spoke of the elements “I was not so happy about” in the 2-0 win at Ipswich the previous week and this outing was studded, too, with the same vulnerability of that day. A flash of how Brentford could prey on this came when Yoane Wissa ran clear along Alexander-Arnold’s right-back corridor. Dominik Szoboszlai chased the forward who left his supposed tracker trailing and if a cross aimed for his strike partner Bryan Mbeumo had been better directed, Brentford would have taken the lead.
Wissa offered a repeat, except this time from Andy Robertson’s first Liverpool corner. The No 11 headed the ball out of the danger zone, chased and collected it, and raced away down the right. Slot’s men escaped but Thomas Frank’s did not when Mathias Jensen delivered their opening corner.
A strong Ibrahima Konaté header out was followed by a simple yet cute break. Jota took the ball, waited and then with perfect timing released Díaz whose crosswise run curved him from the defender before a left-foot arrow beat Flekken to the number 1′s right.
A dream home start for the Slot project nearly became two as Díaz fed Jota and Flekken had to beat away the effort at close range. Salah, Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold, Díaz and Jota were percussive in their passing and movement, the leads in a fast and furious Liverpool display their visitors could hardly handle.
Christian Nørgaard reached for the agricultural playbook to do so when upending Díaz. It drew sarcastic home cheers, yet when the free-kick was left to a brains trust and Alexander-Arnold’s curled execution did not trouble Flekken.
Salah, with his newly cropped hair, appears markedly younger, though the strong-arm with which he downed Jensen was an old-school foul he came close to regretting. The delivery from the subsequent free‑kick was flighted into Liverpool’s area where Nørgaard, unchallenged, failed to hit the target with his head from close range.
This chance told of how Liverpool’s supremacy had ebbed. And though they pummelled Brentford again via Alexander-Arnold, whose cut inside presaged a left-foot rocket that deflected for a corner, this yielded nothing and Keane Lewis-Potter was soon hitting low into Alisson’s midriff.
At the break Slot surely ordered Liverpool to complement the forward zest with more watchfulness to stop Brentford’s forays. The first element was still present. Moments into the second half, a misdirected Jota overhead dropped on to Robertson’s head but from inches out he failed to score.
The need to stiffen up the rearguard act remained, though. A Mbeumo shot that went for a corner was the product of Liverpool’s openness and further danger came from a short Bees corner that Slot’s men scrambled to repel.
But soon came Liverpool’s second before which, in a number of raids down his right flank, Alexander-Arnold pushed Frank’s men back. The best of these featured a flip to Jota who, perhaps distracted, was wasteful.
Liverpool’s No 66 was disenchanted at being replaced by Slot, despite a visit from the new boss to his seat on the bench, a mood perhaps accentuated by this coming in front of Lee Carsley, England’s interim manager, who will announce his first squad on Thursday. The Dutchman shrugged this off in the post-match media conference as due to needing to “take care” of the player after his limited game time.
It mattered not. What does is the result, which came before a record league attendance of 61,276 and in front of the owner, John W Henry, who flew in from Boston for Slot’s first competitive act on the Anfield turf. Next is the 30–mile trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United. – Guardian
