Mutual admiration as Bees and Reds serve up a cavalier classic
THERE was a moment during the madness of this helter-skelter ride when Thomas Frank looked to his right and caught Jurgen Klopp’s glance.
In the preceding 20 seconds, deep into injury time, Brentford had a chance to win but so, too, had Liverpool, as a breathless game swung from one end to the other. Frank raised his eyebrows to Klopp, who in turn puffed out his cheeks. Both men then immediately started smiling.
How appropriate. We could focus on the madcap nature of some of Liverpool’s defending but to do so would be a huge disservice to Brentford — who have been a Premier League team for six games but play with the belief of team that has been here six years — and their canny coach.
This was a wild evening, full of goals, drama and entertainment. Both sides could have won it, neither side deserved to lose it and the mutual respect on display at the end was obvious.
‘I’m crazy, crazy pleased,’ said Frank, and he had every right to be.
Here was an old-fashioned dust-up: you attack, we’ll attack and let’s see what happens at the end. Whether they would want to sit through this every week is another matter but Klopp’s appraisal that it was ‘a wild ride’ was spot on.
It’s a long time since Virgil van Dijk has been taken out of his comfort zone but that’s exactly what Ivan Toney did to him, jumping for headers like he was on springs.
Eventually Brentford got their reward. A well-worked set-piece sprung Liverpool’s offside trap and culminated with Sergi Canos cutting back from the byeline. Toney helped it on with a back-heel and waiting at the back post was Ethan Pinnock to gleefully convert.
Liverpool struck back quickly — a break in the 31st minute seeing Mo Salah usher Jordan Henderson forward. The captain’s cross was perfect and Diogo Jota did the rest with a bullet header. The only reason Liverpool failed to lead at the interval was down to a quite magnificent save from David Raya, who flung himself in the way of a Jota effort after a strike from Curtis Jones had thudded against the post.
Liverpool started the second period in a similarly convincing fashion and Salah’s landmark moment — 100 league goals for the club — eventually arrived in the 54th minute, when he timed his run onto Fabinho’s pass and finished first time.
But back roared Brentford, levelling again as Vitaly Janelt pounced on the rebound after Pontus Jansson had rattled the crossbar — 63 minutes had gone and you knew the scoring hadn’t finished.
So it proved. Liverpool went next, with the excellent Jones fizzing a 20-yard drive past Raya. Salah should have wrapped things up moments later but lofted a chance over the bar.
‘I know Mo,’ said Klopp. ‘He will be thinking about the two he missed rather than the one he scored.’
It proved costly as more chaos in the visiting defence enabled substitute Yoane Wissa to level again.
Still the drama wasn’t over. Van Dijk made an incredible tackle to stop Toney in his tracks when he was through, Raya made another magnificent save from another substitute, Roberto Firmino. It was bedlam but it was beautiful.
The embrace Frank and Klopp shared at the end suggested they knew it too.
‘We had massive belief that we could get something from this game,’ said Frank. ‘We knew it would be tough but we gave it everything.’