Klopp stung by the Bees
JURGEN FUMES AS DISMAL LIVERPOOL SUFFER
JURGEN Klopp claimed that Brentford ‘stretched the rules’ at set-pieces after Liverpool’s top-four push was severely undermined by a stinging defeat in west London.
Liverpool produced an abject defensive performance in going down to an Ibrahima Konate own goal and further strikes by Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, leaving themselves 15 points off Arsenal at the top of the table.
The manner of defeat was alarming, with Konate’s deflection into his own net coming from an Mbeumo corner and the same delivery leading to two first-half goals for Wissa that were both disallowed for offside.
Liverpool repeatedly failed to deal with the crosses, but Klopp pinpointed the officials for not clamping down on Brentford’s apparent grappling and pushing.
He said: ‘They stretch the rules in these moments. They are really pushing, really holding. The refs... that’s obviously what you can do.’ He added: ‘They stretch the rules in offensive set-pieces.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it’s smart but they do. If you single out the situations you will find five fouls but it is so chaotic nobody sees it. But it is what they do and it is really good.’
Brentford boss Thomas Frank later responded: ‘I guess we have some very good refs. We have four at the pitch and a VAR. It has never been more difficult to score a goal. We had two disallowed today.’
Klopp appeared severely frustrated after going 2-0 down in the first half and responded by substituting three players at half-time, including Virgil van Dijk. Klopp explained the Dutchman came off as a precaution.
He said: ‘Virgil felt the hamstring a bit. He said he is fine, but when I said we don’t take any risks, the physios were quite happy with that. I think it is nothing serious.’
Brentford are unbeaten in six and have won three from four, including a draw against Tottenham and victories against Manchester City and now Liverpool. We tend to see them as an Ivan Toney team, but that has always been a short sell for Frank’s work and this match proved it. Toney was injured and clubs the size of Brentford do not just swallow the loss of a 12-goal striker like him.
Except they did. And with it they belched up Liverpool, having chewed on them for the bulk of 90 minutes.
Konate was playing his first game since losing the World Cup final with France and what a shocker he had, with goals one and three his fault.
Liverpool fell hard, despite a decent start that saw Van Dijk marginally flagged for offside in volleying against the bar and Darwin Nunez blocked on the line by Ben Mee.
The first goal came from a setpiece, when Konate deflected a corner by Mbeumo into his own net via his thigh, but it is worth working back to how the corner was won, which highlights the enduring concerns around Van Dijk. To see him outpaced so severely by Mbeumo, necessitating a fine save by Alisson, was to query once again if the centre-half’s speed is what it was prior to his knee injury in 2020.
Liverpool got worse after that opener, with Klopp’s irritation compounded by their recurring inability to deal with Mbeumo’s whipped set-pieces to the far post. Two such deliveries led to goals in quick succession for Wissa, but both were disallowed for offside, with the latter bailing out some lax marking by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The reprieves changed nothing. On 42 minutes, Alexander-Arnold allowed Wissa to slip between him and Konate in pursuit of Mathias Jensen’s delivery. The header was firm and, while Alisson appeared to save it, goal-line technology ruled it had crossed. Not bad for Toney’s stand-in.
With Nunez having had a goal correctly disallowed by VAR for offside, they got one for real five minutes after the restart when Alexander-Arnold floated a lovely cross for Alex OxladeChamberlain to head home.
But Liverpool were killed off by more terrible defending. Konate went shoulder-to-shoulder in a chase with Mbeumo and ended up face-first in the turf with the ball in the net. Klopp thought it was a foul; most neutrals would feel it was about right for all parties.