Liverpool came into this match hoping to take the energy from mid-week’s Champions League victory over LASK and get back to winning ways against Keith Andrews’ Brentford. Mission accomplished, though it was far less straight-forward than one would expect. Let’s dive in as we discuss a match that was, in a word, bananas.
Winners
Alexander Isak The striker made a return to the pitch after sustaining an injury while on international duty that put him out of the previous two matches. If you, like me, were worried
that the time away would blunt his seemingly re-found incisiveness around goal, you don’t have to worry: Isak’s winner was a perfect example of the Swedish international’s class as the player controlled a chested pass from Barcola, played the ball up, and finished sublimely while under pressure at a tight angle. It looked like a small-ish chance – and Opta’s stats weighted it as one of the smaller ones on the day – but Isak made it look elemental. Good news for us and the team that it looks like the striker has maintained his eye and nous for goal.
Young Reds
Victor Muñoz will rightly take the headlines given his well-taken equalizer as well as a decent spell further back to cover right-back after Jeremie Frimpong went off injured, but each of Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha continued to justify Andoni Iraola’s faith in the youth. Nyoni came on to replace Dominik Szoboszlai and played a solid match which follows an understated but important start at LASK. Rio, in the meanwhile, continued to show his trademark inventiveness out wide, seemingly growing with more confidence coming in off of the right. Lewis Koumas would also get a mention, but it was a shorter cameo and one that also coincided with a shift in the match where nearly every every forward deserves some critique (more on that later).
Losers
The Training Room
Tough to get a grasp on how much of this match is down to fitness, the difficulty of following up away travel in the Champions League with another away win, or Brentford just being their typically scrappy selves, but losing both Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong in the match is a blow for an already thin squad. Szobo felt a particularly tough loss because Brentford going down to 10-men is precisely the type of circumstance and opponent that I think he’d thrive in. Frimpong lasting only 6 minutes felt heavy given that it cost the team Ronald Araujo. It all worked out in the end, but that was certainly more nervy than I would have liked.
What Did We Just Watch?!
This is a new segment that I’m rolling out cause what in the actual fuck was that?! The match featured two sendings off, two Liverpool players injured, one overturned penalty, and Liverpool coming from behind to overturn a deficit and claim all three points. I am a bit breathless and perplexed but if part of being the kind of team that challenges for trophies in all competitions means being able to figure out how to keep going even when the circumstances on the pitch feel weird, then test passed. Liverpool showed a grit and single-mindedness in this match that I haven’t seen in a while.
That being said, the amount of poor decision-making that happened in a segment of the match that still felt very much in the balance is something to raise. I’m not normally one to go too hard on the forwards because I used to be one, but watching every single one of the forwards – Rio, Muñoz, Barcola, and Koumas – opt to call their own number instead of playing the extra pass was absolutely killing me and the counterattack. And, of course, Barcola overcorrecting and opting to hold the ball instead of going for goal immediately after watching the team be selfish to squander another chance was the icing on the cake. Fluke match? Maybe. But fix that before the next one, please!
Dissecting the Narrative
Entering this season, Liverpool’s big money purchases in the way of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and, to a lesser extent, Bradley Barcola were always in for scrutiny. Isak and Wirtz in particular are basically looking at this season as the one to justify the investment from last season. Today, we saw all three provide examples of what brought so many clubs clamoring to get the services of the attackers.
In terms of Barcola, the Frenchman followed up his incisive performance mid-week with another that showed his consistent threat from off of the left. Providing him with an outlet, you can see him take on defenders as well as look for ways to connect with other players in the final third. It was a classy if generally straight-forward chested pass from Barcola that led to the winner. It was a solid performance and if there’s one critique, it would be that Barcola had enough chances – including an absolutely gilt-edged one – that should have seen him back at least one goal.
For Isak, he continued his scoring run for Liverpool by bagging the winner. With that goal, Isak is currently at 5 in the Premier League, making him joint-2nd in the race for the Golden Boot, level with João Pedro and three off the mark of Erling Haaland.
And Florian Wirtz, meanwhile, put together an incredibly productive day, bringing home an assist by providing a classy throughball to release Victor Muñoz for the equalizer. Also, Wirtz was responsible for creating 9 chances in today’s match (all from open play), the first time that’s been accomplished by a Liverpool player since Sadio Mane in 2021. Caveats, of course, given the man advantage, but Liverpool’s attack was essentially orchestrated creatively by Florian Wirtz. While I wouldn’t have given him the Man of the Match award today – that would go to Jeremy Jacquet for me – it isn’t exactly unearned.
All told, Liverpool’s $100m players each contributed a goal contribution, with two combining for the winner. On a tough day away on the back of mid-week travel to Europe, I can’t help but think that it’s these kinds of circumstances that you want your big-money performers to come through.
What Comes Next
Liverpool will host Villarreal on Tuesday in the Champions League before welcoming Brighton to Anfield on Sunday in the Premier League. It’s two matches a week from here until the next International Break and so all eyes will be on the reports on the availability of both Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong, as the team will need as much depth as possible.
There is reason to be optimistic, though, as Iraola’s rotation once cup competitions began has been mostly unimpeachable and, even with the unfortunate substitutions forced upon the team today, there should be folks with fresh legs available for this coming week.
