It’s one thing doing it on a European night in Austria but can you do it on a mild afternoon in West London?
Liverpool’s 6-3 defeat of LASK on Wednesday may have made some headlines, primarily down to a ht-trick for £123million Bradley Barcola, but this has done nothing to disguise what has been a below (their) expectations start to the league campaign.
Next up is possibly the biggest challenge of all, a visit to a Brentford side that present the mother of all potato skins to current manager Andoni Iraola.
The Reds are already 9 points behind league leaders Manchester City (the potential length of that stay a totally different conversation) with their ten men humbled 3-0 at home on Sunday.
The chance to take some moral high ground, to show a club they view as cheating them out of silverware that cheats never prosper, was blown away as Ryan Gravenberch’s red card was followed by a flurry of goals against.
Even on Tuesday, the bolstering of the defence by the addition of substitutes Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez was the catalyst for three more goals being shipped in just a quarter of an hour. Robert Ljubičić netting the first within a minute of the duo’s entrance to the field of play.
I’ve been saying for the last two seasons that you are guaranteed an error a game from the aging Van Dijk. A player who, whilst colossal in his prime, is very much trading on former glories and only adding to what feels a fragile mindset at Anfield.
Then again, trading on former glories would seem to be very much the current Liverpool way. True, not to the extent of Manchester United or Spurs, but still one for whom their heyday from late 70s to late 80s – a period that, let’s not forget, began almost half a century ago – seems to have instilled a certain belief that they are deserving of success by virtue of name and history alone.
Oh, football just doesn’t work like that. Things need to be built. Earned. Grown. As they were back in the day. Spending big (to Barcola we can also add Alexander Isak £125m, Florian Wirtz £100m+ and Hugo Ekitike £69m for last season) does not automatically equate to winning big. It very rarely does. See also: Chelsea.
Something proven as Arne Slot’s team followed their ‘24- ’25 title win (didn’t we hear about that) by falling flat on their faces. Instead of building a legacy, they ended last campaign fifth, just a single win clear of next-placed Bournemouth.
Champions Arsenal finishing 25 (twenty-five) points clear. This, despite winning their first five games before the wheels came off in the most public of fashions. Mo Salah not so much aired the dirty laundry in public as dumped the entire boot room on the centre circle.
Their problem, not mine. Not Brentford’s. They can fester in their own history and hope that a dumper truck full of haphazardly invested money will pay dividends.
For The Bees, it is all about a squad competing purely on the domestic front. Albeit with an expectation that after becoming an established Premier League side, perhaps now is the moment where we step up a level.
So far, so good. Still unbeaten this season (including the League Cup) and fourth in the Premier League. Every result going Keith Andrews’ way last time out to give a bonus following a game at Villa Park which, in truth, I think we should have gone on to win.
Yarmo’s opener just ten minutes in, against a shot-shy side, set the pace, but the Bees were undone by two sloppy goals until star player Kris Ajer stepped up to restore parity.
Bonus points too for Caoimhín Kelleher, whose quite staggering double save just before half-time ensured the teams went in all square. Imagine having a ‘keeper this good and then selling him off on the cheap. I’ll bet they’re kicking themselves now.
That 2-2 draw with Aston Villa was enough to keep a further fifteen teams between Brentford and bottom-of-the-table Fulham. Incidentally, a side for whom rumours of Thomas Frank taking charge continue to swirl around the internet and will surely do nothing but intensify once they slip up to Hull City on Saturday afternoon.
The main headache coming out of the Villa game was Kevin Schade’s early exit through injury. This is most likely to be the topic journalists will be looking to hear Keith Andrews’ thoughts on during Friday’s conference.
Good luck to anybody looking for a straight answer there. Keith’s holding his cards close to his chest in the build-up must make him an absolute nightmare to play poker against or quiz on team selection. Instead, we’ll simply have to make an educated guess about team selection.
Assuming Schade is injured, the role of Mathias Jensen is the other challenge for those of us looking in. Much as it pains me to say this, the finishing XI is the likely outcome, with Sangaré getting the initial vote this time around and a starting set-up as follows:
Caoimhín Kelleher; Michael Kayode, Kris Ajer, Jannik Schuster, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Vitaly Janelt, Yehor Yarmoliuk, Mamadou Sangaré, Jaidon Anthiony, Keane Lewis-Potter, Igor Thiago.
For Liverpool, the obvious news is that Ryan Gravenberch misses out following his red card in that defeat to City on Sunday. Cry all you want about his first yellow, but knowing it was hanging over his head, both player and manager should have been alert to the potential consequences.
Instead, a mere 15 minutes separated a pair of yellows which undoubtedly tipped the balance in favour of the visitors. As such, he joins long-term absentees Conor Bradley, Hugo Ekitike and Giovanni Leoni on the sidelines.
Others potentially on the missing list include Alexander Isak, the always dangerous Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo. Iraola has already spoken to the press, where he took a leaf out of Keith’s book when asked if this trio may be available, noting that, “It’s early for us to say, we have still tomorrow’s training. Obviously, they were not ready for last night. We have to wait and see
Take your pick as to who starts but looking at what has gone before, its likely to be a best of the rest line up comprising:
Alisson Becker, Ronald Araújo, Jérémy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Trey Nyoni, Alexis Mac Allister, Víctor Muñoz, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola, Lewis Koumas
There is one selection question that we can answer for definite, namely the officials. After Craig Pawson’s ‘frustrating’ performance last weekend, this time around we look to a team of:
Referee: John Brooks.
Assistants: Neil Davies, Akil Howson.
Fourth official: Anthony Backhouse.
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick.
This is a game that represents a wonderful opportunity for Brentford. Liverpool may have their history, their former glories and their expensively put together squad. And? It counts for naff all if you can’t make your currently available players gel. Regardless of what they cost.
Whether Keith goes all out as he did when smashing Spurs 3-0 or turns the screw in a style akin to that 3-0 blitzing of Chelsea, he has the opportunity to record another famous home victory. For me, Clive, it is the only possible outcome I can see to this one, regardless of how he approaches it.
Roll on 3pm when we find out if I’m Nostradamus or Derek Acorah.
