Liverpool plunged further into crisis on Saturday night as they suffered their fourth-straight league defeat in a 3-2 loss at Brentford.
Arne Slot’s side were sloppy again as Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago netted before the hour, with strikes from Milos Kerkez and Mohamed Salah ultimately in vein.
Daily Mail Sport’s LEWIS STEELE was at the Gtech Community Stadium to run the rule over Liverpool’s players…
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1)
Giorgi Mamardashvili – 7
The only Liverpool player to leave this match with any credit. Without the big Georgian goalkeeper, the champions would have been out of the game before half-time.
Conor Bradley – 5
Some nice attacking work but all of Liverpool’s defenders were bullied.
Ibrahima Konate – 5
Was not calamitous like at other times this season but the Frenchman used to be a calm figure – today he looked anxious.
Virgil van Dijk – 4.5
Whether it was in the penalty area or not, Van Dijk was guilty of giving away the spot-kick that decided this game. The whole back four was poor.
Milos Kerkez – 5
Would be a three out of 10 if he had not scored a poachers-like goal to keep Liverpool’s chances alive. Targeted and did not cope. Andy Robertson deserves a run in the team.
Curtis Jones – 5
Got on the ball a lot and kept the side ticking over but could not help unlock Brentford’s stubborn defence enough.
Dominik Szoboszlai – 6
Had some pleasing moments and the Hungary captain kept plugging away at a number of positions – but like the rest of his team-mates was lacking the final ball.
Mohamed Salah – 5
A brilliant goal to ensure his goalless streak is over – but overall the Egyptian knows he can do much better. Just was not at the races for most of the game.
Florian Wirtz – 4.5
Got on the ball lots and must gain credit for trying to unlock the defence but most of his passes did not come off. For £116million, Reds fans are expecting more.
Cody Gakpo – 6
Looked dangerous in the first half – perhaps the most so of any away player – but a skewed effort into the stands summed up Liverpool’s night.
Hugo Ekitike – 4.5
Not good enough. Against the low block of the Bees defence, Ekitike barely had a sniff and could not impact proceedings how he would have liked.
SUBS
Alexis Mac Allister (for Bradley, 61) – 5
Federico Chiesa (for Gakpo, 61) – 6
Andy Robertson (for Kerkez, 61) – 5
Rio Ngumoha (for Jones, 70) – 5
Joe Gomez (for Wirtz, 83)
Not used: Freddie Woodman, Wataru Endo, Trey Nyoni, Kieran Morrison.
