Games such as this are often defined by fine margins, and Thomas Frank was left with a feeling that his valiant Brentford side could have come away with a point at the minimum had Liverpool not made their superior quality count on Sunday.
In Arne Slot’s first home game in charge – and the first Anfield fixture without Jurgen Klopp in the dugout since 2015 – Liverpool scored early and Liverpool scored late.
An emphatic Luis Diaz strike, racing away on the counter attack and lashing into the roof of the net, kicked off the Slot era in style with 13 minutes on the clock.
But between that and Mo Salah’s 70th minute decider, the visitors had plenty of moments of promise themselves.
With Bryan Mbeumo and Yoann Wissa a threat as always with their speed and incision and Brentford’s set-pieces asking serious questions of Liverpool’s centre-halves, the stats may hint at a dominant home performance.
But the eye-test tells you that this was a far closer game than the highlights may have you believe.
Arne Slot reign begins as Liverpool beat Brentford
“I thought we went toe-to-toe Liverpool, especially in the first half. It was a very even first-half, where they scored a goal in transition from our corner,” Frank says, via talkSPORT, Diaz speeding down the other end to crash in the opener as Brentford were caught at the other end of the pitch.
“We need to win the 50-50 on the edge of the box.”
Frank was also left wondering how differently things may have developed had Christian Norgaard or Nathan Collins taken the chances that came their way.
Alisson Becker saved from the latter after the interval, in the right place at the right time to claw the ball away from underneath his crossbar.
With Georgi Mamardashvili seemingly arriving for around £30 million, this was a timely reminder as to the Brazilian’s enduring brilliance.
“We had a massive chance, Christian Norgaard with the free header. So we could easily have been 1-0 up. Very even first-half which I’m very satisfied with. Probably our best first-half at Anfield since I’ve been here,” adds the long-serving Dane.
“Great chance from Nathan Collins. Great save from Alisson. But, after 2-0, (it was) more or less game over. Liverpool won fair and square.
“But there was definitely positive things, especially the first 60 minutes or something like that.”
Alisson Becker still a world-class goalkeeper
Liverpool dominated 63 per cent of the ball with Slot steadily introducing the possession-heavy tactics that secured Feyenoord the Eredivisie title in 2023.
The Reds may be a little less helter-skelter from now on – if Klopp’s Liverpool was a reflection of the German’s larger than life, force of nature personality then Slot’s vintage is calmer and a little more methodical – but it was impressive to see a group of players adapt so quickly to this new era.
“Positive for many reasons,” Slot tells the Liverpool website. “I think Brentford showed last week with their first goal (in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace), but in general also in their first game, that they can play out from the back really good.
“They tried to do this here as well. Sometimes it worked better than other moments but they are also really threatening on the counter-attack and they are obviously a big threat on set-pieces.”
Slot also highlighted Alisson’s save from Collins as a key moment in proceedings.
“I think the only threat they had today was the set-piece where Alisson saved us in the second-half,” the Dutchman adds. “It was also pleasing to see that from their set-piece we could score our first goal.”
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