The officials have been announced for Liverpool’s trip to face Brentford and the Reds have every right to not be happy.placeholder image
The officials have been announced for Liverpool’s trip to face Brentford and the Reds have every right to not be happy. | AFP via Getty Images
The officials have been announced for Liverpool’s trip to face Brentford and the Reds have every right to not be happy.
Liverpool return to league action on Saturday buoyant from a Champions League win over Eintracht Frankfurt and hoping to put the record straight domestically too.
Liverpool vs Brentford match officials announced
The Premier League has announced who will take charge of Liverpool's clash with Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium at the unusual time of 8pm on Saturday night. Football fans once again at the back of the queue when the small matter of getting back home after 10pm is considered.
Liverpool fans won’t be happy with the selection of who will be the man in the middle with Jurgen Klopp still having sleepless nights due to a decision in the 2023/24 campaign. They were also lucky to get away with some very lenient officiating this season thanks to some late drama.
A Saturday night kick-off of 8pm is one for the armchair fans, not the travelling support and it is the sort of banana skin fixture that Slot needs to navigate if trust is to be restored in Liverpool’s title challenge. It isn’t quite at the stage where his position is being questioned, but with Arsenal moving serenely along and not conceding goals, there is little room for error already.
The win over Frankfurt is a huge confidence booster and not just because it was a win, but because of the quality of performance and the goals being spread around the team. Ekitike was immense, Szoboszlai dominated the midfield and Curtis Jones was metronomic, things look like the are coming together and a more consistent defence will also help. Brentford are capable of beating anyone on their day and it won’t be an easy 90 minutes. Anything less than the same level of intensity from Liverpool will be punished.
Who is the referee in charge against Brentford?
The Premier League has confirmed that Simon Hooper will take charge of the Brentford vs Liverpool encounter this weekend. He will be supported by assistants Adrian Holmes and Simon Long with the fourth official being Tim Robinson. On VAR duty is John Brooks.
The reason Hooper might not be entirely popular is for one major call when Klopp was still in charge that couldn’t have shown VAR in a worse light. Playing against Spurs, Liverpool scored a perfectly legitimate goal only for Hooper to disallow it after thinking that the VAR team had told him to. They didn’t and then compounded the issue by not correcting or clarifying the decision that had been made.
This season against Newcastle, Hooper got away with one. Already on a yellow card, Kieran Trippier flew into Florian Wirtz and should have been sent off for a second yellow card offence. Allowing the defender to stay on the pitch could have been the difference in the home side keeping Liverpool at bay. Thankfully, Rio Ngumoha decided otherwise.
Continue Reading