Our Reds Jury discuss a brilliant night in the Champions League ahead of Saturday afternoon's Premier League trip to Brentford
Bradley Barcola celebrates with Florian Wirtz and Rio Ngumoha of (Photo by Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
Bradley Barcola celebrates with Florian Wirtz and Rio Ngumoha of (Photo by Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images)
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Liverpool's Champions League trip to LASK proved to be a profitable one, particularly so for Bradley Barcola.
The Reds' summer signing scored his first goal for the club out in Austria before swiftly adding two more, with his hat-trick dominating the headlines after the lively 6-3 win.
The victory has set Liverpool up perfectly in the Champions League two wins from two, so spirits are high heading into Saturday's Premier League trip to Brentford.
Here's what our Reds Jury make of things this week.
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James Noble
Well, wasn’t that an enjoyable – and welcome – Wednesday evening? The 6-3 Champions League win at LASK represented an enlivening response to Sunday’s uniquely toned defeat to Manchester City, another good step towards league-phase progression in Europe and healthy preparation for Saturday’s trip to Brentford.
Within the collective upsides were plenty of individual ones – most clearly for hat-trick scoring Bradley Barcola. Having drawn criticism for their respective showings against City, the style with which both he and Florian Wirtz dictated the direction of proceedings in Austria, particularly during the first half, was pleasing.
The level of opposition and patterns of continental competition may have provided more favourable conditions than the modern-day Premier League, but this was still a night that could prove a springboard.
Pertinently, for many sides, a trip to Brentford now tends to act as one of the season’s most compelling litmus tests. The Reds will have to be ready to answer numerous physical and tactical questions this weekend, but they do look well-placed to ask a good range of their own.
Andoni Iraola’s team may have displayed defensive porousness in the latter stages on Sunday and in midweek but, prior to the red card against the Sky Blues and for the bulk of the game in Linz, they continued to have the look of a side heading in a promising direction.
Rhys Buchanan
There's no tonic quite like seeing The Reds run riot in Europe! With two quickfire early goals, Wednesday night played out just the way we'd have liked given the stacked and demanding fixture list on the horizon.
I've been seen Liverpool huff and puff over relatively easy competition in the Champions League before so even though it was only LASK, we can take great heart from positives all over the pitch.
I was made up to see Lewis Koumas get his goal after two efforts were previously chalked off and I'm sure any noise about Bradley Barcola will be hushed for the foreseeable future.
I think there's every reason that the manager should look to start the same squad against Villarreal at Anfield next week and bring in some fresh legs for Saturday's 3pm clash against Brentford. If we can bag yet another positive result on the road in the league then last weekend's bleak affair against the cheats will be well in our rear view mirror.