Liverpool seal comeback victory over undisciplined nine-man Brentford
Andoni Iraola’s Merseysiders came from a goal down to beat undisciplined nine-man Brentford 2-1 in front of 17,232 fans in west London on Saturday afternoon
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The view from the Brentford box as Liverpool beat the Bees 2-1 on Saturday. CREDIT: Layth (@laythy29)
Brentford 1-2 Liverpool: Report by Layth Yousif
Liverpool came from a goal down to beat undisciplined nine-man Brentford 2-1 in front of 17,232 fans in west London on Saturday afternoon.
The hard-fought victory for Andoni Iraola’s Merseysiders fell 1-0 behind to Keane Lewis-Potter header on 44 minutes. That was before the Bees Yehor Yarmoliuk was deservedly red carded in the eighth minute of additional time at the end of the first half for violent conduct. Second half goals from Victor Munoz on 62 minutes, and Alexander Isak eight minutes later sealed their deserved triumph. To compound the Bees misery Vitaly Janelt was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Liverpool substitute Rio Ngumoha in the 92nd minute.
Speaking after Brentford fell to their first Premier League defeat of the season head coach Keith Andrews reflected on Yarmoliuk’s pivotal expulsion, saying: “We were edging it, getting into a good rhythm [before the sending off].
“We got ourselves in front and I felt pretty confident. But the sending-off changes the dynamic of the game. We knew we’d have to make changes in the second half and slightly change the shape, looking for a bit of pace on transition.”
Andrews added: “We need to look at ourselves first – Yarmo has to do better – but I think they [Liverpool] were cute and clever.
“Overall, the performance - again - fills you with immense pride because right until the end, we continued to throw punches.”
Andrews made three changes to the team that came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa last weekend.
Kevin Schade started on the bench after picking up a knock at Villa Park, to be replaced by Dango Outtara. With Sepp van den Berg starting in place of Jannik Schuster, while Mathias Jensen comes in for El Hadji Malick Diouf.
After Wednesday’s 6-3 Champions League win over LASK in Austria, Liverpool boss Iraola could once again select influential duo Isak and Dominik Szoboszlai - replacing Lewis Koumas and Ryan Gravenberch, who is serving a one-game ban for his red card during the 3-0 defeat against a Manchester City side still awaiting sanction for their cheating. Reds’ Jeremie Frimpong dropped to the bench, with Ronald Araujo starting at right-back, while Trey Nyoni and Ngumoha gave way for Alexis Mac Allister and Munoz.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon in west London, the contest started brightly with Alexis Mac Allister firing over the bar of former Reds keeper Caoimhin Kelleher on 15 minutes, before Jeremy Jacquet deflected Michael Kayode’s stinging strike narrowly wide of Alisson’s left-hand post.
That was before Liverpool’s £123m attacker Bradley Barcola’s dreadful missed chance that saw the £123m former PSG winger produce a poor effort, after Brentford’s Yehor Yarmoliuk lost the ball on the halfway line. Barcola did everything right until he attempted to lift it over former Red Kelleher as the ball dropped wide of the far post.
Trey Nyoni replaced the clearly frustrated Szoboszlai, who slapped the ground in annoyance after appearing to pick up an injury shortly after the half hour mark. A disappointing early end for Liverpool’s No8 who also missed last weekend’s game with a hamstring issue. As the clock ticked towards the interval Barcola angled a curling shot over Kelleher’s bar.
There was drama when Dango Outtara was penalised in the box for a foul on Alexis Mac Allister. Yet it appeared the Bees No11 got to the ball first, before the man. VAR clearly agreed and sent referee John Brooks to the monitor with the referee overruling his original decision of a penalty.
Moments later Brentford went ahead when Lewis-Potter headed home past Alisson from Igor Thiago’s cross to put the Bees 1-0 in front a minute before the scheduled break. With the goal coming shortly before six additional minutes were announced there was still further drama to follow when Yarmoliuk was sent off for violent conduct following a VAR review. Sheer idiocy from Yarmoliuk after he headbutted Jeremy Jacquet on 53 minutes, as the half time whistle was finally blown with the clock showing 55 minutes.
As previously blue skies slid into a foreboding gunmetal grey, and the rain started to fall it was Munoz who fired past former Reds keeper Caoimhin Kelleher with an excellent strike to equalise against Andrews’ ten men on 62 minutes to make it 1-1.
Worse was to come for the home side when Isak slotted low into the far corner. It was a clinical finish from the Swedish striker now displaying the form that prompted Liverpool to pay Newcastle £125m. The goal coming after the 27-year-old forward latched onto Barcola’s header with 20 minutes to go, as the travelling fans celebrated going 2-1 ahead.
Barcola was to curl a testing effort onto the bar as Iraola’s Merseysiders deservedly clinched all three points against the foolishly depleted Brentford side, after Janelt received a second yellow late on.
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My Morning Star newspaper match reports this week:
Arsenal 2-1 Leeds United - Bruno shines as Arsenal stage comeback against impressive Leeds
Arsenal 3-0 Lille: - Gunners seal Champions League victory on emotional evening after death of ‘Mr Arsenal’
Bournemouth 3-0 Sturm Graz - Cherries celebrate European home debut with emphatic victory
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