12 November 2023 , 16:44
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Another day and another record for Mohamed Salah.
Salah continues to make the extraordinary look ordinary with his goalscoring feats. His double against Brentford means he has become the first player in Liverpool’s glorious history to score in their first six home league games.
Salah has also scored or assisted in Liverpool’s last 15 Premier League home games - and only Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer can better that. The Egyptian star has notched up 200 career goals for English clubs, 198 for Liverpool and two for Chelsea.
The win, which was not as straightforward as the scoreline suggests, moves the Reds up to second behind Manchester City and nicely sets up their table-topping clash in their next Premier League game on November 25.
It also lends more weight to the argument that this could be another season which ends in silverware. It was the perfect response to the stuttering displays at Luton and Toulouse and Liverpool looked much more like their old selves as they made it nine wins from nine at Anfield this season.
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Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Darwin Nunez and Salah all stood out for the Reds, who were missing eight players through injury and suspension, including Alexis MacAllister, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate. Brentford might have spoilt the party if they had shown more composure in front of goal and they had their chances.
Their five-man defence, which included four centre-halves, also frustrated Liverpool before they crumbled in the final third of the game. Bryan Mbuemo was their worst culprit and he fired wastefully wide before the Bees striker saw an effort parried by the excellent Alisson after he had been played through.
Liverpool fought a losing battle with VAR Stuart Attwell and he disallowed a Nunez effort for a hairline offside decision. Attwell chalked off a second Nunez effort, an overhead kick, for offside after Mark Flekken saved well from van Dijk and that was one more obvious.
Mohamed Salah bagged a brace for Liverpool (AP)Liverpool needed someone to lift them, so step forward referee Paul Tierney, whom Jurgen Klopp and the Kop love to hate. Klopp received a two-match ban for questioning Tierney’s integrity after last season’s 4-3 home win over Tottenham and the official brought the home crowd to life when he booked Joel Matip for a challenge when he won the ball.
The fired-up Matip dispossessed Yoane Wissa to launch a Reds counter-attack and Nunez slipped in Salah on the right to slot home his latest landmark goal.
Liverpool poured forward and Flekken saved a rasping effort from Nunez before Salah proved he is human by spooning over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s delicious ball when it looked easier to score. Attwell saved Tierney when he did not send off Wataru Endo for sliding into Christian Norgaard and the challenge looked 50-50.
Brentford continued to have their moments and Mathias Jensen’s free-kick was touched over by Alisson, who also saved well from Ethan Pinnock before van Dijk made an excellent covering challenge on Mbuemo in the box. These interludes could not detract from yet another screening of the Salah Show.
He got his second on 63 minutes with a simple header when Brentford stopped, thinking the ball had gone out of play when Kostas Tsimikas crossed it from the byline. There was some uncertainty until Tierney confirmed the ball had stayed in play and Salah’s 11th goal of the season stood.
Brentford were beaten and Diogo Jota scored a superb third on 74 minutes when he received the ball from Tsimikas on the left and went past Frank Onyeka before firing home right-footed into the far corner.