Brentford 0-2 Liverpool (Nunez 90+1, 90+3)
GTECH STADIUM – Two minutes that might change the course of Darwin Nunez’s fraught Liverpool career. Nobody can possibly have had his late double against Brentford in the script – least of all Arne Slot, who admitted this week that he has not been able to get the best out of the striker.
Slot’s side risked losing more ground in the title race until the Uruguayan slotted in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 91st-minute cross, before lashing in another after Harvey Elliott’s good work down the right.
This was a moment of personal triumph for arguably the most beleaguered forward in English football – but collectively, it will banish the jitters that were starting to build after dropped points against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
The picture has mostly looked so rosy since Slot’s arrival that it can be easy to forget just how many loose threads he was left to tie up after a low-key summer window.
As the clock ticks down on the contracts of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk there was always a danger that uncertainty would start to cloud the latter part of Liverpool’s title challenge – but they cannot afford to fall into the trap of thinking those are the only wrinkles that need ironing out in the wrestle between Jurgen Klopp’s legacy and a bright future under Slot.
It is credit to Kostas Tsimikas that his recent performances seemed to suggest that finding a more permanent successor to Andy Robertson was not urgent.
In the draw with Nottingham Forest, it was telling that as soon as Robertson – who had struggled to create any real attacking threat and looked blunt from set pieces – was replaced by his deputy, the equaliser for Diogo Jota was created, Tsimikas providing the assist.
Most of a frustrating afternoon at Brentford provided a timely reality check. Bryan Mbeumo caused serious problems for Tsimikas defensively, not helped by the Greek picking up an eighth-minute booking. After one particularly ill-judged back-pass to Alisson, he earned a furious rebuke as the goalkeeper booted the ball out of play under pressure.
All of Brentford’s best work came down that side and should have earned them an early goal, Mbeumo waltzing past the left-back to set up Mads Roerslev’s peach of a cross. Mikkel Damsgaard just couldn’t connect from yards out.
Tsimikas was only ever signed in 2020 as a back-up but with Robertson flagging – yet to register an assist all season in the Premier League – he has emerged as a valuable short-term replacement. Robertson only came on to take his place after the hour mark but had the same problems creating anything meaningful from the left and his corners fell flat.
With that backdrop, Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez is one transfer being explored – as reported by The i Paper this week – and getting business done in a notoriously difficult January window looks more pressing.
Memories of Klopp’s final season, when they could not sustain momentum and fizzled out in the final months to finish third and nine points off champions Manchester City, are still fresh.
Of the “big three”, there is the most confidence behind the scenes about agreeing terms with Van Dijk, while Salah flirts with a deal in Saudi Arabia that would earn him upwards of £60m in two years. Alexander-Arnold’s courtship with Real Madrid is seen as inevitable.
Much like Kai Havertz, who has papered over Arsenal’s centre-forward crisis occasionally to his own detriment, Tsimikas has done impressively well to reduce the scrutiny on Liverpool’s long-term planning in his position.
Robertson’s form has caught them off guard to an extent but there has been a touch of nostalgic wishful thinking at play too, the Scotsman having won eight trophies on Merseyside including a Premier League title and the Champions League.
“Liverpool haven’t got a player that every other club has; a left-sided defender who can play centre-back or left-back,” Jamie Carragher said on The Overlap this week.
“Arsenal have [Riccardo] Calafiori, United have [Lisandro] Martinez, Chelsea have [Levi] Colwill, City have Nathan Ake and [Josko] Gvardiol, even Tottenham have [Micky] Van de Ven who can do a little bit at left-back.
“Liverpool need, and I’ve said this for a long time, a left-sided defender who can do a bit of both, who has stature, presence, power. I think if Liverpool sign that player in January, I’d be certain we win the league.”
This is not the time for panic stations. Slot has guided Liverpool to an enviable position at the summit and there is no sense of the crisis of January two years ago, when the Reds lost all their league games bar one and drew the other. Despite a first-leg reverse at Tottenham, they are still in with a reasonable chance of reaching a cup final in the coming weeks.
There will be some frustration about the way they could not break Brentford down until so late despite dominating possession. But Thomas Frank’s side beat the press far too easily; Frank must have known what he was doing when he described Liverpool as “the best in the world” at transitions because his side were well-adept at stifling them.
What should have been a deft finish from Cody Gakpo dragged wide. Dominik Szoboszlai enjoyed a trio of chances of every kind, scrambling a shot from close range out for a corner, wriggling through the defence to hit a shot at Mark Flekken, and hitting the crossbar from 20 yards out.
Were the lines blur for owners FSG is in the detail of Slot’s progress – the Dutchman is way ahead of schedule in the rebuild, muddying the waters as to whether Liverpool should be strengthening in January to fireproof their title challenge or waiting and seeing how it plays out.
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