Thomas Frank has admitted he was mindful of being too open in transition against Liverpool as he hoped to avoid a repeat of the six-goal thriller between the two sides last season.
Even without star man Ivan Toney, Brentford managed to secure all three points in a 3-1 victory on the Reds' visit to west London thanks to a deflected effort off Liverpool's returning Ibrahima Konate and strikes from Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo which saw Jurgen Klopp's side well-beaten in their first outing of 2023, despite Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain halving the deficit shortly after half-time.
Defeat at the Gtech Stadium was a sobering tonic for Liverpool, who had previously stringed four Premier League fixtures together and mounted a climb up the table. But now the worrying showing from all areas of the pitch has sparked another mid-season predicament for Klopp and his players after they passed up the opportunity to capitalise on the recent dropped points from Tottenham, Manchester City and Newcastle.
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Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the Brentford boss revealed that he had specifically worked on trying to limit the Bees' vulnerability after forfeiting possession, something which was an evident problem when the two teams played out a 3-3 draw on Liverpool's last visit to Hounslow in September 2021.
"Not too much different," said Frank when asked if he altered his preparations ahead of facing a stuttering Liverpool side. "The only thing I felt was because the home game (last season, 3-3) was a fantastic game, we all know that, but I felt we were a bit too open on the transitions with the pace that Liverpool have."
Despite failing to add to his tally of nine goals so far this term, Darwin Nunez was twice sent through with Brentford goalkeeper David Raya. On the first occasion, it was only the last-ditch heroics of Ben Mee that prevented Nunez from scoring after he rounded the Bees' 'keeper before seeing his effort blocked off the line.
Meanwhile, a fine finish over the Spaniard in the second half was later ruled out after the Video Assistant Referee adjudged Nunez to have begun on his goal-bound run ahead of the final Brentford defender Ethan Pinnock, something Frank says his side prepared for in the build-up to fixture.
"We had to be aware of that a little more, and we knew that [Darwin] Nunez wanted to go [in] behind and it was close to costing us twice again," added Frank. "One block from Ben [Mee] and then the last, yes it was offside, I love Ethan Pinnock, but I don’t think he played him offside. We were a little bit lucky there, so we either went all the way high to be aggressive or all the way low."
The defeat to Brentford leaves Liverpool in sixth place in the Premier League table. They are four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and have played one game more.
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