Swat Team
[Brentford 1 – 2 Liverpool].
Two red cards for the home side is what it takes to swat the Bees away at the G-tech, apparently. We’ll take it, but I’m not happy about it.
Why?
Because had we scored four or five more goals nobody would be surprised.
Chief destroyer of the goal differential was Bradley Barcola. I don’t know how a player who scores the goals he did just a few days ago in the champions league can be so careless and wasteful today. There is something maddening about his demeanor, too, when he plays like this, like he doesn’t care. I know he’s just keeping his emotions in check, but good god, man, we’re all here cheering for you. My biggest hope for him is that someone at Liverpool is working with him on his finishing, because this really was a horror show.
Gakpo would have had a hat-trick.
Victor Munoz, on the other hand, played brilliantly, and capped off an impressive performance with a brilliantly taken goal, with a chef’s kiss level of assist provided by none other than Florian Wirtz. The latter had a good game today, and while I don’t have the stats available, might well have broken (I believe his own) record of most chances created in a premier league game. It feels like he’s slowly getting there, Wirtz, and that can only mean good things for the Reds.
Another good thing is the presence of a legit, lethal number nine. Alexander Isak barely touched the ball the entire game. But give the man an opportunity, and suddenly you forget all that because boy, does he put them away brilliantly. At Newcastle he was fed a lot more, and it does look like Iraola is trying to shape the team this way, which only means Isak – and once he’s back, Ekitike – will benefit.
Still, standing a shoulder above the rest today was one Alexis MacAllister, who was not only dynamic and highly influential in midfield, but also the only one who seemed to have fire in his belly the entire game. I was hoping he would infect his teammates with this, because if this kind of fire can be ignited throughout the squad, Liverpool, with all the talent at its disposal, can achieve unexpected things in this transitional season.
I mean, even beating Brentford at the G-Tech these days is a serious accomplishment.
With that said, I cannot conclude without saying a few words about the Man City situation. I watched the game last week until I switched it off around 70 minutes, and it’s I didn’t write about it after. The level of disgust I felt, seeing a felony team gaining from felony refereeing (the Gravenberch red), was too much. We, Liverpool fans, lost so much joy to these cheaters, arguably more than anyone else in the league has, although I have enormous sympathy for Stoke fans. I for one hope they get booted out of the professional pyramid, all their titles stripped away, and forced to be sold to a non nation-state entity. Let them work their way back up from the national league, this time in an honest manner.
It feels personal, and the reason I bring it up is, even today, it’s in the back of my mind, such that I find my enjoyment in watching the game today, a game that did not involved them, is diminished. Some voice inside keeps saying that none of it matters.
Without truly severe punishment, it might be time to just let it go and find something else to care about. I suspect I’m not the only one feeling this way.
The premier league had better be paying attention.