Liverpool picked up a comfortable 4-1 win at Brentford to stay top of the Premier League, with Thomas Frank honest in his assessment of his side’s defeat.
Thomas Frank was left ruing his side’s mistakes after Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Brentford. The Bees boss also admitted that even a penalty wouldn’t have helped his side against the Reds.
Liverpool ensured it stayed top of the Premier League thanks to a comfortable victory in West London. Goals from Darwin Núñez, Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo wrapped up another important three points, although the win did come at the expense of more injuries to key players.
Brentford had started the game brightly, and looked as though it could make the afternoon tricky for its visitors. Once Núñez gave the Reds the lead though, there was only ever going to be one winner.
Liverpool was quick to pounce on mistakes at the back, with Núñez and Salah, in particular, making the hosts pay dearly. That proved to be the biggest frustration for Frank at full-time.
“That’s the frustrating thing. Today, I think the first 35 minutes, I thought we were brilliant, I thought actually we were the better team,” Frank told BBC Sport.
“We couldn’t take the opportunities we had, and then we made a mistake, especially the first and the third goal we conceded, they’re two disappointing goals to concede. We know we are very good on offensive set-pieces, we know that Liverpool are very good on offensive transitions, maybe the best transition team in the world, and from their defensive set-pieces.
“We knew that, and we are willing to take risks, but we made some mistakes we normally don’t do, and we conceded the first goal from our offensive set-piece in two years, so that of course is a little bit of a punch. Then the third goal from high pressure, long ball, usually we do that much better. We didn’t today.
“That’s it, we’re facing number one in the Premier League, and I said before I think offensively, in the last third, I think they’re the best, but it didn’t help with the mistakes we made today. That happens, we need to learn from it and move forward.”
Brentford did have a shout for a penalty during the second half when Andy Robertson collided with Ivan Toney. Frank looked particularly unhappy at both Michael Oliver and VAR failing to penalize Liverpool in that instance.
Reflecting on the incident after the game though, Frank was honest in his assessment. “I’ve said before I think Michael is a fantastic referee,” he said. “There was no decision that decided the game today.”
Liverpool.com says: A fair assessment from Frank. Liverpool was excellent, but it did benefit from some especially poor defending from Brentford. Salah in particular looked as though he could believe his luck when he was allowed to chase down Gakpo’s header for the third.
And Frank is right not to complain about the penalty incident. His side probably had a case, but it surely wouldn’t have had a bearing on the result, plus Liverpool will feel it should have had a penalty of its own when Diogo Jota was hauled down at a corner in the first half.
