Klopp furious, now knows who was to blame for embarrassing defeat to Brentford

After four consecutive Premier League wins, two before and a couple after the 2022 World Cup break, Liverpool lost 3-1 away to Brentford in Matchday 19. Jurgen Klopp's side had the initiative in the opening stages of the game, but generated only one dangerous chance when Mohamed Salah set up Darwin Nunez, who left goalkeeper David Raya in his path, shot at goal and Ben Mee saved for the home side on the line.

The home side responded with a one-on-one from Bryan Mbeumo that forced a great save from Alisson Becker, and from that corner came the opening goal when the ball bounced off Ibrahima Konaté in an unfortunate way to surprise the Brazilian keeper. Konstantinos Tsimikas came close to equalising after a great back-heel assist from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but Raya saved and Brentford regained their composure to take control of the game and score a couple more goals that were disallowed for successive offside positions.

<strong>More Liverpool news:</strong>

Brentford defeated Liverpool with a victory that is richly deserving

The player Klopp would sacrifice for Gakpo to start against Brentford

Those wake-up calls had no effect on Liverpool, who continued to make mistakes in the back line and finally paid the price before half-time when Wissa headed narrowly wide from Mathias Jensen's perfect cross. Klopp made three changes at half-time, with Naby Keïta, Andrew Robertson and Joel Matip coming on for Harvey Elliot, Tsimikas and Virgil van Dijk. Darwin Núñez scored early in the second half, but the Uruguayan was offside and the VAR ruled it out.

Liverpool kept up their search and were rewarded a couple of minutes later through Oxlade-Chamberlain's accurate header from Trent Alexander-Arnold's right-wing cross. Fabinho tried to find an equaliser a little later with a long-range shot and Raya was alert to clear the danger. The visitors' impetus was short-lived, Thomas Frank's side regained control of the game and the Reds only managed to trouble the home side with a Konaté header that flew inches wide of the left-hand post. Just before the final whistle, Mbeumo's lethal counter-attack made the game safe for the Reds.

<strong>Defence and attack were poor</strong>

Coach Jurgen Klopp was very uneasy throughout the game in the technical area. His face showed annoyance, especially at the defensive lapses in Brentford's goals. Konate's own goal provoked the German's anger so he replaced him at half-time with Joel Matip. Another element that provoked the fury of Klopp Club was the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez who again was too close in front of goal.