Liverpool's performance on Monday evening was simply painful to watch from start to finish.
Brentford were very direct, but it was always going to be that way. It’s very similar to what Wimbledon used to do years ago, and we just didn’t deal with it. Defensively, we were ridiculous. We were being bullied and didn’t stand up to the fight. When you don’t organise and deal with set-pieces, you are going to struggle. Brentford had two goals ruled out in the first half, luckily for Liverpool, and I couldn't believe my eyes at the second one that was chalked off.
Yoane Wissa took the time to chest the ball down in the middle of our box before his shot deflected in, and not one person closed him down. I’ve never seen that in football for as long as I can remember. That just summed us up. I’ve seen us defend badly this year: it started off away to Napoli early in the season and we’re susceptible to it now. Aston Villa could have scored three against us on Boxing Day, Dewsbury-Hall carved us open for Leicester's goal and it’s happening far too often. We’re miles away from being a title-winning side, it’s top four at best. If you’re always going behind in matches, you’re never going to get anywhere.
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The defending was rank throughout the game. For Konate to get pushed off the ball that easily for Brentford's third goal, I’m a striker and I don’t think that is a foul, we have to stand up and be counted. If we don’t, we will end up with no cups and Thursday night football next year. The defensive work should start at the front, Rushy and I used to chase shadows, but our midfield does not protect the back four as well as it should. We are getting exposed in this area time and time again.
We are not the team we have been in the last five years, otherwise we wouldn’t have gone to Napoli and shipped four goals, we wouldn’t have lost 3-1 at Brentford or to Leeds at home. We have got injuries, especially up front, but we are paying the price for not having as many options in midfield as people think we do.
Konate had a World Cup hangover against Brentford and had his worst game for us, but I think most of our players are still suffering from the quadruple hangover. It seems to have drained a lot of the players. Mentally, there is a burden on you to see if you can go again.
Alisson has been our standout performer this season - and that says it all
Our best player this season has been Alisson, which tells you all you need to know about how things have gone. It's often the sides at the bottom of the league whose keeper is their standout performer.
We have conceded 51 big chances to teams this season, which is more than twice as many as the five teams above us in the Premier League table.
Alisson has had to deal with numerous one-on-ones and has bailed us out so many times. Teams are having three or four big chances against us each game, when they were once lucky to get one or two at most.
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