Andrew Robertson says Liverpool’s performance in defeat by Brentford was “not good enough”, after a series of defensive errors saw the Reds miss out on a Premier League top four finish.
The Reds scored three poor goals at the Community Stadium as Brentford ran out deserved winners.
In a disappointing first half, Ibrahim Konate scored an own goal from a corner and two more goals were avoided at the set-piece due to offside decisions on video review, with Liverpool falling two behind when Harvey Elliott’s mistake led to Mathias Allowed Jensen to set. Same as above.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp made a triple substitution at half-time and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reduced the deficit but another late mistake, this time from Connett, allowed Brian Mbiomu to seal the win.
The Reds, who would have moved within a point of fourth with a win, have now dropped 23 points this season – one more than they did in the whole of last season’s campaign.
“The fans sitting at home or on the bus back to Liverpool, it’s not good enough for them,” defender Robertson said.
“We’ve talked about consistency and things like that but we’re just not getting it.
“It feels like we’re taking one step forward and one step back at the moment which unfortunately makes it difficult to climb up the league table.”
Brentford, meanwhile, are unbeaten in six games – their best run in the top flight for more than 80 years – and climb to seventh.
‘Another’ bad performance from Liverpool
Liverpool’s defense was reminiscent of last week’s game against Leicester when Klopp’s side ran out 2-1 winners, but were cut open on several occasions.
Connett was unlucky with the first goal which jarred his calf, but the corner came from Mbeumo who was cleared on the counter attack and goalkeeper Alisson had to bail out in defence.
The disorganized visitors were all at sea for the next two corners, fortunately saved on both occasions when Vessa turned the ball home but his effort was disallowed for an offside Ben Mee en route. hit
With the hosts dismissed, the Reds made a mistake too many seconds later when Elliott lost the ball trying to dummy in his own half from the restart.
They improved after the break, with Virgil van Dijk replacing one of them with a hamstring injury, but Connett should have been stronger in the 84th minute when he was cleared by Mbuyomo.
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher said Liverpool needed to spend “£200m” to compete at the top of the league again, while Robertson was one of the half-time substitutes. Criticized the performance.
“In the first half we were second every ball, there was no real run behind,” he said.
“We have to be first on the ball in the box, we have to be more aggressive in our own box, we have to stop the first corner and we didn’t do that.
“We could have conceded three goals in the first half.”
He added: “That performance [against Leicester] should have kicked us in the back where we say, ‘OK, we’ve won but now we need to do better’.
“Three days later we had another bad performance. It’s about consistency, we have to do it.”
No Tony, nothing wrong with fighting Brentford.
It was another special night under the lights for Brentford with a win against Liverpool adding to dynamic home wins against Manchester United and Arsenal in their return to the Premier League.
It was also their first victory against Liverpool since 1938.
The win was even more impressive given the fact that they were without top scorer Ivan Toney, who was not in the squad after picking up an injury in the 2-0 victory at West Ham on 30 December.
It was only their second Premier League win without the striker since their promotion – and it took a team effort to help them to victory.
In the opening moments, centre-back Mee cleared an effort from Darwin Nunes off the line after the Uruguayan rounded goalkeeper David Raya.
They rattled Liverpool for the rest of the opening period as they surged forward in attack and held firm when the tide looked set to turn in the second half.
Klopp removed half of his defense – Van Dijk and Kostas Tsamikas – and sent on Naby Keita to add pressure to the midfield.
But after Oxlade-Chamberlain converted Trent Alexander-Arnold’s in-swinging cross for his first goal in a year, Thomas Frank’s men struggled to deny Liverpool more clear-cut chances.
In the end, Bees players and supporters celebrated a win that left them wondering just how far the club can go.
