Liverpool vs. Brentford: *Bumper* Post-Match Analysis

Paul Tomkins, Andrew Beasley, Daniel Rhodes and other TTT regulars will give their thoughts on the match for 24 hours after the game, so the article received via email is unlikely to be the final version. There's statistics from the match and videos too.

Post-Match Thoughts

Paul Tomkins

In the end, a good three points against 12 well-organised players. If ever a neutral wanted evidence of the way referees try to get back at Jürgen Klopp by only seeing fouls from the team in red, here it was.

(Of course, no neutrals will acknowledge as much, as all neutrals hate Liverpool, but that was an absolute shitshow from Anthony Taylor.)

And it was all the more galling as Brentford writhed, screamed, moaned, groaned and shrieked for free-kicks in the middle of the park, where they're never checked by VAR.

Ivan Toney – great player though he may be – will jump into you at full force, but if you cleanly win the header, he'll scream and hold his head. (At least Brighton have excelled by playing good football. Fair play to Brighton.)

One of the most annoying things in English football are these ale-house, long-ball teams who only want free-kicks in the middle of the pitch, to launch it into the mixer, and who go in hard on you; but if you so much as look at them, the ref – whether it be any of the weirdly limited number of terrible officials on duty at Anfield – give them what they want.

If you don't match them physically, they bully you. But if you try to tackle them, they go down screaming.

Add time-wasting at every throw, and Anthony Taylor ruined the first half by allowing Brentford to use every spoiling tactic imaginable. Of course, the only player booked for time-wasting was Alisson, who was simply trying to take a goal-kick. Liverpool are officially the least-time-wasting team in the Premier League, yet every week we see teams come and ruin games with underhand tactics. Brentford were green-lit as we were gaslit. It felt like the Greater Manchester PGMOL mafia were really at it today.

I've no idea if they dislike Liverpool, but they loathe Jürgen Klopp, and any hint of fairness has flown. I get why they wouldn’t like him, but they still need to be professional and honest.

This was a game of football that was utterly killed by a referee on a mission, but at least he couldn't stop the Reds.

Supposedly more is required for a free-kick now – to let the game flow (as we’re told every time Mo Salah is hoiked up into the air by some hairy-arsed 16-stone lummox) – but Taylor was quick to blow his whistle to waste another minute as Brentford mucked about.

The only chance of giving Brentford a penalty was for an outrageous dive, but rather than punish it, Taylor immediately gave the Bees a free-kick outside the box because … well, because Fabinho was fouled.

It was like the Twilight Zone. I'm sick to fucking death of talking about refs, but this gormless gimp (speaking as a gormless gimp myself) ruined this football match, just as others have this season.

At one point I expected Taylor to pull off the mask and reveal himself to be fellow blind baldie Paul Tierney (speaking as a blind baldie myself), as the 4th official contemptuously blanked Klopp for having the temerity – the utter German bastard! – of politely asking how long was left.

This is it boys, this is war … as Taylor might as well have sung after Mo Salah released his 100th Anfield luftballon.

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