Key events
12 min “It’s a bit off topic for this match but i’ve been thinking about Chelsea and the fact that other clubs are starting to circle like shoppers in Tesco around the assistant with the yellow label machine when it’s approaching late afternoon,” says David Wall. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if those other clubs tacitly agreed to not buy or loan any of those 15 ostracised players before the end of this transfer window, so Chelsea have to handle all those unhappy players who now have no reason to show any loyalty to the club. And it’d be a treat for journalists, the scale of leaks from the dressing room would shame even a water company executive.”
It’s a lovely idea. Alas, football clubs and the greater good go together like Marilyn Monroe and Phil Mitchell.
11 min Wissa breaks dangerously from that corner but Szoboszlai tracks him well and Liveprool get back into their shape.
9 min Liverpool are keeping the ball in the middle third for long periods, a notable change of style from the Klopp years. After one such spell, the ball is fired down the right towards Szoboszlai and Pinnock concedes the first corner.
8 min “I already have one regret about the Slot era and that is that in his first presser he did not announce himself as the Shiny One,” says Ian Copestake. “It’s about time Liverpool had some bald energy after years of hirsute emotion.”
7 min See 4 min. It’s genuinely been a decent start; there just hasn’t been anything of note to describe.
4 min Both teams have started brightly, albeit without creating anything of note. It’s interesting that Brentford have stayed with a back four; as Jamie Carragher says on Sky, they usually always play a back five against the big teams.
2 min This is how the two tems have set up.
Liverpool (4-1-4-1) Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Diaz; Jota.
Brentford (4-4-2) Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer; Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt, Lewis-Potter; Mbeumo, Wissa.
1 min Peep peep! Brentford kick off from left to right as we watch. It looks like they’ve started with a back four, which is a surprise to me anyway.
Arne Slot is either really calm or a really good actor. He stands around in the tunnel with the expression of a man waiting for the Tesco Express to open. When he walks out there are no elaborate gestures, just a wave to the fans and a smile.
Don’t cross Arne’s path/cos you’re gonna get stomped
The main man speaks
“It’s nice to play your first home game.” 💪
Arne Slot says he’s excited for his first game at Anfield as Liverpool boss 🔴 pic.twitter.com/BwSKKSPHdx
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 25, 2024
#baldcommunity
The world’s best keeper (arguably) talks to Will Unwin (definitely)
[Arne Slot] is a nice person, a family man with a lot of conviction in his ideas of what he wants from the players and the team and what he wants to achieve. His goals are for greatness, great things at the club. The same as mine. So it was a good conversation.
Plenty going on in the early games. Anthony Gordon has just equalised for Newcastle at Bournemouth, and Noni Madueke has scored a second-half hat-trick to put Chelsea 5-2 up at Wolves.
Team news
Arne Slot continues the systematic destruction of Jarell Quansah’s self-confidence by replacing him with Ibrahima Konate. That’s the only change from the team that started at Ipswich last week.
Brentford almost make one change: Keane Lewis-Potter in, Kevin Schade out. That almost certainly means a switch to a back five. The two new signings from Liverpool, Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg, are on the bench.
Liverpool (4-1-4-1) Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Diaz; Jota.
Substitutes: Kelleher, Endo, Gomez, Nunez, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, Quansah, Bradley.
Brentford (5-3-2) Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer, Lewis-Potter; Norgaard, Janelt, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa.
Substitutes: Valdimarsson, van den Berg, Schade, Carvalho, Onyeka, Mee, Yarmolyuk, Damsgaard, Trevitt.
Referee Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
Preamble
Arne Slot, welcome to Anfield. The status of Liverpool manager is such that a home debut counts as a major event, one that has happened only five times this century If you include caretakers, which is exactly what we’re going to do as it supports the half-arsed narrative we’re peddling, Chelsea have had as many in last two years.
It surely won’t always be this way, but the transition between Jurgen Klopp and Slot has been very smooth. Even though Liverpool didn’t get Martin Zubimendi, they look in decent shape and started the season with an ultimately emphatic 2-0 win at Ipswich.
Their opponents today are the great regenerators: Brentford. They don’t change manager too often but their team continues to evolve, and last week they beat Crystal Palace 2-1 without Ivan Toney, who was left out because of the distraction of that bloody open window. He’s absent again today; we’ll have the rest of the team news shortly.
Kick off 4.30pm.
