£34m man is the best on the pitch, but ‘poor’ player struggles again: Liverpool’s player ratings vs Brentford

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Liverpool were made to work for the points at Anfield today, with a resolute Brentford side giving them a real game.

In the end, the Reds stood firm, though. An early Mohamed Salah goal was enough to hand them a 1-0 victory, and a sixth straight win in the Premier League.

Here’s how we rated the players on an awkward afternoon at Anfield.

Defence

Alisson Becker: 6 – Untroubled for much of the game and did a decent enough job with some of his kicking. Thankfully not as busy as usual.

Trent Alexander-Arnold: 7 – Another shift in the middle of the park for Trent which should have brought another assist. His beautiful dinked pass was shanked over by Darwin Nunez, though. Generally good but Brentford dealt with him well. Almost scored with a lovely drive late in the game, which was tipped wide spectacularly.

Virgil van Dijk: 6 – Picked up an early booking for flying into a Brentford player and handled Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbuemo relatively well. Put the brakes on nicely to catch Mbuemo offside for the disallowed goal.

Ibrahima Konate: 6 – Noticeably more physical against a strong front two but didn’t do everything well. Still getting a little lost at times in the new defensive shape.

Andy Robertson: 6 – Some good early deliveries from corners, but still needs to use it better in the final third. Gave the ball straight to the defender when Diogo Jota was through, and gave away a silly free-kick just outside the box second-half.

Midfield

Fabinho: 5 – Looked all over the place at times, giving away free-kicks near constantly in the first-half. Improved a little after the break but didn’t do enough to protect the back two.

Curtis Jones: 6 – One lovely flick to find Jota on the break stood out but was otherwise a little anonymous.

Cody Gakpo: 5 – Asked to drop a little deeper today, Gakpo wasn’t his usual silky self at Anfield. Lost the ball more than usual and should have scored after Jota fired a ball across the goal. Missed another brilliant opening late on, blazing wide after taking it on the chest.

Attack

Mohamed Salah: 7 Man of the Match – The £34m man was comfortably Liverpool’s best player this afternoon. Put them ahead with an improvised finish and looked the biggest threat throughout. Continues not to get free-kicks when being blatantly fouled.

Darwin Nunez: 5 – Missed a decent opening with a header early on, before skying the best chance of the game. Has to be hitting the target when six yards from goal. Worked hard, but the ‘poor’ description handed to him recently by Gary Neville stood up again here. Deservedly first to be taken off.

Diogo Jota: 6 – Lively enough but doesn’t half need to tidy up when in possession. Did well to get in behind second-half but his blast across goal for Gakpo should have been an easy assist. Still, kept working, pressing and showing why Jurgen Klopp loves him.

Substitutes

Luis Diaz: 5 – Nice couple of moments down the left. Couldn’t get into it as much as he’d have liked. Didn’t shield the ball well enough late in the game, leading to an injury time corner.

Jordan Henderson: 5 – Buzzed about down the Reds right-hand side, but had one bizarre incident where he failed to set the Reds on the counter twice in a second.

James Milner: 5 – Came on, put in a heavy-handed foul. Job done.

Kostas Tsimikas: N/A – Barely saw him once he came on.