With fifteen minutes left, and with Liverpool having secured the second goal required to seal this game, Anfield started to sing the name of Arne Slot for the first time. It was only a flicker and it died out pretty quickly. Almost like a passing whisper in a corridor. But it was there just the same and it felt significant. Two games in and a new Liverpool manager is making sound progress at the start of what may transpire to be quite a testing journey.
It will be a while before they stop talking about the other bloke here. It’s not just Jurgen Klopp’s shadow that continues to hang over Liverpool. His fingerprints are everywhere. Liverpool are the only club in Europe’s top seven leagues not to buy a new player this summer. So Slot has almost nothing that he can yet call his own.
Which is why consecutive Premier League wins will feel so important. Liverpool’s new manager can put his name firmly next to victories over Ipswich and Brentford and for now that will feel like enough.
Much of what we saw from Slot’s Liverpool here was reminiscent of the Klopp era. The hunger, work rate and desire were instantly recognisable, so too the clinical and devastating way Liverpool imposed themselves on Brentford once the game got stretched.
There was a period either side of Mo Salah’s decisive goal in the 76th minute during which Liverpool could have scored four times.
Mo Salah calmly slotted in Liverpool's second goal to seal a 2-0 home win against Brentford
Luis Diaz had opened the scoring for the hosts in the early stages of the first half
Arne Slot enjoyed the perfect start to life as Liverpool boss at Anfield with an impressive win
Liverpool may have changed manager but footballers simply don’t lose instincts like that overnight. When it’s required, Liverpool’s players are perfectly prepared to scrap for possession like wild dogs disputing chicken bones behind a city centre dustbin. It is clear already that this has not changed.
Equally, Liverpool can still look a little vulnerable, especially in the air. Brentford had two big headed opportunities – one in each half – when they were only a single goal down. Thomas Frank’s team were very much in the game at that point. In fact the 45 minutes that followed Luis Diaz’s 13th minute goal were quite even. During this spell Liverpool did not dominate their opponents and it is probably this that Slot will occupy himself with between now and the first real test of his Liverpool reign, a game at Manchester United next Sunday.
Still, he will not complain. His team have won their first two league games and as such much of the analysis and judgement of his early days has already been smothered by the focus currently being applied to other clubs who have perhaps started the season less well. Slot will be grateful for that.
Here Liverpool started and finished the game well. Diaz’s early goal was struck rapaciously after a thrilling counter-attack from a Brentford corner. Salah’s second of the new campaign came after Diaz played him through towards the Kop with fifteen minutes to go.
Diaz's goal was right out of the Jurgen Klopp playbook as Liverpool broke to take the lead
Slot's reaction on the touchline was more measured than his predecessor to a Liverpool goal
Christian Norgaard should have equalised for Brentford but headed wide of the target
Ryan Gravenberch did a good job in a holding role but does not feel the long-term solution
In between there were spells when Liverpool looked considerably less sure of themselves and struggled to obtain the kind of territorial control and possession on which they have traditionally thrived. It is tempting to wonder how that may look and feel against better teams as they continue to want for a holding midfielder of genuine standing.
Still, the start was bright enough. A Brentford corner was cleared to the edge of the penalty area and when Salah won a tackle to free the ball, Liverpool were away.
It was Digo Jota who led the charge but with only Diaz up ahead of him, he had to find the perfect pass. The Portuguese forward did exactly that, threading the ball between two defenders to set his team-mate clear. With Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken advancing towards him, Diaz chose power and thrashed the ball high in to the net from 12 yards.
For a while Brentford dropped in to a deep 4-4-2, seeking to prevent further damage. There were a couple of squeaks. Andrew Robertson worked Flekken at his near post while Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold were narrowly off target.
Andrew Robertson saw a near post drive kept out from Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken
The impressive Keane Lewis-Potter also forced a save from Liverpool goalkeeper Allison
Alisson was called into action in the second half to keep out a header from Nathan Collins
Over time, though, Frank’s team found a foothold. Anfield fell quiet and Liverpool lost some purpose. Christian Norgaard should have equalised with a free header in the 32nd minute and then Alisson Becker saved low from Keane Lewis-Potter.
Alisson also saved well from a Nathan Collins header early in the second half before Liverpool rediscovered some rhythm to produce their best football of the game and ensure they didn’t lose a grip on what had seemed theirs for so long.
Flekken saved bravely from Robertson, routinely from an Ibrahima Konate header and then superbly from a low Diaz shot. Meanwhile an Alexander-Arnold corner struck the bar while Collins applied an important block to a low Jota shot.
Salah has scored in Liverpool's opening two matches of the Premier League campaign
Slot has seen his new side begin the Premier League season with consecutive 2-0 victories
With fifteen minutes left, Anfield was alive again and it was a frenzied fight for the ball in midfield that laid the platform for Salah’s goal. Eventually it Diaz who benefited from all of that to free Salah and his chipped finish over Flekken with his right foot was lovely.
At full-time, Slot folded his coat over his arm and took a walk on to the field like a man ambling down to the post office on a Saturday morning. A wave and a thumbs up to the Kop was appreciated and reciprocated and then he was gone.
A man of under-statement, it seems. It’s been a while since we have seen one of those round here.