Victory in Frankfurt on Wednesday, it turns out, was only temporary respite. Liverpool didn’t just slip to a fourth league defeat in a row for the first time since February 2021, but were thoroughly outplayed and outfought by Brentford. The anxious period of stoppage time the home side endured was out of keeping with everything that had gone before.
Brentford tend naturally to a direct approach anyway, but Arne Slot’s grumbling last week about Manchester United’s long balls was an open invitation. Liverpool never got to grips with the pace of Kevin Schade running in behind their back four, and they looked uncomfortable as well against Michael Kayode’s fusillade of long throws. Every side now knows that Liverpool are vulnerable to balls played in behind their full-backs. The opening goal, scored after five minutes, stemmed from a Kayode throw, but that was the result of Giorgi Mamardashvili, mopping up as Schade chased behind Conor Bradley. It was already the second time he had done so.
Some long throw specialists rely on power, the body contorted to become a grunting trebuchet, but just as the fastest bowlers or the golfers who drive the ball furthest tend to be the most graceful, so Kayode seems to generate his distance with rhythm. There is a lithe fluidity to his run up and release, the trajectory oddly flat, more metal wood than seven iron. Some long throws are dangerous because they drop so slowly that it’s difficult for defenders to achieve distance with a clearing header, but not Kayode’s. His deliveries scud on a low parabola, a more accurate version of a cross from the same position. Kristoffer Ajer flicked on and Dango Ouattara smashed in a falling volley with Liverpool’s defence apparently mesmerised.
