Some things in life just aren’t meant to be, like Manchester City holding onto a lead.
Two late goals worked out really well for us last week as we came from 2-0 down to claim a draw against the 4-time defending champions who are currently in the worst crisis of their Guardiola era.
Within that era only one team has knocked the conquerors off top-spot come the end of the season and although they are under new management this season, no-one expects an easy game when Liverpool come to town.
That’s why I was still on cloud 9 when I arrived at the Gtech on Saturday 35 minutes after kick-off, after hours of delays on my trains to London, to find the score still at 0-0 and Brentford giving as good as they got all the way to half-time.
From minute one of the second half it was clear we would struggle to find a breakthrough against the unbreakable wall of Ibrahim Konate and Virgil Van Dijk, but also that we would not be broken down easily.
Nathan Collins and Sepp Van Den Berg played a blinder and with the support of Christian Norgaard, Mads Roerslev and Keane Lewis-Potter they kept the mercurial talents of Luiz Diaz, Dominic Szoboszlai and Mohammed Salah quiet throughout the half.
Sure there were a few times I was wiping the sweat from my brow as Liverpool surged forth on the break only to be stopped at the last second. There were times throughout the half where I was certain they were about to score only for a goal-line block or a last-ditch tackle to maintain our clean sheet.
There was no denying that they had been the better team in the 2nd half but as the board was raised for stoppage time at the end of the 90 scores were still level and it felt like a huge achievement to be walking away with a point from a match that had been last-ditch defending for much of the half.
Sometimes luck just falls in your favour though and after defending so resolutely it was only right for us to secure a point, right? Wrong…
They say it is the mark of champions that they find a way to win even when not at their best and on Saturday Liverpool showed the mark of champions by hitting us with a double stoppage time sucker punch.
Darwin Nunez had replaced Luiz Diaz in the 65th minute but only managed a few headers into Mark Flekken’s arms within the regulation 90. So for him to be the one, so oft maligned by his own fans, to administer the punces was gut wrenching.
First being found in acres of space 8 yards out by a deflected Trent Alexander-Arnold cross to fire home then, with Brentford chasing an equaliser, latching onto the end of a Harvey Elliot through ball to slot home in acres of space.
A gut punching ending to what had been an exceptional performance in many ways from the Bees, but Thomas Frank didn’t call the visitors ‘The best team in the world’ for no reason.
Results like this solidify that claim because there is little doubt that no other team has shown such determination against such a brilliant defensive display at our fortress.
Brentford were brilliant but, with their double sucker punch, Liverpool were just better.
Due to financial contraints I will not be back to the Gtech till at least the end of Feb, but in the meantime I wish the Bees all the Best.
The Football tourist 