Arne Slot’s comfortable start to life as Liverpool manager continued when his new side strolled to a 2-0 victory over Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday.
Liverpool dominated early on, scoring a fine opening goal on the counter attack when Luis Diaz arrowed his first of the season into the top corner with 13 minutes on the clock.
Brentford responded well, going close with two short-range headers either side of halftime, but Mohamed Salah ended the visitors’ hopes of taking anything from their trip to Anfield with a second goal 20 minutes from time.
Dutchman Slot now has two 2-0 wins from two games as he undertakes the difficult task of replacing Juergen Klopp as Liverpool boss, with a testing trip to Manchester United up next.
“The time with Juergen (was) amazing and the time with the new boss is a joy and he has a certain way of playing,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports.
“We work a lot on so many good things and you see a lot with and without the ball that gives confidence to the team. We have to, I won’t say forget about the Juergen period, but that is in the past and we had an amazing time and now it is a time for the new boss to hopefully be successful.
“I think if we stayed more calm we could have more space at times but it is still a work in progress. It’s a good time and hopefully we have so much to improve and go for it.”
Before Sunday, no Liverpool boss since Graeme Souness in 1991 had secured wins in their two opening league games in charge.
Brentford, without star striker Ivan Toney in the squad again as speculation over his future continues, grew into the contest, but could not make a sustained spell of pressure before halftime count.
Liverpool upped the ante after the break and deservedly got their second goal, with Salah adding to his strike on the opening day at Ipswich Town with another well-taken shot to seal the victory.
Salah is now Liverpool’s outright fifth top scorer at Anfield in all competitions with 118 goals, moving ahead of Robbie Fowler as he again looks primed to be front and centre of a Red title tilt.
“We just know Liverpool is a good team,” Brentford boss Thomas Frank said. “For me Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are the three that are a little bit ahead of everyone else, some of the best teams in Europe.
“We hoped for more, we came here to try and win, but we couldn’t do it.”
Reuters
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