Danny Murphy picks out five positives for Liverpool fans to take away from Reds’ win over Brentford

Liverpool were slightly fortunate to come away from Brentford with a win on Saturday, with supporters slightly concerned by how vulnerable their team looked against the 10 and then 9-man Bees.

The Reds got the job done in the end thanks to second-half goals from Victor Munoz and Alexander Isak, but it was nervy right until the end of the match.

Former midfielder Danny Murphy was not pleased with the overall performance, and explained exactly why while appearing on Saturday’s edition of BBC Match of the Day. But though there were some worries to take back to Merseyside, Murphy also explained that the win – and four individual performances at the Gtech Community Stadium – should give fans hope going into a busy period.

The red card was the turning point in this game, no question about that, but it does not change the fact that Liverpool have gone to a team who many had expected them to lose to, and have come away with three points.

Florian Wirtz’s performance was hugely encouraging, and he deserves a mention after taking so much criticism recently, but Murphy also picked out Alexander Isak, Victor Munoz, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha as being ‘positives’ for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool fans to focus on.

“The positives, they won the game,” the pundit said, highlighting what is clearly the biggest boost of the day.

“Isak’s scoring, great finish. Munoz has been a breath of fresh air, he’s a young lad but he’s embraced playing at Liverpool, has played in different positions, he scored again. The two young boys, Ngumoha and Nyoni did well.”

However, Murphy then went on to detail why the game could not be seen in a wholly upbeat manner, eviscerating Liverpool’s attempts to press Keith Andrews’ team and claiming that they are still far too easy to play against.

“Liverpool are too easy to play through. They really are,” he said. “They’re disorganised in the press. I’m not sure whether it’s a change of personnel, I’m not sure if they’re going to need a bit more time. Wirtz is playing as 10 behind Isak, he’s not in the right position, they’re not ready to press.

“I think at the moment although Liverpool show moments when they go forward and they’ve won today, they are far too easy to play against and are conceding far too many chances to be competitive at the top of the table.”

Liverpool could have been cleaner in certain aspects, and there was a period in the game where Brentford felt to be slicing through them at will with the ball.

However, the Reds only gave up 0.88 xG during the game, allowing two big chances for Brentford, and while those numbers would ideally be lower, the Bees are genuinely a very good side. Liverpool were never going to have it all their own way on Saturday.

The red card obviously helped change that, but the four players who Murphy mentioned, plus Wirtz, Jeremy Jacquet and Alexis Mac Allister all played well. So did Bradley Barcola, despite his errant finishing. The win itself is the biggest positive, but though refinements need to be made, fans should be more hopeful than ever that Iraola has Liverpool moving in the right direction.