'This is the emergence of a fabulous team' - Joe Cole praises Liverpool after thrashing Brentford
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ByOli Gent
Published 17/02/2024 at 15:24 GMT
TNT Sports expert Joe Cole has said that that Liverpool are emerging into "a fabulous team" after the Reds dispatched Brentford 4-1 at the Gtech Stadium. Goals from Darwin Nunez, Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah, and Cody Gakpo gave Jurgen Klopp's side another three points to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points ahead of Manchester City in second place.
Mo Salah et Liverpool ont tenu leur rang à Brentford
Image credit: Getty Images
Joe Cole thinks “a really fabulous team” is emerging at Liverpool after the Reds beat Brentford 4-1 at the Gtech Stadium.
Liverpool, who came into the game two points clear of second-placed Manchester City, went ahead through Darwin Nunez’s chip, before goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo sealed three points for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
It puts the Reds - at least momentarily - five points clear at the summit, with Manchester City to play Chelsea later this evening, and Arsenal away at Burnley.
Speaking after the match on TNT Sports, Cole said: “Liverpool have got an outstanding squad.
“When the new players like Mac Allister, Nunez, Gakpo start to settle and pick up a bit of form, and you add to that the top players that they’ve already got [and the] winning mentality, manager and fans, it was looking ominous.
“They’re sticking in it; they’re five points clear. Playing and winning early on a Saturday is a fantastic feeling because you know you can sit back and it’s on to Man City and Arsenal and what they can do. Can they match us? You put it on them. This Liverpool team, to be fighting on four fronts. A little bit of bad news, the injuries today, but this is the emergence of a fabulous team.”
A trip to Brentford has always been a fixture that most Premier League sides would rather avoid, but any Liverpool jitters were put aside when Diogo Jota’s knockdown from a Virgil van Dijk clearance sent Nunez clean through, before the Uruguayan scooped over the onrushing Mark Flekken to put the visitors ahead on 35 minutes.
There was an aura of confidence that Cole couldn’t help but praise.
“They’ve delivered, looking confident before the game,” Cole, the former Liverpool midfielder, said.
“First 15 minutes, they weathered the storm. There was a little bit of an atmosphere and I thought that Brentford might be able to do something today. But then the class just told, and when you’ve players like Jota, Nunez, Salah… quality in and amongst it, you could not be playing to your best, and then a moment of magic from Jota and a lovely finish from Nunez, and then you’re in business again; you’re in control.
“This is a really tough place to come to, make no bones about it. Arsenal and the other clubs around them would have been thinking that Liverpool would have a tough one here today, but it was a breeze; they’ve walked it. It was comfortable, they were making substitutions with the cup final in mind.”
Liverpool are set to play Chelsea in the EFL Cup final next weekend, and injuries to Jota and Curtis Jones, who were both forced off with niggles in the first half, could have Jurgen Klopp sweating over his team selection at Wembley.
The enforced replacements did not affect the course of the game, however, with both substitutes, Salah and Gakpo, both getting on the scoresheet to help Liverpool to three big points.
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