Liverpool's £350m Frontline Needs a Red Card to See Off Brentford

Liverpool left the Gtech Community Stadium with three points on October 17, but the manner of the 2-1 win over Brentford will not have settled many arguments. Keane Lewis-Potter had given the hosts a 44th-minute lead, and it took a red card for Yehor Yarmoliuk — sent off for violent conduct after a VAR intervention on the stroke of half-time — to tilt the match. Víctor Muñoz equalised on 62 minutes, Alexander Isak marked his return from injury with the winner on 70, and Vitaly Janelt's stoppage-time second booking left Brentford with nine men.

On the raw figures, Liverpool dominated. They had 60 per cent of the ball, 21 shots to Brentford's 10, nine corners to three, and 38 touches in the opposition box against an average of 25.4 across their earlier 2026/27 matches in all competitions. Their expected goals of 1.64 comfortably outstripped Brentford's 0.88. Yet the big chances ran the other way: Brentford carved out two to Liverpool's one. That is the tension at the heart of this performance. Iraola's side generated volume without consistently generating the clearest openings, and they needed a numerical advantage to convert territory into goals.

The reports frame it as a comeback powered by a £350m frontline. Isak started alongside Florian Wirtz and recent signing Bradley Barcola, and it was Isak who decided it. That is the headline. The underlying story is a squad in flux. Iraola made six changes, with Dominik Szoboszlai also returning from injury, and the bench reshuffled around a group still integrating six summer arrivals: Ronald Araujo, Jérémy Jacquet, Lucca Brughmans, Djylian N'Guessan, Barcola and Muñoz.

The comparison with 2019/20 is unavoidable, and the data section supplies it. Klopp's Liverpool took 2.61 points per game across a 38-match season, finishing with 32 wins, three draws and three defeats. Iraola's Liverpool have 1.71 points per game from seven matches, a record of three wins, three draws and one defeat. That is a weaker return, but seven games is a small sample and the league table alone cannot carry the weight of a definitive judgement. What it can do is frame the question: is this a rebuild finding its feet, or a side that has traded the old certainty for a more volatile attacking model?

The alternative reading is that the process is improving even if the points are not. Liverpool's corner count here was 9.0 against an average of 5.8 in their earlier matches this season, and their box touches were 38.0 against 25.4. Those are signs of a team spending more time in dangerous areas. The counterargument is that Brentford, with ten men for 45 minutes and nine for the closing stages, were always going to concede territory. The big-chance count — 2-1 to the hosts — suggests the visitors' control was not always accompanied by defensive security.

Brentford's unbeaten league start is over, but the manner of the defeat will not damage their credibility. Whether they can sustain their strong start is a question the next few weeks will answer.

For Liverpool, the more pressing questions are about durability and balance. Isak and Szoboszlai returning from injury is a boost, but the data does not tell us how long either will stay fit. The £350m frontline of Isak, Wirtz and Barcola has the talent to justify the outlay; whether it has the structure around it to match Klopp's 2019/20 points return is not yet knowable. The win at Brentford keeps Iraola's side competitive. It does not yet prove they have found the old balance.