Match reports

“Update from the important game today: Hearts handed a 3-1 skelping by the mighty Motherwell, whose scorers of Mcginn, O’donnell and Sparrow (two defenders and a midfielder) are definitely indicative of scoring threats all over the park and not, eg, that our forwards have one shooting boot between them,” writes James Humphries.

“Genuinely though, keep a eye out for Tawanda Maswanhise – young Zimbabwean forward in on loan, and he looks proper tasty. In any case, had to buy two pints and a whisky to hit the minimum card payment in the 100 Club, so must dash; up the Well!

Half time: Liverpool 1-0 Brentford

44 min Janelt runs Mac Allister over and is booked. Thomas Frank is not impressed.

43 min Janelt pings a crossfield pass out to Lewis-Potter on the left. He cuts inside Alexander-Arnold on the edge of the area and whips a curling shot that is too close to Alisson. It was a good attack, though, and Lewis-Potter will be encouraged by how easily he beat Alexander-Arnold in the hyphen wars.

41 min Alexander-Arnold, who has been a constant threat, cuts inside Pinnock n the edge of the area and whizzes a left-foot shot that deflects over the bar.

40 min Now Norgaard is booked for a cynical off-the-ball block on Diaz.

38 min Gravenberch nobbles Jensen and is booked. Jensen is in a fair bit of pain, though hopefully it’s just an impact injury.

36 min “Liverpool still look like you can play through their midfield easily enough,” says Niall Mullen. “It really feels like they could do with a (quality) defensively minded midfielder if they are to have a chance at winning a big pot this season.”

They’re still after Zubimendi I think, though no idea whether there’s a Plan B.

And that’s all from me, I’ve been Fabrizio Ornstein, good night!

35 min The corner is only half cleared. Collins has a shot blocked by Szoboszlai and Liverpool threaten to break again, only for Gravenberch to underhit his lofted pass to Diaz.

35 min This is a good spell for Brentford. After some intricate play on the right, Roerslev lofts a dangerous deep cross that is headed behind by Konate. Excellent defending.

32 min Free-kick to Brentford 40 yards out on the left. Mbeumo’s cross is met by Norgaard (I think), who heads across goal and wide. That looked a very presentable chance but he barely made contact with the ball.

30 min Szoboszlai loses the ball to Wissa, fouls him in trying to win it back and is booked. Wissa has been Brentford’s most lively attacker.

28 min Diaz is flattened on the edge of the area after another sinuous run. Alexander-Arnold clips the free-kick over the bar. While this isn’t a battering, LIverpool are well on top.

24 min “That was an absolute beauty of a counterattack goal, writes Mary Waltz. “Brentford defenders had no chance to stop that perfection.”

The timing of the run and pass were the key; it was a beauty.

21 min Alexander-Arnold plays a really clever pass into the area for Salah, who slices miles wide under pressure. A quarter chance at best, but Liverpool are well on top now.

19 min Good stuff again from Liverpool. Diaz reverses a short return pass to the underlapping Robertson, whose first-time shot is pushed round the near post by Flekken.

17 min Check this out then.

15 min “A man waiting for a Tesco Express to open is not a calm man,” says Niall Mullen. “There is something in there that he desperately needs, possibly why he’s so sweaty and fidgety.”

I was going to say a man waiting for the cinema to open because he got there too early for the screening, but I couldn’t think of the word. And that, ladies and germs, is why you should never show what’s behind the curtain.

All that possession football and the goal came from a devastating break, “a Jurgen Klopp goal” as Jamie Carragher puts it. Gravenberch won a 50/50 with Janelt on the edge of his own area, with the ball ricocheting to Jota. He got on his bike, covering 40 yards before reversing a through ball to Diaz. He timed his run perfectly, scooted away from Pinnock and clipped a very confident finish past Flekken from 15 yards.

What a cracking goal.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Brentford (Diaz 13)

12 min “It’s a bit off topic for this match but i’ve been thinking about Chelsea and the fact that other clubs are starting to circle like shoppers in Tesco around the assistant with the yellow label machine when it’s approaching late afternoon,” says David Wall. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if those other clubs tacitly agreed to not buy or loan any of those 15 ostracised players before the end of this transfer window, so Chelsea have to handle all those unhappy players who now have no reason to show any loyalty to the club. And it’d be a treat for journalists, the scale of leaks from the dressing room would shame even a water company executive.”

It’s a lovely idea. Alas, football clubs and the greater good go together like Marilyn Monroe and Phil Mitchell.

11 min Wissa breaks dangerously from that corner but Szoboszlai tracks him well and Liveprool get back into their shape.

9 min Liverpool are keeping the ball in the middle third for long periods, a notable change of style from the Klopp years. After one such spell, the ball is fired down the right towards Szoboszlai and Pinnock concedes the first corner.

8 min “I already have one regret about the Slot era and that is that in his first presser he did not announce himself as the Shiny One,” says Ian Copestake. “It’s about time Liverpool had some bald energy after years of hirsute emotion.”

7 min See 4 min. It’s genuinely been a decent start; there just hasn’t been anything of note to describe.

4 min Both teams have started brightly, albeit without creating anything of note. It’s interesting that Brentford have stayed with a back four; as Jamie Carragher says on Sky, they usually always play a back five against the big teams.

2 min This is how the two tems have set up.

Liverpool (4-1-4-1) Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch; Salah, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Diaz; Jota.

Brentford (4-3-3) Flekken; Roerslev, Collins, Pinnock, Ajer; Jensen, Norgaard, Janelt; Mbeumo, Wissa, Lewis-Potter.

1 min Peep peep! Brentford kick off from left to right as we watch. It looks like they’ve started with a back four, which is a surprise to me anyway.

Arne Slot is either really calm or a really good actor. He stands around in the tunnel with the expression of a man waiting for the Tesco Express to open. When he walks out there are no elaborate gestures, just a wave to the fans and a smile.

Don’t cross Arne’s path/cos you’re gonna get stomped

The main man speaks

#baldcommunity

The world’s best keeper (arguably) talks to Will Unwin (definitely)

[Arne Slot] is a nice person, a family man with a lot of conviction in his ideas of what he wants from the players and the team and what he wants to achieve. His goals are for greatness, great things at the club. The same as mine. So it was a good conversation.

Plenty going on in the early games. Anthony Gordon has just equalised for Newcastle at Bournemouth, and Noni Madueke has scored a second-half hat-trick to put Chelsea 5-2 up at Wolves.

Team news

Preamble