Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah struggle again as Dango Ouattara exposes Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley - Brentford v Liverpool player ratings

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Liverpool's title defence is crumbling after Brentford condemned them to a fourth straight defeat in the Premier League. After winning their first five games, Arne Slot's side have dropped to sixth in the table and could yet fall further this weekend. We were inside the stadium on a boisterous evening in west London as The Bees claimed a shock win. Here are our player ratings.

Highlights: Liverpool beaten by Brentford for FOURTH straight league defeat

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What is going on at Liverpool?

After racking up a flurry of dramatic late wins, the form guide has flipped and seen them fall to four consecutive defeats in the Premier League.

Brentford were the latest to cause an upset, claiming a superb 3-2 win. It was a game packed full of ingredients: goals, VAR controversy, two halves that never seemed to end - and even a referee change at half-time.

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We were inside an unavoidably chilly Gtech Community Stadium to see the action. Here are our player ratings from a dramatic night.

Brentford

Caoimhin Kelleher - 6 - Made one nice stop from Curtis Jones, having to peer through a crowd before adjusting slightly to catch. Very little he could do for Liverpool's goals, but sparked a nervy finale after being penalised for time-wasting.

Michael Kayode - 7 - Long throws are back, baby. His rocket launcher created the opening goal, while subsequent aerial bombardments caused chaos in the Liverpool ranks. Also looked tidy on the ball, going on two superb marauding diagonal runs from right to left. One negative: he switched off on the stroke of half-time, allowing Milos Kerkez to steal in front for 2-1.

Ouattara fires Brentford ahead as Liverpool undone by another set-piece

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Nathan Collins - 7 - Captain's performance. He made a superb last-ditch block in the second half...

Sepp van den Berg - 7 - ...then watched as his defensive partner matched him with another. Both were really impressive against top opposition.

Kristoffer Ajer - 7 - Flicked on Kayode's long throw for the opening goal. Only his second game at left-back for The Bees, having impressed there for Norway on international duty and then shut down Jarrod Bowen in the win over West Ham United on Monday. An unusual sight at full-back, given his height, but very effective and marshalled Mohamed Salah well.

Jordan Henderson - 7 - Mopped up well in midfield and was barking instructions to his team-mates like the good old days - albeit sadly for Liverpool fans, in opposition colours.

Yehor Yarmolyuk - 6 - Got sat down twice by Dominik Szoboszlai, with the first collision causing enough discomfort to cut his evening short. Shame as he got around the pitch well in the opening half hour.

Kevin Schade - 7 - A little fortunate to see his shot squirm through Giorgi Mamardashvili for Brentford's second, although you can't underestimate how hard it is to be through one-on-one with so much time to think. A willing runner.

Schade slots home to double Brentford’s lead after sublime Damsgaard assist

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Mikkel Damsgaard - 8 - Can you hand out an 8 based on one pass? You can when it was this good.

Dango Ouattara - 9 - A superb performance; he was everywhere. Scored the opening goal, won the (dubious) penalty and caused chaos across the pitch. Had Kerkez worried throughout.

Igor Thiago - 7 - Chasing long balls under surveillance from Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate is an unenviable task for even the best strikers, but Thiago did it gamely. He missed a couple of big chances, but calmly converted his penalty when it came and occupied enough attention for havoc to be caused elsewhere.

Subs

Vitaly Janelt - 5 - Early arrival after Yarmolyuk's injury. Added even more attacking impetus, although he gave the ball away needlessly late on and was punished by Salah's ruthless finish.

Keane Lewis-Potter - 6 - Made a delicious turn after coming off the bench and looked smart on the ball during his cameo.

Mathias Jensen - N/A

Frank Onyeka - N/A

Rico Henry - N/A

Liverpool

Giorgi Mamardashvili - 5 - Produced two lovely fingertip saves - albeit also for the cameras - to deny Damsgaard. But when he faced off with Schade in the first half, could he have done better? Alisson Becker might have.

Conor Bradley - 4 - His sloppy control gifted Brentford the throw-in which sparked the madness. A difficult night.

Ibrahima Konate - 6 - Solid, but looked uncomfortable playing alongside Bradley before the Northern Irishman was hooked.

Virgil van Dijk - 7 - You have to feel for the Dutchman because: a) VAR probably wasn't dreamt up to check if a soft challenge happened on a lick of white paint or not, and b) his defensive team-mates are not at the same level. Aside from the penalty, he dealt with everything that came his way. Liverpool are very lucky he signed a new deal.

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Milos Kerkez - 4 - Nowhere near tight enough for Ouattara's opener. Looked very rushed in possession, but partly redeemed a difficult outing with a good finish at the back post. Unsurprisingly replaced by Andy Robertson in the second half.

Dominik Szoboszlai - 5 - Made plenty of driving runs from deep, but without any real end product.

Curtis Jones - 5 - Looked good on the ball, but, similar to Szoboszlai, it didn't lead to much.

Mohamed Salah - 6 - Was stuck hugging the touchline for much of the game, then provided a reminder of his lethal talent through the middle with a superb instinctive late strike. Slot has to get him firing again.

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Florian Wirtz - 5 - An encouraging start with plenty of nice touches, but he faded as a force. It's not quite happening for the German just now.

Cody Gakpo - 5 - Found some joy cutting onto his right foot off the left flank. But his performance was overshadowed by a theatrical fall inside the box when he may have had a shooting opportunity had he stayed upright. It was ignored by VAR, and barely a minute later, it was 2-0.

Hugo Ekitike - 5 - Seems a bit keen to make everything extravagant. Gave the ball away for Brentford's second.

Subs

Federico Chiesa - 5 - Roamed across the front line in search of the ball, but it very much felt like he was on a solo mission.

Andy Robertson - 6 - An improvement on Kerkez. Surely a shoo-in to win his place back from the start in all competitions.

Alexis Mac Allister - 5 - Failed to aid Liverpool's task off the bench, although that was much more due to the starting XI than the Argentine.

Rio Ngumoha - 5 - Was unfairly tasked with saving his senior colleagues with 20 minutes to play. A couple of nice moments, but there was no repeat of his Newcastle heroics earlier in the campaign.

Joe Gomez - N/A

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