Liverpool’s first defeat in five league matches left them sixth in the standings with 28 points from 17 games, four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, who can extend the gap to seven points when they host Bournemouth on Tuesday.
Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate fired the ball into his own net in the 19th minute while Yoann Wissa doubled Brentford’s advantage before halftime after his side had two goals ruled out after a VAR review in a frantic opening 45 minutes. Reuters reported.
Darwin Nunez scored for Liverpool early in the second half but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gave Liverpool hope when he headed in a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross shortly after but Brian Mbeumu grabbed all three points for Brentford in the 84th minute.
The victory added to a shock 4-0 win at home to Manchester United in August and a 2-1 victory over champions Manchester City in November, lifting Brentford to seventh in the standings with 26 points from 18 games.
Brentford lost top scorer Ivan Toney to injury but made their more famous opponents suffer with their intense plan and picked up some slack in defending for the visitors.
“Ivan has been a key player for us and in many ways he has been fantastic,” said Brentford manager Thomas Frank. “If you asked me if I wanted to play him I would say ‘Yes, of course.'” But we need more than 11 players and I’m very happy that Wysa came in and scored.”
Liverpool could have taken the lead in the fifth minute when Nunez saw his shot off the line from Ben Mee while Mbeumu was saved at the other end by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
Brentford took the lead with the help of some good luck, as Konate connected from a corner with his knee and sent the ball crashing into his own net.
Wissa thought he had doubled Brentford’s advantage when he slotted the ball into the net, but that effort was canceled out as the striker left the pitch.
There was further frustration for Brentford when their second goal was disallowed after Mee saved Wessa’s shot into the net.
But just 13 seconds later, he got Wessa lucky for the third time with a header past Alisson and across the line.
Liverpool boss Klopp took drastic measures in the first half, taking off Virgil van Dijk, Harvey Elliott and Konstantinos Tsimikas. The team improved in the second half and after Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled one back, they besieged Brentford in their own half in search of an equalizer.
But Brentford fired them back on the counter-attack, Christian Norgaard firing a long diagonal ball towards Mbeumu, who edged Konate before slotting home.
Klopp said that goal should have been ruled out for a foul but did not back down from criticizing his team.
“We conceded the first goal at a moment when we should have already gone 2-0 up, with Darwin and Kostas (Tsimikas) pretty much alone in front of goal,” said the Liverpool boss.
“But we go away with a goal from an offside position and then they score right away and we weren’t there, so that’s a huge point of criticism.”
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