Mohamed Salah scores again as Liverpool ease to victory over Brentford | Premier League

He Liverpool The congregation worships a popular hero and if this victory is followed by a similar one at Manchester United next Sunday to make it three consecutive wins, Arne Slot will have made the best of starts to become his last.

The midfield and defence require the Dutchman's attention as both could be too open against Brentford on Sunday, but the attack is exciting and lethal, as this crowd demands of its historic team.

The hour mark saw a first-class sequence that had the Anfield fans in a frenzy. A calm Mohamed Salah woke up and drove the ball into the Brentford box, passing it to Alexis Mac Allister and the most beautiful pass served to the Egyptian, who came close to adding Luis Díaz's opener. Moments later, Liverpool's number 7 made Mark Flekken dive low to the left to repel what would have been the Colombian's second.

Diogo Jota set up Diaz's goal and as Slot's new charges upped the tempo, a Nathan Collins block this time did the job for Brentford, as had a post earlier from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner.

But then came Salah's second goal in two games. Diaz was the one to set up the ball and his pass to the oncoming striker foreshadowed a finish that made Flekken redundant. The smile on the beloved number 11's face was mirrored by the joy that filled Slot, who could not have hoped for a better first home game in charge.

Before the game, he spoke of the elements that “didn’t make me happy” in last week’s 2-0 win at Ipswich and this game was also plagued by the same vulnerability as that day. A glimpse of how Brentford could take advantage of this came when Yoane Wissa ran down Alexander-Arnold’s right-hand corridor. Dominik Szoboszlai chased down the forward, who outran his supposed follower, and had a cross aimed at his strike partner Bryan Mbeumo been better directed, Brentford would have taken the lead.

Wissa repeated the goal, but this time from Andy Robertson's first corner. The number 11 headed the ball out of the danger zone, chased it down, picked it up and ran away down the right flank. Slot's men escaped, but Thomas Frank's men did not, when Mathias Jensen took the first corner.

A powerful header from Ibrahima Konaté was followed by a simple but beautiful counter-attack. Jota took the ball, waited and, with perfect timing, passed to Díaz, who ran across the ball and deflected it off the defender before a left-footed shot beat Flekken and went wide of the number one's right.

A dream start to Slot's project at home almost turned into two as Diaz set up Jota and Flekken had to clear the No.9's shot from close range. Salah, Szoboszlai, Alexander-Arnold, Diaz and Jota were percussive in their passing and movement, leading a fast and furious Liverpool display that their visitors could barely control.

Christian Nørgaard resorted to the farming technique to do so when he brought down Díaz. The shot drew sarcastic cheers at home, but when the free-kick was left to a panel of experts and Alexander-Arnold's curling execution it did not faze Flekken.

With his freshly cut hair, Salah looks much younger, although the heavy blow that brought down Jensen was an old-school foul he almost regretted. The subsequent free-kick flew into the Liverpool box, where Nørgaard, unchallenged, failed to head home from close range.

This chance proved that Liverpool's supremacy had waned. And although they tore Brentford apart again through Alexander-Arnold, whose cut inside foreshadowed a left-footed missile that deflected out for a corner, it was to no avail and Keane Lewis-Potter was quick to fire low into Alisson's midsection.

At the break, Slot ordered Liverpool to complement their attacking enthusiasm with more vigilance to stop Brentford's incursions. The first element remained. Moments into the second half, Jota's misdirected header fell off Robertson's head, but he failed to score from inches away. However, the need to reinforce the backline remained.

A Mbeumo shot that went out for a corner was the result of Liverpool opening up and more danger came with a short corner from Bees that Slot's men were quick to repel.

But Liverpool's second goal would soon arrive, as Alexander-Arnold forced Frank's men back in a series of forays down their right flank. The best of these included a pass to Jota who, perhaps distracted, squandered the ball.

It didn't matter. What matters is the result, which came in front of a league-record attendance of 61,276 and in front of owner John W. Henry, who had flown in specially from Boston for Slot's inaugural event on the Anfield turf.