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Joe Cole has called out the Liverpool trio as the Premier League champions lost again (Picture: Getty) Joe Cole has called out three ‘awful’ Liverpool stars as the Premier League champions were beaten 3-2 at Brentford on Saturday. Goals from Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade gave the Bees a two-goal cushion before Milos Kerkez got on the scoresheet before half-time. Igor Thiago slotted home a penalty after the break with Mohamed Salah’s late goal not enough as Brentford secured three points against the Reds. Cole, speaking in his half-time analysis for TNT Sports, blasted three Liverpool players – Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Kerkez. Rewatching Schade’s goal for Brentford, Cole said: ‘The defending is awful from Van Dijk and Konate. ‘But it is a beautiful pass and an unbelievable finish. Kerkez had an awful 45 minutes [in the first half].’ Fellow pundit Steve McManaman opined: ‘Liverpool have been very, very chaotic and all over the place at times. Milos Kerkez was one of three players called out by Joe Cole (Picture: Getty) ‘They are very fortune they got a late goal [before half time] to get back in the game. I thought Kerkez was poor, I thought [Florian] Wirtz was weak.’ After the match, Cole added: ‘We had drama, quality and passion. [Brentford boss] Keith Andrews has just taken the baton off Thomas Frank and he is just pushing this football club up the table. ‘This is Brentford’s moment. A wonderful performance from the team.’ Igor Thiago scored for Brentford in the win over Liverpool (Picture: Getty) Slot: I have a clear idea of where we have to improve Speaking after the defeat, meanwhile, Liverpool boss Arne Slot told the BBC: ‘What I have to do is look at what we do wrong and what we do right. ‘I have a clear idea of where we have to improve but that hasn’t been the case in other games. We didn’t do the basics right today. ‘Disappointing result and a disappointing performance as well today. ‘Conceding three goals is far too much if you want to win a game of football. ‘First one was a set-piece. Second is a counter-attack which is one of the things [Brentford] are really good at. ‘We didn’t defend that at all. To be in the game at half-time because we scored and in the second half, the penalty made it impossible to get a result today.’ Quizzed about Salah scoring, Slot added: ‘Always positive he is scoring a goal. It was a great finish from Mo.’
