Paul Tierney does Liverpool a favour as Kop respond with unlikely chant

Liverpool haven’t had much reason to be grateful for the whims of Paul Tierney over the years.

But it ultimately required an intervention from the referee to rouse the Reds, the Anfield crowd and Joel Matip in particular and set Jurgen Klopp’s side on their way to a hard-earned but ultimately comfortable victory here over Brentford.

Inevitably it was what appeared a wrong call from Tierney on 37 minutes that lit the blue touchpaper, Matip adjudged to have fouled Christian Norgaard on the halfway line despite winning the ball first and then having the temerity to have the visiting skipper run straight into him.

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There aren’t many sights in football quite like a wronged Matip, who fell to his knees, shook his hands dramatically in pure frustration and then put them to his head as he was given a booking for his indiscretion.

The Kop was similarly unimpressed, and broke into a chant that vociferously suggested Tierney vacate the premises with haste. And while Liverpool and their supporters hadn’t exactly been completely subdued during a first half in which Klopp’s men gradually wrested the initiative, there’s no doubt Tierney’s decision ramped everyone up a few notches.

Not least Matip who, two minutes later, was evidently still bristling with injustice as he pressed high in the Brentford half to regain possession. The ball was then swiftly played through Dominik Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold before Darwin Nunez slipped a pass in for Mohamed Salah to finish confidently into the far corner and break Brentford’s stubborn resistance. After failing to do so against