Liverpool Week in Review, Monday 19th October: Man City Storm, Barcola's Hat-Trick and a Dramatic Win at Brentford
It has been an eventful week for Liverpool, dominated first by the fallout from the heavy home defeat to Manchester City, then by a stirring response in the Champions League and a hard-fought Premier League win at Brentford.
The Man City game continues to generate headlines days on. This Is Anfield reports that Premier League chiefs have discussed the possibility of immediately suspending City amid the ongoing "farce" surrounding the club (This Is Anfield). The match itself was marred by crowd trouble, with the BBC and the Guardian both reporting that a police officer suffered a serious facial injury and that ten people were arrested, five on suspicion of tragedy chanting (BBC Sport) (The Guardian). The Liverpool Echo adds that tunnel footage showed Gianluigi Donnarumma being escorted away after a clash with Liverpool fans (Liverpool Echo), while City boss Enzo Maresca defended his players' celebrations at Anfield when questioned by the BBC (BBC Sport). Liverpool.com reports that Andoni Iraola will not speak to his players after games following the thrashing (Liverpool.com).
The red card shown to Ryan Gravenberch has also sparked plenty of debate. Jamie Carragher has criticised Liverpool's own staff and academy player Trey Nyoni over the incident, according to Liverpool.com (Liverpool.com), and the pundit was also involved in a heated on-air row over the wider City controversy (Liverpool.com), as well as having to respond to claims he was being "hypocritical" on the subject (Liverpool.com). Elsewhere, Steven Gerrard has broken his silence on the Man City charges and the suggestion Liverpool could retrospectively be awarded a Premier League winners' medal from 2013/14, as reported by the Liverpool Echo (Liverpool Echo).
On the pitch, Liverpool bounced back in style in the Champions League, thrashing LASK 6-3 in Austria according to Sky Sports, with Bradley Barcola scoring a hat-trick and Florian Wirtz also shining (Sky Sports). The Liverpool Echo and This Is Anfield both highlighted Barcola's standout display after his £123m transfer had come under scrutiny (Liverpool Echo) (Liverpool Echo) (This Is Anfield), while Virgil van Dijk told the Echo he expects the France international's form to make a "massive" difference going forward (Liverpool Echo). Iraola admitted he was pleased overall but pointed to late substitutions as the reason Liverpool conceded three goals (Liverpool.com) (Liverpool Echo), and former defender Stephen Warnock questioned the decision to risk Alisson during the win, according to Liverpool.com (Liverpool.com). Wirtz also responded to his critics with a big performance, and This Is Anfield noted he broke a chance-creation "record" against LASK (Liverpool.com) (This Is Anfield) (This Is Anfield). Younger players also caught the eye, with Rio Ngumoha earning praise from Iraola (Liverpool Echo) and Will Wright scoring a hat-trick for the U19s in the Youth League, as reported by Liverpool.com and This Is Anfield (Liverpool.com) (This Is Anfield).
Liverpool followed that up with a tougher 2-1 win over nine-man Brentford, with Alexander Isak scoring the winner after Victor Munoz had also been on target, according to LiverpoolFC.com and Liverpool.com (LiverpoolFC.com) (Liverpool.com) (Liverpool.com). The game featured a VAR review and a red card for Brentford's Yehor Yarmolyuk (Liverpool.com). National media reaction, as gathered by the Liverpool Echo and Liverpool.com, focused heavily on Wirtz's role and a "foolish" moment that proved a turning point (Liverpool Echo) (Liverpool.com). Liverpool.com also pointed to the pair of summer signings proving their worth in the win (Liverpool.com).
Injuries remain a concern. TeamTalk reported Iraola giving an update on three key players, including Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexander Isak, ahead of the LASK trip (TeamTalk), while talkSPORT reported a further blow as Szoboszlai was forced off early against Brentford (talkSPORT), with Iraola also discussing a Jeremie Frimpong issue on LiverpoolFC.com (LiverpoolFC.com). The Liverpool Echo reported that Giovanni Leoni's return has been delayed (Liverpool Echo), while This Is Anfield says Iraola has left the door open for an injured trio to return against Brentford (This Is Anfield). There was more positive news on Conor Bradley, who Liverpool.com reports is closing in on a return to training (Liverpool.com).
On the transfer front, LiverpoolFC.com reports Liverpool are keeping an eye on a Bundesliga player valued at more than €70 million (LiverpoolFC.com), while TeamTalk claims a January target has become available for around £20m less than first expected (TeamTalk). Alex Scott continues to be linked with a move from Bournemouth, with Liverpool.com and the BBC both reporting interest from Anfield (Liverpool.com) (BBC Sport). Elsewhere, TeamTalk reports that Ronald Araujo's proposed permanent move to Liverpool has reportedly "gone cold" due to an issue for FSG (TeamTalk), and Liverpool.com reports Emmanuel Petit's claim that Barcola's transfer fee was widely seen in France as an overpayment (Liverpool.com).
Finally, in other news, Steven Gerrard is reportedly "open" to taking the Wrexham job as pressure grows on Phil Parkinson, according to Liverpool.com (Liverpool.com), while ESPN reports that Jamie Carragher will not be made bankrupt after settling a tax bill with HMRC (ESPN). On the women's side, LiverpoolFC.com's Gareth Taylor column touched on Grace Fisk's England debut and gave an update on injuries ahead of the trip to Aston Villa (LiverpoolFC.com).
This round-up is written with the help of AI, using only the day's headlines from the publishers credited above. Each point links to the original report — tap the source name to read it in full.