Football News: West Ham United v Liverpool - A Quick Liverpool Perspective

West Ham United v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective

Another excellent, exciting performance under Slot. It was almost complete domination from start to finish. Tactically, Slot was better than Lopetegui, has better players, high on confidence and he made full use of them. Some of the play was breathtaking and I do not think it is being too harsh to say that 5-0 actually flattered the Hammers. It was a one-sided match from start to finish.

It was interesting to see that the attempt to copy Arsenal's corner routine was abandoned, unsurprisingly as the players did not get it right at all. Though I would have to say that the attempt was badly hampered by surprisingly poor deliveries at corners. Arsenal's delivery from Rice and Saka has been superb, which makes all the difference to the effectiveness of a set piece.

The main differences between the two sides were the mobility of the midfield, even Mac Allister, whose main weak spot is his lack of mobility, was able to run rings around the West Ham centre midfielders, and work rate. Both teams made errors, but the Liverpool players simply worked harder to make up for their mistakes, while the Hammers' players let their heads drop. They also struggled to cope with underlapping and overlapping runs on the flanks, freeing up both Gakpo and Salah to wreak havoc.

West Ham United

West Ham look bereft of confidence under a manager that seems lacking in any tactical clue about what to do. Lopetegui had no idea how to deal with Liverpool, starting with a bizarrely unbalanced back four, which saw a right-back in Wan-Bissaka starting at left-back, with a left-back in front of him. I am sure the intention was to have the right footed Wan-Bissaka there to deal with Salah when he cut inside, but he struggled to get anywhere near the Egyptian due to the constant underlapping runs which kept pulling him away to deal with them. I would assume the plan was for Emerson to push onto Alexander-Arnold, while Wan-Bissaka, who is usually known for being a very good 1-on-1 defender, dealt with Salah, but it failed miserably due to the movement from midfield overrunning them. They were being pulled all over to deal with the midfielders making forward runs and ended up losing the men they were meant to be marking.

If the Hammers midfield had shown a bit of effort and defensive nous, they would have helped out a lot more and allowed Wan-Bissaka to at least attempt to shut down Salah. Instead, they stayed narrow and Salah was able to rip through them. It is absolutely astonishing just how sluggish that Hammers midfield is. I cannot think of a more pedestrian one in the Premier League. And Paqueta is just an annoyingly whiny diver, who would rather take the easy way out by throwing himself to the floor, rather than work for the team.

In the second half, they switched to a back three, but had no greater success in dealing with Liverpool's movement using that system. In fact, they just ended up looking even more disorganised and wide open to attacks. The problem was they simply got overrun in midfield and their wide players made little to no real effort to track back. They pretended to, like Kudus did for the first goal, but then stopped short of actually staying with the runner when it mattered.

It felt like they turned up with no fight, no expectation of getting anything, and simply rolled over accepting defeat. Only Areola seemed to have any interest in stopping Liverpool from scoring. The rest were just phoning it in, so to speak, though happy to put in the effort when going the other way. Those are all signs of attitude problems, when the players are not willing to put in the hard yards. It is easy when running forward, to go and get the possible glory of a goal, but there is little glory in defending.

Liverpool

Alisson - may as well have had the night off.

Alexander-Arnold - really enjoyed himself in this game. He was able to cause havoc and raid forward at will. Got a goal as well, courtesy of a big deflection but if he had not shot, he would not have scored. He could have gone away with a large number of assists as well, some of his through balls were exceptional. It was noticeable that he dealt with Kudus very well in the second half, after the change in formation saw him moved over to the West Ham left side. One of a number of players who made a good case to be man of the match.

Gomez - was having another excellent game before his injury forced him off. Such a shame that injuries have disrupted his career so badly. He also missed out on a chance to finally score when van Dijk dumped him on his backside while they were moving to get on the end of a corner!

van Dijk - once again he was very good, especially after Gomez went off injured, though he had been excellent even before then.

Robertson - the weak spot in the defence, yet again. He is always too deep and is wrecking the offside trap that the rest of the defence have set up. It is a real worry how far off his own level he is playing at right now. Hopefully the return to fitness of Tsimikas will mean he can get a rest and come back fresh and more like the old Robertson.

Gravenberch - was excellent, until he was taken off for a much needed rest. He popped up all over the pitch making things happen.

Mac Allister - another in the frame for man of the match, he had an excellent game. For once, his lack of mobility was not an issue as West Ham's midfield have all the mobility of me nan on her zimmer frame. Mac Allister was excellent in the press, but also his use of the ball was at his best.

Jones - a good game though he really should have scored.

Salah - this season has been incredible. He just keeps pumping in goals and assists with a regularity that is astonishing. The best player in the world? Right now there is not even anyone out there who can put forward a genuine argument for anyone else at all. How long can he keep this up? Man of the match for me, though you could argue he should have scored at least one more.

Diaz - another who was excellent. His movement and interchange with the other forwards is so good. Kudus could have done a lot better on the opening goal to stop him, but he deserved a goal for his performance.

Gakpo - also excellent, created so many problems, tracked back well and scored. He is having a great season and getting better. He looks so much more natural playing on the left wing than he did last season when he was often in the centre.

Quansah - replaced the injured Gomez in the 37th minute. He was not really put under any sustained pressure, but he did do well with what he had to deal with.

Jota - came on for Gakpo in the 57th minute. He had a patented Jota performance - did some lovely things, messed up some easy stuff (usually straight after doing something particularly lovely) and scored.

Endo - was brought on nice and early for a change, in the stead of Gravenberch, to allow the Dutchman to have a well-earned break in the 57th minute. Not only did he show his work rate and tackling, he also played some nice passes. It was nice to see him get some more minutes and do well with them.

Tsimikas - took Robertson's place in the 73rd minute. The performance dipped for a little bit after he came on, with the score at 4-0 it is hardly surprising, but that seemed to be more a result of the changes and scoreline, rather than anything he did. He never really had the chance to really impress, but at least he held the defensive line.

Elliott - was brought on in place of Jones in the 73rd minute. Like Tsimikas, he had little real chance to impress himself on the game, with the performance becoming a bit flat. It was clear that Liverpool felt the game was over and the Hammers were demoralised, so there was little left in it. Like Tsimikas though, he slotted right in and it did not feel like the team was any weaker for him being there at all.

Written by Tris Burke December 31 2024 21:47:09