Disclaimer: I support Liverpool so my takes could be too reactionary or not make sense to neutrals/rival fans.
Liverpool travelled to the London Stadium as they were to play in-form West Ham, who were sitting fourth in the table. In an end-to-end game, West Ham emerged as 3-2 winners in what was a lackluster display from Jurgen Klopp’s men as it ended a 25-game unbeaten streak in all competitions. Here are some talking points from the match:
| Category | West Ham | Liverpool |
| Goals | 3 | 2 |
| Shots (on target) | 7 (3) | 16 (5) |
| Possession | 30% | 70% |
| Scorers | Alisson 4′ (OG) Fornals 67′ Zouma 74′ | Alexander Arnold 41′ Origi 83′ |
Where was the midfield?
This has been a problem for Liverpool all season. With Klopp tweaking the system, the Right Centre Mid contributes to the attack as Trent and Salah form a triangle with Jordan Henderson in this case. However, with Henderson contributing to the attack, he is unable to track back to support a free right-flank when teams hit Liverpool on the counter attack, with Matip having to deal in 2 vs 1 situations as van Dijk is occupied with the left hand side. It felt like there was a midfield hole in defensive terms as Fabinho was the only player who could provide midfield stability. This wasn’t in just the West Ham game. Brentford and Brighton were able to break down Liverpool’s midfield with little difficulty. Something Klopp has to work on in the international break, and FSG are also partly to blame in not replace Wijnaldum who provided defensive stability.
Set-pieces, Lack of heart and the Left-Back debate
2 of West Ham’s goals were from corners.
The first goal was debatable, as it was given as an Alisson Own Goal despite elbowing on the hand from Ogbonna, who eventually went out injured.
However, Zouma is unmarked on the second goal, and Alisson is once again pre-occupied with three burly players surrounding him, and the centre-backs don’t do much of it. Corners were exposed and West Ham took the best opportunities from them.
From what I saw of the match, West Ham in the second half had so much more spirit, energy, and passion compared to Liverpool. One West Ham player could outmuscle three Liverpool Players.
Lastly, the curious case of Andrew Robertson and the calls for him to be dropped to the bench as a starting Left-Back. It is interesting, as in the past few games Robertson has only made overlapping runs and his crosses, at times, were unable to beat the first man.
Kostas Tsimikas is breathing down his neck and considering Liverpool have a clean sheet in all the games he’s played in, I’m not saying Liverpool will have clean sheets in every game he plays, but he is better offensively and on-par with Robertson defensively.
With Robertson playing all 38 games last season, as well as international breaks and the EUROs, he’s been run into the ground with all that sprinting and needs a 4 to 5 game rest at minimum until he feels energetic again.
FootballFanatic 