One of the regular features of Liverpool’s glorious title-winning 2019/20 Premier League campaign was the resilience they showed on numerous occasions when they came back from behind to win, and their triumph against West Ham United on Saturday was another example of the mentality which manager Jurgen Klopp has instilled in his team.
The West Ham approach
The visitors came to Anfield with an obvious intention to keep things tight at the back and think about protecting their own net first, believing that an opportunity to hit the champions back would come through counterattacks. Moyes arranged his men in an extremely defensive 5-4-1 shape and their numbers in and around their box were extremely difficult to penetrate.
It seemed like a good plan for most of the contest. Without the likes of Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara in their ranks, Liverpool struggled to find the right way to create a proper chance. Fabinho has been known to score spectacular goals from range and Thiago can certainly produce the passes that usually split the tightest of defences open. Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson are excellent players themselves, but their contribution usually revolves around retaining possession and switching the side of attack, rather than penetration. Curtis Jones is very talented, but he is still very young and struggles at times to identify the right spaces to try and exploit. All that leaves the front three, as fantastic as they are, facing an extremely difficult task of finding the right angles to endanger the opposition goalkeeper through a forest of defenders.
The Hammers’ approach was quickly rewarded. Liverpool’s Joe Gomez made a poor defensive header in the 10th minute and allowed Pablo Fornals a great position and angle to shoot from, and the shot was taken with a precision that gave Alisson Becker no chance whatsoever of saving it.
Moyes’ team threatened a few times more through the match, but better defensive play from Liverpool and questionable final-third decisions prevented them from scoring again.
The penalty decision
Despite the obvious lack of real scoring opportunities for the hosts, Mohamed Salah equalized in the 42nd minute from the spot. Referee Kevin Friend’s decision to award the penalty was criticized by Moyes after the game, as well as BBC’s Match of the Day host Gary Lineker later, who accused the Egyptian of diving. The truth is, Salah may have gone down a bit too easily, but there can be no reasonable argument about the fact that Arthur Masuaku clipped his heel and committed a foul. And a foul inside the box is a penalty, regardless of the way the attacking player goes down, or indeed if he goes down at all.
What Moyes will likely have been privately angry about is the needlessness of the offence in the first place. Salah was not facing the goal, he was in no position to cause any immediate danger to Lukasz Fabianski, and Masuaku really should have restrained himself from such a hasty act. Just like the Hammers early on, Liverpool needed a defensive mistake from their opponents to score, and the visitors’ left-back provided them with one. It blew the whole game-plan away for Moyes, and instead of protecting a lead, they now found themselves fighting for a single point for the rest of the contest.
Phillips the man for Liverpool?
Liverpool’s defence has been thoroughly plagued with injuries this season. Both Gomez and Joel Matip were injured early in the campaign, leaving midfielder Fabinho as the only senior option to slot back alongside Virgil van Dijk. Gomez recovered relatively quickly, but then disaster struck – a reckless challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford put Van Dijk out of action most likely for the rest of the season. Fabinho again stepped into the breach, but the Brazil international himself picked up an injury in the Champions League game against Midtyilland that’s now set too keep him out for several weeks. Matip started only one game this season and played a minute as a substitute in another, and he’s still not ready to play. Rhys Williams, 19, was expected to start against West Ham after he decently replaced Fabinho against Midtyilland, but Klopp opted for 23-year-old Nathaniel Phillips instead.
The job Phillips had to do in this game was far from easy, even with in-form forward Michail Antonio missing through injury of his own. He had to battle it out against a very physical striker in Sebastian Haller, and he did more than well. The Liverpool boss will be extremely happy that he has another centre-back he can rely on to do a job in his ranks, and it’s a big opportunity for Phillips to raise his credit with the manager and his teammates.
The Firmino criticism
Much has been said recently about the ongoing poor form of Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian forward has so far netted only once and provided two assists in 10 appearances in all competitions this season, and even some among the Liverpool supporters, who are usually very fond of ‘Bobby’, have called for him to be benched in favour of Diogo Jota.
It’s a confusing stance, really, because Liverpool supporters are usually quick to suggest that Firmino’s contribution to the way Liverpool play is crucial and cannot be measured in goals or assists. The fact is, it’s true that Firmino’s performances have been off-colour lately, but even so, he still does a very important job for the team. Even now, he is a handful to play against, and the way he forces the opposition defence to play a certain way often helps a player like Jota when he comes off the bench to provide added penetration and goal threat. The change of pace and direction of movement is usually stunning and so it proved on this occasion too.
Impact subs
Seventy minutes were gone and the score stood at 1-1 when Firmino and Jones made way for Jota and Xherdan Shaqiri. The formation was changed from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 with Salah as the striker, Sadio Mane shifting from the left flank to the right, Jota taking his place on the left, and Shaqiri slotting in behind Salah as the No.10.
The result of these changes was superb. The mere addition of another player in and around the box and the replacement of hard-grafting Firmino with penetrating Jota seemed to cause the tiring West Ham defence much more trouble than they had faced all game up to that point. Shaqiri flitted in and out of tiniest spaces just outside the box, his quick feet enabled him to keep the ball under pressure and weave pin-point short passes through the narrowest of channels. Meanwhile, Jota’s runs through the Hammers’ ranks often went unchecked; the defenders paid attention to Salah and Mane the most, and paid the price as the two starters used that to draw the lanes open for the two substitutes.
And finally, the new approach bore fruit in the 85th minute when the Swiss threaded a pass through the lines which looked aimed towards Mane. The West Ham defenders made sure in a very disciplined way to catch the Senegalese offside, but he just stopped and put his hands behind his back as Jota stormed past him and slotted past Fabianski.
Shaqiri reportedly came close to leaving Liverpool this summer but ended up staying put, while Jota was the Reds’ last signing of the window. Both are still without a place in the starting XI and that’s likely to remain the case for the time being, but their potency off the bench is huge.
Liverpool have now regained the lead in the Premier League table with 16 points, at least until Everton face Newcastle United at St James Park later today (Sunday). Despite some good performances and results in the early part of the season, West Ham are in 13th place and it feels that the road they’ll be taking for the rest of the campaign will be set over the next few rounds. The see-saw is in the middle position for them at this point; they could yet move upwards and fight for a place in Europe, or stay glued to the middle of the table. But they could also drop into another relegation battle. The only thing that seems certain is that the consequences of lacking of Antonio in their ranks will be felt every time.
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