Match review: Liverpool 1-0 West Ham
Just a quick one today as it’s my only day off and I’ve got stuff to do before hopefully the red Mancs do us a favour against the plastic Mancs.
Well these past couple of games won’t have done anyone’s blood pressure any good. Let’s see how the team performed.
Defence
It was a strange game because I thought individually our defenders played well but we conceded some big chances. Lanzini’s miss will have kept him up last night and we saw some brilliant last ditch defending from Trent (McMOTM), Robbo and Keita and I thought Alisson had a good game, having learnt from the reverse fixture.
Virgil looks more like his old self week by week now, one misjudged header aside and I thought Konate handled Antonio well and we all know what a real handful he is with his pace and power. There were big gaps at times however, both between our CB’s and our defence and midfield and with better finishing, West Ham could have got something from the game as they exposed those gaps on a number of occasions.
Midfield
We bossed the game possession wise, Hendo’s engine is just incredible but was lacking a decent final ball yesterday. Keita has taken to the Gini role well in recent weeks and also did some important defensive work but I didn’t think Fabinho had his best game, which is probably why we seemed so open at times. I hope Thiago’s back next week, we could really do with him staying fit for the run in now, as he did last season. That extra bit of quality and composure makes a difference in the big games when the pressure mounts.
Attack
We saw the worst of Salah yesterday I thought. I hate it when he’s gone a couple of games without a goal because he becomes fixated with it and his decision making goes right out the window. He ran down blind alley after blind alley yesterday and taking on ridiculous shots that were never on, rather than playing in a team mate in a much better position. I was glad Klopp had the balls to take him off and risk upsetting him because his decision making was costing us possession time and time again and as the game wore on at 1-0, we were needing to control the game more and Salah constantly losing possession wasn’t what we needed. Hopefully next game he gets a goal early and just starts playing his normal game again.
Mane I thought had a really good game, he’s taking to the CF role well, it was a brilliant run for the goal but he was also dropping deep the way Bobby does and Diaz just excites more with every performance. He had one amazing run from midfield, beating players with ease before being fouled on the edge of the box and he had a couple of efforts narrowly wide. Looks born to play for Liverpool and you can just tell the goals are going to start flowing soon.
Summary
I said to Stu last night, grinding out wins like that is what wins you titles. You can’t play well every week, although I didn’t think we played badly. West Ham are a good team as they’ve shown all season and there are games where you’re going to need your goalie to bail you out, or a goal line clearance from your RB. When you get to this stage of the season, a win is all that counts and win we did. The pressure is right back on City now, who have been labouring themselves in recent weeks. Over to you Wreck it Ralph, wouldn’t it be poetic if a United victory was to help us land number 20. Anyway that’s it for now, walk on!
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