Pre-Match Thoughts: With Emre Can being out with a “non-serious”
knee injury, it was good to see the returning Lallana and normally calming
influence of Matip back in the starting eleven. With both Spurs and Man City
dropping points this was a good opportunity to put some daylight between us and
those title rivals against a West Ham side which had struggled all season but
had completed the league double over us last season.
From the kick off we were back to our quick incisive passing
and movement and this led to a swift attack which culminated in Mane beating
his man and then crossing for Lallana who swivelled and placed a cool left foot
finish into the far corner of the West Ham net for an excellent start 1-0.
Inexplicably like last weekend we
took our foot off the high tempo play and let West Ham back into the game with
them having a shot pushed away by Karius.
We did not heed the warning and
Lallana then gave away a free kick in a dangerous position on the edge of our
area. West Ham’s best player Payet then curled a free kick beating the
outstretched Karius for the Hammers to draw level. When you look at replays it
clearly shows that Karius’s position for the free kick was too far to the left
and Payet proceeded to punish him for this mistake. 1-1
We were not playing well and not
creating clear chances as normal and therefore it came as no surprise when
Antonio gave West Ham a 1-2 lead. West Ham’s Nortdveit’s angled driven pass
from the right had been deflected off Henderson, wrongfooting completely our
last man (the normally reliable) Matip in the process. This mistake allowed
Antonio to run through on goal and he dinks the ball gently past the shockingly
static Karius. Matip was also slow to react to the change of trajectory of the
ball which ended up in our net. So for the second time in as many weeks we fall
behind after leading.
There was some good play from Wijnaldum,
who beats his man down the right and crosses towards Firmino. His header drifts
just wide of the far post so we were showing signs of reacting to going behind.
The final main incident of the
first half we were denied a penalty shout when referee Clattenburg felt that
Payet hadn’t fouled Lallana in the area, whereas replays showed he had rugby
tackled him.
Halftime Thoughts: We continue to
let ourselves down defensively but this scoreline totally flatters West Ham. We
have so far only managed one shot on target which was Lallana’s which ended up
in the net.
Klavan came on for Lovren which I
assume is due to a possible injury. We start the second half on the front foot
and equalize very early on. Mane sends in a cross to no one in particular but
the West Ham keeper spills it right in front of Origi who finishes with an
assist off the post.
Moments later Wijnaldum nearly
restores our lead with a shot that goes just wide of the post, we continue to
dominate possession, pinning West Ham back but without getting enough clear shots
on target in my opinion.
West Ham then bring on our former
striker Andy Carroll to see if he can cause further havoc to our defence.
Henderson then produces a peach of
a curling shot (similar to his scorcher versus Chelsea) that looks like a goal
all the way until the West Ham keeper Randolph tips it over the bar.
As we approach the last 10 minutes
of the game we look totally gassed and have ran out of ideas so we need our
manager Klopp to influence the side by making a late couple of substitutions
but surprisingly he does not do anything.
Our last real chance fell to the
wrong player when Clyne plays it down the right to Mane, who crosses first time
on the turn, Lallana then flicks it daintily behind him to Clyne, who as per
usual panics and thrashes the ball well over the bar from the edge of the box.
Clyne is a very good defender but is extremely poor at shooting.
Liverpool team: Karius, Clyne,
Lovren, Matip, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Mane, Origi, Firmino.
Subs: Klavan on for Lovren at half
time – Unused subs: Mignolet, Moreno, Lucas, Alexander-Arnold, Ejaria, Woodburn
Man of the match: Sadio Mane – the only
bright light throughout our dip in form – he will be a massive loss to the side
when he goes off for the African Nations in January 2017.
At the final whistle all we can do
is complain about another two points thrown away with another very
disappointing result but in my opinion Klopp is not helping the team by
retaining the error strewn Karius in the side. Mignolet may not be the answer
but surely he has more confidence than the current LFC number one.
Firmino has gone off the boil since
the injury to Coutinho and Wijnaldum is a very good player but we need him to
get his shooting boots on.
We are in third place in the league
but missed out on the opportunity to stay with the current leaders Chelsea and
now fall six points behind them and are now three points behind second placed
Arsenal with us now having two tough away games over the next eight days versus
Middlesborough and our local rivals Everton respectively.
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