Daniel’s Debrief: Liverpool 3-1 West Ham

When we were at our best from that period between 2018 until early 2022, we had a team. A team where every single player was really good. A team where every single player knew their role.

To me, Liverpool look like that today and actually have done all season so far.

This is a big win. West Ham are a really good side and they play well today.

Jarrod Bowen is a menace, Edson Alvarez is a physical driving presence and Lucas Paqueta, goodness me, that’s one of the all time great opposition performances in defeat at Anfield. 

And yet the Reds still win and deservedly so as well.

Jurgen Klopp names the team I think everyone hopes for (apart from maybe Joel Matip for Ibrahima Konate) and it’s a sign of where we’re at in the attack that Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz are named to start for the second game in a row, despite  both playing 90 on Thursday. They are clearly the favoured two alongside Mohamed Salah right now and I can’t argue with it at all.

West Ham start well and Alisson Becker reminds us all of not only his value to the team but also why he’s the best keeper in the world - that was some diving save down to his right to deny Tomas Soucek. One-handed as well. Paqueta already causing problems from the half space.

They do what Wolves do last week and try to come out of the traps fast and catch Liverpool cold early on, knowing that they probably don’t have the fitness to last with our starting eleven and a bench that contains more world-class footballers.

We’re going to see more and more of this. Teams trying to blow us away early on because that’s their best chance. Wolves. Bournemouth. Newcastle. LASK. Today. 

It’s happening elsewhere too. Man City at West Ham last week. Arsenal at home to Fulham. 

What Liverpool do well in that period is keep their focus and match West Ham’s intensity. There’s a calmness pervading this team at the minute and it’s something we just did not see last season. The early pressure would’ve almost certainly resulted in a goal last season.

I was critical of how we didn’t utilise the pace of Ben Doak, Nunez and Diaz on Thursday night but the major difference here was the presence of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in midfield, and Andy Robertson at left-back. It’s telling how deep the initial play starts that leads to the goal.

We can move through the phases really, really quickly. Suddenly Diaz is away and while his pass is a little behind Nunez, it deflects into Salah’s path. Nayef Aguerd clumsily takes him out and it’s a penalty.

I like Aguerd. I wanted him for Liverpool this summer and had Harry Maguire’s deal to West Ham gone through, I think we might have moved for him. Point I’m making is, he’s good.

And yet he can’t live with Salah and Nunez.

These two (and Diaz, but particularly Salah and Nunez) are making perfectly good defenders look like morons.

Salah converts the penalty with power, rather than finesse - I long for the days of his Arsenal (h) penalty from 2019 and the one in Madrid, or the League Cup final, but ah well.

The 1-0 scoreline is perhaps a little fortuitous but Liverpool manage it well. More chances come for Virgil Van Dijk, Salah, Mac Allister and Nunez but it remains 1-0.

When you’re playing as well as we play in that first half and only lead 1-0, against a team who have their moments and can be dangerous, it feels unsettling.

Their goal comes at a great time for them because they looked arseholed moments earlier. Alvarez plays a brilliant ball to Bowen and it’s good hold-up play from the ex-Hull man. Vladimir Coufal delivers a pinpoint cross and Bowen directs his header well.

I was at the game today.

Normally when we concede a goal, you hear shouts of ‘fucking hell, insert player name’ as people decide who they are apportioning blame to.

I didn’t really hear much of that here. It’s a good goal. There’s not really much Liverpool can or should do differently. They work it well. If you’re being hyper-critical, you might say Van Dijk could be more proactive dealing with Bowen.

Then, nearly the perfect response when Curtis Jones volleys home in spookily-similar fashion to how he did at home to Spurs late last season.

Jones does well today. He completes his role so effectively and while he has a few sloppy moments, he’s well-worthy of the applause he receives at coming off.

I think he’s come on a lot. Right now, I think he’s our third-best (and available) midfielder and I’m more than happy with him or Ryan Gravenberch alongside Xavi and Iniesta, sorry, I meant Mac Allister and Szoboszlai. 

Shall we talk about Szoboszlai’s pass for this disallowed goal then? Jesus wept. It’s about as precise, intricate and perfect a line-breaking pass as you could wish to see. The guy is incredible. He has another great game where he is just everywhere. First half his passing is crazily accurate and threatening. A pressing monster too. Our De Bruyne.

1-1 at the break and while West Ham have been decent, it’s a largely undeserved scoreline for Liverpool. I had a funny feeling at the break. One of nerves. I’ve seen us fail to win these games before.

I should’ve had more faith.

This Liverpool side are winning games in different ways on a weekly basis at the minute and they trust themselves, they stay calm.

We start the second half well. Glorious playmaking from Salah has Nunez in but he blazes over - his second chance missed of the day. The first was saved by Alphonse Areola but this second was wayward.

The Nunez of last season loses his head. Instead, he buries his third chance. The hardest of his three chances. On the volley. A great finish.

Sixteen of his nineteen Liverpool goals have been first-time finishes. He’s such an instinctive striker.

He’s a different player this season. I was a Nunez sceptic. But he’s rapidly winning me over. His hold up-play today is sensational. Again. 

What’s really good about Nunez is how smart a player he is. He’s got pace, power and physicality yet rarely uses them all at once - he selects his attributes wisely. I’m convinced he’s become a better striker since Marcelo Bielsa got the Uruguay job.

Anyway, a delightful pass from Mac Allister for the goal. He was my man of the match. Playing as the DM again (Klopp wants nothing to do with Wataru Endo, does he?) and he looks like he’s been playing there for years.

Second half, he mops everything up. What a classy footballer. He and Szoboszlai have had a transformational effect on this team. Szoboszlai just doesn’t miss a beat and takes an incredible amount of responsibility in the team.

In the absence of a natural DM, the trio of Mac Allister, Jones and Szoboszlai are being exactly that - a trio. They’re working so well in tandem to almost jointly fulfil the role of a DM.

Diogo Jota certifies the win by turning home Van Dijk’s header from the corner and it’s six wins in a row. Jota is such an effective player. I think Gakpo does well coming on too.

That’s our fourth goal from a substitute this season, and the subs changed the game at Wolves last week too. Klopp has some great options on the bench and is using them well.

Matip handles Michail Antonio so well all day long. Apart from the first-half header, he has a quiet enough day, with Bowen being the bigger threat. His missed header at 1-1 is possibly the sliding doors moment of this game.

I didn’t think Matip had much of a future at Liverpool but when he’s been called upon this season, he’s done really well and today is his best performance in some time.

It’s the best I’ve seen Joe Gomez play in ages, too. He’s really smart with his choices today. Comes into midfield and is brave on the ball and offers himself regularly but picks his moments and stays wide when needed.

Having that conservative right-back gives Robertson the licence to bomb forward on the left and he does that so well. Diaz has an iffy day but there’s a real relationship blooming there.

What Liverpool do well is protect their own box. With Aguerd, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Bowen and Soucek, West Ham are packed with height and have the best set-piece taker in Europe in James Ward-Prowse yet they restrict their chances well.

The most pleasing thing about that win is that I don’t think West Ham can play much better than that at Anfield. Yet the Reds win reasonably comfortably and deservedly so.

Unbeaten since April 1st. Eighteen games in all competitions now. 

The start to the league season has been terrific. We have two monster away games at Spurs and Brighton next, both of whom have started really well also. The beauty of our start is that we can afford to not win there and still be in a good position. There’s little pressure on them. 

He brings on Gravenberch, Jota, Endo and Gakpo today - four international quality players. He doesn’t bring on Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas or Harvey Elliott. Doak and Stefan Bajcetic don’t even make the bench. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago are still to come back.

There’s the make-up of squad that can fight.

The Tottenham and Brighton games will give us an indication as to what we’re fighting for.

Daniel