Daniel’s Debrief: West Ham 2-2 Liverpool

It’s a few hours since the final whistle now and the main thing I remember is Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist discussing the etymology and factual accuracy of the word ‘woodwork’.

We’ve reached a nadir now.

Liverpool’s season is not just over in terms of competition, but it is over in terms of any entertainment value whatsoever.

They’re not even bad today. 

They’re just not that good either, and for the periods where they are good (which, let’s be clear, far outweigh the periods where they are bad), they are too exhausted to capitalise, and they are too exhausted to ride the periods where they are bad.

It’s a sleepy, boring and low-quality game between two sides that want this season done. 

Both are about to say goodbye to the best managers they’ve had in decades and it feels like it’s the right time for both to move on.

For Liverpool, it’s been a month-long malaise that has proved to be the sour ending we all dreaded, whereas for West Ham, it’s been season-long problems that’s cost them.

But, when you think about it, our problems have been going on all season too.

Think about it. What are our current issues? Conceding first. Struggling to convert chances. The effect of injuries.

These have been happening all season. 

What’s happened in the last month, though, is that Liverpool have stopped being able to deal with them.

They no longer seem capable of winning games from losing positions. They no longer seem to create a volume of chances great enough that missing some isn’t a problem. They no longer have enough players in form that having some unavailable is manageable.

It’s a situation where over-performance could only last so long. 

Liverpool are 3rd because they’re the third best team in the league, which was suspected at the start of the season.

The unlikely title charge was unlikely for a reason.

What frustrates me so much today is that we do some good things, and get nothing to show for it. 

For 40 minutes, we are comfortably the better team - not playing superbly, but having enough of the ball and having some control of the game.

But we’re just struggling to score.

Luis Diaz hits the post and again, works hard.

But he’s not a killer. He’s doing more good things than any other attacker at the minute, but he’s not scoring or assisting.

And then we concede an absolutely fucking preposterous goal.

The main story of the day will be the exchange between Klopp and Mohamed Salah but there’s all manner of disagreements kicking off before the corner even gets taken.

Maybe the lads could stop arguing and blaming one another, switch on and prevent the short corner.

What a run this is when we concede from a West Ham corner that isn’t even taken by James Ward-Prowse.

Cody Gakpo absolutely deserts his area and his responsibilities, and you have to ask how a player of Jarrod Bowen’s height gets the jump on Jarell Quansah. 

Not good enough.

And it’s another example of what I’ve been saying. Klopp’s never really had a defensive structure. He’s relied upon individual quality back there for years.

Two very scrappy goals in a second half that produces more intensity at least have the Reds in front.

Gakpo does well second half, Wataru Endo does well and Ryan Gravenberch is pretty decent for most of the game. 

But it’s the same old story.

Game management isn’t good at all. At 1-2, they don’t kill the game and inevitably end up paying for it. Game management in all facets since United in the FA Cup has been disastrous.

Robertson’s defending for Bowen’s cross which leads to Michail Antonio’s goal is borderline disgraceful.

Again, the centre-backs should do so much better.

And the game meanders towards a conclusion that does neither team any help, via a stupid intervention from big Tony Taylor.

I don’t think we’re a well-coached team and arguably haven’t been all season. That’s completely different to if we’ve been well managed. Klopp has managed this season very well, largely. His substitutions, tactical changes and results have been very good until the last month.

But his coaching of the players must be questioned. The fact is, if we were well-coached, we wouldn’t have needed so many late winners and comebacks.

Liverpool aren’t ruthless. They need to be more like Manchester City. Pep Guardiola would’ve won more than one league with this Liverpool team because of his philosophy.

Klopp’s comment the other week that ‘I collect relationships first and trophies second’ is very troubling, in my opinion.

I don’t know much about Arne Slot but I hope he’s from the Sir Alex Ferguson/Guardiola mould.

We probably won’t love him as much as Klopp, but we’ll probably win more.

And that’s the important thing to be clear about here; Klopp has won eight trophies at Liverpool including the Premier League in 2019/20 and the Champions League in 2018/19.

But the fact that it feels like not enough is a measure of how good his era has been, and what it feels like it should’ve produced.

He reminds me so much of Wenger, does Klopp. Most people preferred his Arsenal team to Ferguson’s United or Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, but both ended up being one-sided rivalries.

Wenger was respected up and down the country. But when the real pressure moments came, Ferguson and Mourinho usually coped better with it.

Wenger sacrifices having pace and power - Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva are the midfielders for the invincibles season - in favour of more technically gifted, but more lightweight players.

Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Mesut Ozil were all lovely players but Arsenal were never the same after Vieira and Silva were moved on.

Klopp’s football has always been built around physical monsters in the middle of the park - Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner, Adam Lallana.

But he went so far away from this and now there’s only really Endo that you could describe as a physical midfielder. Thiago, Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones can all be physical but it’s not their primary role.

Most neutrals preferred Wenger’s football and teams to Mourinho or Ferguson’s.

Most neutrals prefer Klopp’s football and team to Guardiola’s.

But who won more?

Daniel