West Ham 1-4 Liverpool Mohamed Salah double leaves Slaven Bilic on the brink
here
is no goalscorer in the top-flight of the English game in better
current form than Mohamad Salah and he was a match-winner again for his
club against a West Ham team displaying all the familiar signs of crisis
to which their supporters have become accustomed.
The Egyptian striker, regarded by the Telegraph Sport columnist Jamie Carragher as the season’s most effective new signing so far, delivered once again with his eleventh and 12th goal of the new campaign, and his sixth in his last five games. At this rate, he is on course to surpass last season’s top goalscorer at Liverpool, Philippe Coutinho, who got 14, by the end of the month and his effect is being felt.
Klopp’s side were deserved
winners, working to a much more coherent plan and with the ability to
take chances whenever they presented themselves, in particular their
third which came less than a minute after Manuel Lanzini had pulled one
back for West Ham in the second half. This is their third successive
victory in all competitions, a run they have not managed since August
and Klopp will hope that after the international break Adam Lallana will
also return to the side.
They are a team who have done just about enough to keep their manager in a job with that stirring Carabao Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur that papered over a few cracks. But anyone can see that Slaven Bilic has no idea how best to deploy his mixed bag of a squad that should nonetheless be a good deal better off than one point above the relegation zone. He changed systems at half-time with his team 2-0 down and sent Andy Carroll on to throw himself at his former club but it was all too late.
West
Ham’s players seemed still to be ruminating on the first bad goal they
conceded when, barely two minutes later they conspired to concede a
second bad goal and on the touchline, Bilic’s posture suggested a man
who did not have a plan.
It was a terrible collapse from a team that had offered very little up to that mid-point of the first half. There was a bit of home fan animosity towards the referee Neil Swarbrick who seemed to have dealt their side a marginally tougher hand than he granted the away side but then generally Liverpool looked a lot more certain of their task than the team they were up against.
Usually a staunch advocate of 4-3-3, Klopp picked a system that seemed to change back and forth between 4-2-3-1 and a much riskier 4-2-4. One moment Salah might drop in behind Roberto Firmino, and then at other times he would be alongside the Brazilian with Sadio Mane and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings. This was the first Premier League start for the Englishman at his new club and the pace across that front line was telling.
For some reason West Ham had failed to lock the back door while they pushed up to take a corner in the 22nd minute and within seconds, Salah had won the ball and flicked it to Mane who was free to run two-thirds the length of the pitch without an opponent to challenge him. In what must have been a surprise to Salah and Mane too, they had only a frantically back-pedalling Aaron Cresswell between them and Joe Hart’s goal. Mane picked his moment perfectly to play in his team-mate Salah to score his 11th goal of the season.
Moments later West Ham conceded a corner which Salah did not hit particularly well, low to the near post. Georgino Wijnaldum ran towards the ball, missed it and things got worse from there on in for the home side. Mark Noble was unable to stop the ball cannoning off his leg and as a consequence Hart had to make a save that pushed the ball out but all but took the goalkeeper out the game. Matip put the loose ball away from close range.
It was a terrible collapse from a team that had offered very little up to that mid-point of the first half. There was a bit of home fan animosity towards the referee Neil Swarbrick who seemed to have dealt their side a marginally tougher hand than he granted the away side but then generally Liverpool looked a lot more certain of their task than the team they were up against.
Usually a staunch advocate of 4-3-3, Klopp picked a system that seemed to change back and forth between 4-2-3-1 and a much riskier 4-2-4. One moment Salah might drop in behind Roberto Firmino, and then at other times he would be alongside the Brazilian with Sadio Mane and Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings. This was the first Premier League start for the Englishman at his new club and the pace across that front line was telling.
For some reason West Ham had failed to lock the back door while they pushed up to take a corner in the 22nd minute and within seconds, Salah had won the ball and flicked it to Mane who was free to run two-thirds the length of the pitch without an opponent to challenge him. In what must have been a surprise to Salah and Mane too, they had only a frantically back-pedalling Aaron Cresswell between them and Joe Hart’s goal. Mane picked his moment perfectly to play in his team-mate Salah to score his 11th goal of the season.
Moments later West Ham conceded a corner which Salah did not hit particularly well, low to the near post. Georgino Wijnaldum ran towards the ball, missed it and things got worse from there on in for the home side. Mark Noble was unable to stop the ball cannoning off his leg and as a consequence Hart had to make a save that pushed the ball out but all but took the goalkeeper out the game. Matip put the loose ball away from close range.
Andre
Ayew had hit the post after nine minutes from Manuel Lanzini’s
throughball but there was little prospect of even that going in given
his angle. The despondency of the home fans grew accordingly and
half-time arrived with boos for Bilic’s side.
The putative success of any rescue plan would lean heavily on Carroll’s effectiveness or otherwise, the great force of nature being introduced at half-time as a replacement for Edimilson Fernandes, a left wing-back in the first half whose removal precipitated a change in system. Instead, Bilic played with a back four and Lanzini behind Carroll in attack.
There was some brief respite when Lanzini scored a fine goal for West Ham, arriving behind Joe Gomez for an Ayew cross hit to the back post, and out of the peripheral vision of the young Englishman. The Argentinian took the ball on his chest and aligned himself with goal before Gomez had worked out where his opponent was and Lanzini finished with a sweet improvised volley.
The third goal for Liverpool that followed in less than 60 seconds was so swift that the home side barely had the chance to assess their new position before it was taken away from them. The goal was Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first for his new club and he celebrated it with suitable delight but it was made by the startling first touch of Firmino, the Brazilian controlled and turned with the ball beautifully before striking a throughball. Hart saved the first time and Oxlade-Chamberlain scored with the rebound.
The game opened after that and although there were glimmers for West Ham, and Hernandez’s insistence he had been pushed in heading a cross from the left wing, Liverpool too had chances. Their fourth goal was a travesty of defensive disorganisation for West Ham, with Mane riding a couple of tackles, falling over and getting up again before picking out Salah on the left side of the box. There was no pressure on the ball, and urgency from West Ham and Salah rattled in his second.
Bilic was again booed for replacing Hernandez with Diafra Sakho but then it seems that nothing the West Ham manager tries to do really works. His team have no urgency and have not won any of their last five league games. When you watch them it comes as little surprise.
The putative success of any rescue plan would lean heavily on Carroll’s effectiveness or otherwise, the great force of nature being introduced at half-time as a replacement for Edimilson Fernandes, a left wing-back in the first half whose removal precipitated a change in system. Instead, Bilic played with a back four and Lanzini behind Carroll in attack.
There was some brief respite when Lanzini scored a fine goal for West Ham, arriving behind Joe Gomez for an Ayew cross hit to the back post, and out of the peripheral vision of the young Englishman. The Argentinian took the ball on his chest and aligned himself with goal before Gomez had worked out where his opponent was and Lanzini finished with a sweet improvised volley.
The third goal for Liverpool that followed in less than 60 seconds was so swift that the home side barely had the chance to assess their new position before it was taken away from them. The goal was Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first for his new club and he celebrated it with suitable delight but it was made by the startling first touch of Firmino, the Brazilian controlled and turned with the ball beautifully before striking a throughball. Hart saved the first time and Oxlade-Chamberlain scored with the rebound.
The game opened after that and although there were glimmers for West Ham, and Hernandez’s insistence he had been pushed in heading a cross from the left wing, Liverpool too had chances. Their fourth goal was a travesty of defensive disorganisation for West Ham, with Mane riding a couple of tackles, falling over and getting up again before picking out Salah on the left side of the box. There was no pressure on the ball, and urgency from West Ham and Salah rattled in his second.
Bilic was again booed for replacing Hernandez with Diafra Sakho but then it seems that nothing the West Ham manager tries to do really works. His team have no urgency and have not won any of their last five league games. When you watch them it comes as little surprise.
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