Football News: West Ham United v Liverpool

West Ham United v Liverpool

Yet another lacklustre performance as Liverpool limp towards the end of the season, it is reminscent of when Alex Ferguson first announced he was leaving Manchester United and they lost their way so badly he changed his mind. If I remember correctly, it also happened to Rangers when they were going for 10 in a row Scottish titles under Walter Smith. It ended up costing them the title I am sure, though I could be wrong on that one. It was something everyone was worried about when Klopp’s statement came out. The season is just meandering to a finish now, with a bunch of players that seem to have given up and are just marking time for the season to end. The problem is that there is not a lot Klopp can really do now, other than drop them all and play the under 21s! Salah showed that being dropped can still provoke a reaction from some players, even if being fired up did not really produce any results on the pitch from him. Having said that, it was not like he was given much time to affect the game. In fact I do wonder if Klopp provoked Salah just before he was set to go on to get him fired up. Mo is a very placid sort of person but when he went on the pitch he was clearly fired up and looking to win that match.

To be fair, the performance did pick up at the start of the second half, with Liverpool one down they came out and attacked. They got the two goals, though it must be said there was a lot of luck in both, and looked to have the Hammers on the ropes. Just as I am thinking how good it is to see a bit of fight in the team, Liverpool allowed West Ham back in by reverting to slow passing around the defence and midfield. I know they want to control the game by keeping the ball and not allowing the opposition to get on it, but they can do that just as well by going and getting a third while West Ham were there for the taking. You can press high, win it back and then play a safe ball, rather than a quick counter to maintain control. I know the thinking is to have more control by keeping possession, but if you want to do that, then you need to build a team to do so. Liverpool have not really done that, the signings have been confused between players for the high intensity style and ones for the slow, laboured, controlling play.

If you are going to play it, then you need centre-backs who are ball players, yet Konate is the one that was signed. He is a more intense type of player and not really a ball-player. In fact you can go…