I know, you don’t really want to relive or think about this game again. It turned out to be a catastrophe of a match that brought back memories of the dire home performances of last season. To tell you the truth I don’t want to even write this article, but we must use this defeat to learn from the mistakes made and move forward.
Dejan Lovren, to put it lightly, is too unreliable to be a first-choice centre-back for Liverpool. He had an awful game, as did Martin Skrtel. They are both defenders who do well in defensive teams whose midfielders sit on top of the centre backs and Liverpool will never be one of those at home.
You have to say that now that the calls for Mamadou Sakho to play will become deafening, with Lovren in particular no longer having the protection of the back four looking solid in games previous. Whatever people think of Sakho, he strangely has a fair few doubters in the Reds fanbase, he is currently a much better option than Lovren just based on their Liverpool performance in the last 12 months.
Joe Gomez is a great young player and has already shown huge promise, but he isn’t an attacking option to play left-back in games like this. Through no fault of his own (He is a centre-back or right-back at the end of the day) he simply slowed the Reds attacks down the left by cutting back onto his right foot and rarely crossing. In games where you need to defend first and foremost, Gomez is a good option and certainly showed that at Arsenal and Stoke. However in games where it is up to Liverpool to break down teams, Alberto Moreno is a better option. He isn’t perfect either, we saw that last season, but he does give you a natural balance and more attacking threat from full-back.
Also, the Reds need to get Jordan Henderson back to fitness. His many attributes are greatly missed, but most of all his patient and consistent passing that knits a lot of Liverpool’s moves together is needed in abundance right now. For all Emre Can’s potential, he isn’t consistent enough to be starting week in, week out yet; he just doesn’t have the authority to boss the midfield. Against the Hammers James Milner also missed his captain as he huffed and puffed, becoming more ragged as the game went as he tried to get Liverpool back in the game. Lucas Leiva just isn’t required in games like this as he’s not good against quick counters – much like Joe Gomez (as a left-back) he suits the tough away games more.
One of the obvious reasons for Liverpool’s dire campaign last year was the sheer slowness of their attacking play which meant we scored a measly 52 Premier League goals. Against West Ham, we saw a depressing return to this way of playing, but there have been periods of it in the other games this season. Against Bournemouth, we got away with this. We overplay and are too predictable; when a team comes to Anfield every extra touch you take plays into their hands.
Apart from the first half of the game against Arsenal, we can’t really say we are giving decent service to Christian Benteke on a consistent basis. Attack wise we still are struggling and it is mainly down to not getting the attacking midfielders close to the Belgian. Making more use of Danny Ings could help that if we wanted to change formation but what is most needed is that desire to get beyond Benteke and knock the ball back across to him, or we are simply not using the man we paid £32.5m for properly. Starving him of service will starve the team of the goals he was brought in to get.
This result was a big blow to Liverpool after such a positive start and it was at times a truly terrible performance. However, the mistakes can be rectified and there is a long season ahead, defeats will come and go. The season is defined by how you react to them.
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