After Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against West Ham on Super Sunday, Gerard Brand goes through the talking points from Anfield.
Adam Lallana gave the Reds the lead early on, before Dimitri Payet and Michail Antonio turned the game on its head. Divock Origi brought Liverpool level in the second half, but they couldn’t find a winner.
Jurgen Klopp’s semi-outburst towards the Liverpool fans when his side were 0-0 with Sunderland with 20 minutes to go a fortnight ago may go down as one of this season’s defining moments.
That day, there was a flurry of moaning and groaning from the Anfield faithful as the Reds failed to break Sunderland down, cue some flailing arms from Klopp that fell somewhere in between anger and passion, in an attempt to turn their jeering into cheering.
“I believe in atmosphere,” said the manager after the game, while in his programme notes before this one, he added: “The supporters know their importance also in staying with the players and keeping them positive for the entire game.”
Not every manager would get away with such a public statement towards 45,000 paying supporters, but Klopp is adored in these parts, and his point was well and truly made without offending anyone.
They went on to win that day, and Anfield’s reaction after going 2-1 down on Sunday was similarly positive. Without a Premier League defeat here since January, the mood around Anfield could be telling come May.
Missing Coutinho?
Part of the reason for a frustrated, flat Anfield that day against Sunderland was the injury to Philippe Coutinho, who had been at his spellbinding best this season.
Liverpool were missing that magic this time around, registering nearly all of the possession in the second half with little cutting edge.
Roberto Firmino needed to step up against the Hammers, but he struggled to make an impact in-behind the visiting defence, too often stuck out wide in the second half and overcrowded in the first.
The Brazilian failed to create a single chance in the game (Sadio Mane created five), won a team-low 28 per cent of duels, and was unsuccessful in finding a team-mate with all six of his crosses.
Karius question marks
Klopp said defender Steve Cook’s comments regarding Bournemouth’s targeting of Liverpool’s “weak spot” in goalkeeper Loris Karius were “one of the worst things I ever heard in my life.”
He stuck with Karius against the Hammers, but may have been regretting it after his first-half showing. The clock had hardly reached 10 minutes before the former Mainz stopper punched a cross he should have caught, while his positioning for Dimitri Payet’s free-kick was questionable, starting too close to his left-hand post to make up the ground to his right. He got a hand on the effort, but it was a weak one.
For Antonio’s goal, he was stuck between staying rooted and racing out to block the midfielder, ending up neither here nor there, allowing the West Ham man to simply poke it beyond him.
It hasn’t been a good weekend for new goalkeepers after Claudio Bravo’s unimpressive showing for Man City at Leicester, but the chances are that Klopp will stick with his man until the new year at least.
Having come under criticism in recent weeks following an England call-up, man-of-the-match Michail Antonio was back to his best at Anfield.
His goal aside, the 26-year-old won more duels than any other player on the pitch, and made more sprints (73) than any of his team-mates. Play him wherever, the former Forest man will get up and down.
“He doesn’t need long to rest, it’s attack after attack,” Bilic said after the match. “He can play every position. When he plays up front, it is not only goals, and he has goals in him, he is more than that.”
Antonio’s form may have dipped in perfect correlation with West Ham’s this season, but he is a uniquely versatile footballer.
Liverpool set up off offensively, with Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip left to defend a vast area, meaning it was easy for Antonio to get in-behind them in the first half. He is ideal for these types of game with his pace, timing and physicality, but how long until he is linked elsewhere if West Ham’s struggles don’t budge?
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