Klopp’s joy as Liverpool close in on Euro vision
Feeble Hammers brushed aside
Jurgen Klopp leapt and pirouetted around the vast technical area like nureyev in sportswear. And why not? This was as easy as it will ever be for Liverpool. Four goals, three points and Champions League destiny back in their hands.
Beat Middlesbrough at Anfield on Sunday and they return to europe’s elite competition. Considering the fortunes spent by their rivals, this was by no means guaranteed at the start of the season.
They were helped by a truly lamentable display from West Ham, mind you. Prima ballerinas might have given Liverpool more of a game than some of this lot. If Arsene Wenger had hoped his neighbours to the east might do him and Arsenal a favour, he would have been cursing even before kick-off. From the moment West Ham’s players appeared in the tunnel clutching the younger members of their families, any football person would have feared the worst.
The home team had declared the season over after defeating Tottenham and achieving safety 10 days ago. This was fixture fulfilment, no more. Liverpool, with so much to play for, took full advantage, got their goal difference up and delivered an embarrassingly emphatic scoreline, which is no less than West Ham deserved.
Liverpool’s only mistake was getting sucked into playing at West Ham’s pace at times in the first half. Judging by their energy after half-time, Klopp corrected that with his mid-point team talk and the goals flowed accordingly.
Already one up, Liverpool added another three and it could have been more. West Ham’s best player was an inanimate object: the goal frame. Divock Origi and georginio Wijnaldum found it in the second half, Joel Matip in the first.
It really is impossible to judge Liverpool on this performance, so abject were West Ham. Yet if they can reach europe ahead of Manchester united, with all the money spent at Old Trafford, if they can finish ahead of Manchester City and Pep guardiola, and if they can shut Arsenal out of the top four for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s time in north London, that is a significant achievement.
Liverpool went into this season with a zero net spend and a squad considerably weaker than their rivals — a mistake Klopp is unlikely to make twice. They suffered injuries to key players, too.
Yet here we are. They should do it now. And if they do it gives them a greater chance of keeping the player who, more than any other, has made it happen: Philippe Coutinho. He was outstanding again yesterday. It was his pass for the first goal, and he scored two more. West Ham had no answer to his vision, not that they were greatly interested in finding one. The tots that took to the field for the most misguided lap of appreciation in recent memory ran about more than they did. Liverpool are too good to go against half-hearted and West Ham’s defensive line was less interested than was healthy, or acceptable. One of the biggest problems was that Matip won the ball from set-pieces just about every time it was launched into the box. Some have complained about the sight lines at the London Stadium, making it hard to pick up unfamiliar visiting players.
Against that, Winston reid couldn’t spot Matip and he was standing right next to him. In the 11th minute, Coutinho whipped in a corner from the left which Matip met powerfully, hitting the underside of the bar.
Too much of West Ham’s play was just sloppy. In the 30th minute an error by reid let in Daniel Sturridge, who was caught on the run but not before he had laid the ball off to Coutinho. James Collins at least did well to block that shot.
It could not last, though, and in the 35th minute their sloppiness told. It was a stunning through ball by Coutinho, but Jose Fonte was lazy in not pushing up, playing Sturridge onside and allowing space to open up for one of the Premier League’s smartest finishers. It was January when the england striker last scored for Liverpool — on his previous league start against Sunderland — and here was a reminder of his talent.
He broke through the gaping hole in West Ham’s defensive ranks, side- stepped goalkeeper Adrian and rolled the ball into an unguarded net. And, yes, he did the dance. Having waited so long for gratification, wouldn’t you?
West Ham could have equalised and maybe changed the dynamic with the last attack of the half but, again, were not sufficiently engaged. Manuel Lanzini’s corner eluded all in the centre and fell to Andre Ayew, unmarked, at the far post. The goal open, he somehow hit a post from no more than two yards out. He did the same with his follow-up as Simon Mignolet scrambled to recover. Then Klopp got hold of his players at half-time, and the contest was soon over. West Ham would have needed to treble their exertions to contain Liverpool in the second half.
Just 12 minutes after the restart, the contest was dead. Wijnaldum hit the bar with a shot, reid’s headed clearance went straight to Coutinho and no West Ham player seemed remotely interested in closing him down. He made his way to the edge of the area and shot low into the corner.
Five minutes later, a third. It began when reid claimed he had been fouled by Wijnaldum in the Liverpool penalty area. He went down as if struck heavily by an arm or elbow, replays showed little more than a palm. It may have been a foul; maybe not. It certainly wasn’t a knockout punch. Yet reid stayed prone as Liverpool broke, the ball eventually ending up with Coutinho who dribbled it for a while in the area, before being waved past by Collins to shoot. Only then, the damage done, did reid get up. He didn’t require treatment, he wasn’t concussed. It summed up West Ham’s afternoon. reid is meant to be a defensive rock. This was sandstone, if that.
The fourth was equally dispiriting. Adrian lost out to Adam Lallana, Sturridge didn’t get a proper connection with his shot but that didn’t matter because nobody was interested in defending any more, so Origi turned it in. Much as West Ham had before kick-off.
At least it put the fans out of their misery, allowing many thousands to head for the exits, wisely deciding that a lap of appreciation required something worth appreciating. Only the Liverpool end stayed in numbers, in anticipation of next Sunday. A word of warning, though. not even Middlesbrough will make it this easy. Seriously, not even Middlesbrough.