SALAH’S AMAZING CATAPULT GOAL
Hammers floored by sensational slingshot in 13.6 sec
THIS Liverpool win is best measured in seconds. The 13 seconds it took them to zip the ball from their own penalty box to the West Ham net for Mohamed Salah’s opening goal. The 157 seconds between that goal and Joel Matip scoring their second at the London Stadium.
The 55 seconds it took them to respond to Manuel Lanzini halving the deficit, sweeping downfield for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to score their third and extinguish West Ham’s hopes.
The speed would have satisfied Jurgen Klopp. This is precisely the way he likes his teams to play — high intensity, turbocharged, breathtakingly ruthless, roadrunner football.
And it was little wonder doomed West Ham manager Slaven Bilic was left staring vacantly into the night air.
Liverpool’s play was a blur at times — a display of fireworks on bonfire weekend — and thrilling to watch unless you’re on the receiving end.
Bilic departs his post having seen his team cut to ribbons, yet they won’t be Liverpool’s only victims this season.
Klopp’s side dragged West Ham’s defence out of shape time after time. They scored four but it might easily have been seven or eight.
Liverpool aspire to these kind of performances. Yet in quiet moments of reflection, Klopp must wonder why they are only sixth in the Premier League, why this manner of playing doesn’t translate into a title challenge.
Liverpool’s style should be launching a title charge but their obvious defensive frailties — the drag to their forward thrust — bring them to a shuddering halt.
There are also days when their rocket boosters don’t fully ignite, such as the frustrating afternoons against Burnley, Newcastle United and Manchester United, when only a point was taken.
But with West Ham in such disarray, there was no such problem here, although the manner of Liverpool’s opener would have infuriated Bilic.
With eight West Ham players forward for a corner, Matip headed clear to Salah, who touched the ball past the half-hearted Edimilson Fernandes to Sadio Mane.
Mane has such blistering speed that he wouldn’t look out of place on the running track at the London Stadium and he covered 60 metres in the blink of an eye before teeing up Salah to score.
Matip tapped home their second from a corner and, after Lanzini offered West Ham a brief flicker of hope, Liverpool conjured another moment of dazzling fluency.
Roberto Firmino turned Winston Reid and found Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in acres of space. Joe Hart blocked his first shot, but Oxlade-Chamberlain rammed home the rebound.
The goal happened so quickly from the restart that Oxlade- Chamberlain ran through the celebratory bubbles from Lanzini’s goal as he went joyously to the travelling fans.
It was a first Premier League goal for Liverpool on his first league start under Klopp since signing from Arsenal for £35million in August.
The German has quickly brought Salah — a £43m purchase from Roma — up to speed with his blitzkrieg football and OxladeChamberlain is next.
‘It was completely different today to the things that he is used to,’ said Klopp. ‘He did really well. He is so open to get used to what we do and that is really nice. I’m really happy that he could make this decisive moment. They were all decisive by the end
but I would like to have this answer always when we concede a goal. It would make life easier. ‘He needs to get used to the intensity that we ask. It’s not that Arsenal didn’t, they play fantastic football. But we are really on it with these counter- pressing things and the switch immediately to make the break. ‘We are all used to it but he will be a really important player for us.’ Salah scored the fourth and now has 12 goals since arriving at Anfield. His seven in the Premier League puts him in the same class as Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku. This was Liverpool at their breathtaking best. Yet Klopp knows deep down that they must be even better to challenge at the top.