Allardyce has the last laugh at Anfield . . . again
IN a season where it has proven folly to make presumptions, here was the latest tale of the unexpected — and how Sam allardyce loved it. Though West Brom’s manager did not wait around too long at the final whistle, bumping fists with Jurgen Klopp before marching down the tunnel munching on a piece of gum, the delight he felt about pilfering a point from anfield was gleefully obvious.
There is something about this ground that allardyce has come to relish. He was the last manager to mastermind an away Premier League win here in april 2017, when in charge of Crystal Palace, and he escaped with a draw on his last visit as Everton manager in December 2017 too.
Klopp would have known all this but still, it was difficult to envisage anything other than a Liverpool win, particularly after they had got off to a flying start when Sadio Mane, who is moving ominously into form, crashed in a drive from close range after being picked out by Joel Matip.
They’d already come desperately close in the sixth minute, Mohamed Salah just failing to get on the end of andrew Robertson’s fizzing cross, so it was no surprise they found a way through.
Liverpool were so good at Crystal Palace last week, it was not wild to think they could run amok. another reason why you could not see West Brom leaving with anything was because they were so negative. Throughout the first half, they played with six defenders and four midfielders and showed no inclination to attack.
Liverpool had 85 per cent of the game’s possession at one stage and camped in West Brom’s half to such an extent that the biggest task facing alisson, their Brazilian goalkeeper, was to stay warm.
Not once did the visitors give the indication they were capable of landing a telling blow. Liverpool had such a stranglehold on the game that Jordan Henderson made 85 passes in the first 45 minutes. West Brom, as a collective, made just 46 as they spent their time blocking Liverpool runs and being nuisances.
Football, however, is not just about the number of passes a team makes or how long they retain the ball. The only statistic that ever matters is the one which tells you how many goals a team have scored and, while there was only one, West Brom always had a puncher’s chance. Were they
pretty? No. Were they effective? Absolutely. Liverpool, for reasons Klopp will still be trying to fathom, stopped doing the things they had been doing so well and, gradually, their rhythm disappeared. It is not too damning to say there was some complacency.
‘Once you start getting slack you get what you deserve,’ bemoaned Robertson, the Liverpool left-back. ‘You know when you come up against a Sam Allardyce team they will keep going and look to take the one chance they get and they did that.’
The opportunity came via Semi Ajayi, the defender’s thumping header thudding in off a post from a corner. It arrived in the 82nd minute but Liverpool had become ragged long before then and needed a fine save from Al i s s o n to deny Karlan Grant after he had skipped clear.
‘Every one of us made a mistake in the second half, which c a n’ t happen,’ Robertson c ontinued, his tone blunt.
‘It’s something we’ve got to learn from and credit to West Brom for the way they played i n the second half.’
In these circumstances, Klopp can be volcanic. He was booked at one stage in the second half for remonstrating too much about a f oul his team had conceded. He l ost defender Matip to injury on the hour t oo, but t he German was surprisingly sanguine after the match as he tried to process the result. Perhaps it was because this one did not need overthinking. Liverpool were poor after the break — as poor as they have been at any time i n 2020. They presented West Brom with the possibility to build momentum and an operator as wily and dogged as Allardyce (below, left) was never going to refuse it.
It won’t be much fun watching West Brom for the rest of the campaign if this is how it’s going to be — one wag suggested it wasn’t just parking a bus, it was blocking the road with a train too — but each to their own. He has a job to do and this point could turn out to be huge.
Fulham, Burnley and Brighton are all within range and Allardyce’s target is simply to win the mini-league of these four teams. If he does that, there is every chance he will extricate his team from danger.
Liverpool, by contrast, have the Premier League to win. They would have won this game had it not been for an outstanding Sam Johnstone save in t he 89th minute, t he goalkeeper stretching a finger to turn Roberto Firmino’s header away.
Maybe it will turn out to be the jolt Liverpool need. If they don’t go full throttle for the rest of the campaign, they will be caught.
They remain the nation’s outstanding team, but in this year of twists, reputations count for nothing. That is the lesson to learn.
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 5, Matip 6 (R Williams 60min, 5), Fabinho 6, Robertson 7; Jones 5 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 83), Henderson 6, Wijnaldum 5; Salah 5, Firmino 6 (Origi 90), Mane 6. Subs not used: Kelleher, N Williams, Phillips, Milner, Minamino, Shaqiri. Booked: None. WEST BROM (4-4-1-1): Johnstone 8; Furlong 7, Ajayi 7, O’Shea 7, Gibbs 7; Robinson 6 (Pereira 73), Phillips 6, Sawyers 7, Gallagher 6 (Ivanovic 90); Diangana 6; Grant 6 (Austin 78).
Subs not used: Button, Peltier, Kipre, Harper, Krovinovic, Grosicki. Booked: O’Shea. Man of the match: Sam Johnstone. Referee: Kevin Friend.