MOMENT TO SAVOUR
Liverpool in the mood again as super Salah emulates Rush
IT IS another Mo whose brilliance will always be synonymous with the Olympic Stadium. Yet while gold medals are not awarded for wins in routine Premier League fixtures, it is Mo Salah, not Mo Farah, who has made this his happy place post-2012.
Liverpool have played here five times since West Ham arrived in 2016: won four, drawn one. Salah has played in four of those games and yesterday took his goal tally to five at the venue.
Coming so soon after the win at Tottenham, it is fair to say Liverpool’s blip is over, with back-to-back victories away to the capital’s highest-placed teams.
West Ham were on an unbeaten run of eight games, and six wins, but were significantly second best against a Liverpool team depleted front and back. No Sadio Mane, injured, and with Roberto Firmino given a breather on the bench, Liverpool were nevertheless superior. West Ham created little and once Liverpool’s goals started to go in just before the hour, there was only going to be one winner.
It was a vital victory, too, given that the end of this week brings the visit of Manchester City to Anfield. Pep Guardiola’s team are four points clear with a game in hand, true, but that is nothing given what remains of the season if Liverpool can strike a blow on Sunday. Increasingly, they seem in the mood for it, too.
Credit to Salah is also due. He is now the first Liverpool player since Ian Rush to score more than 20 goals in all competitions in four consecutive seasons. He was the only member of Liverpool’s usual forward trinity to start, but his presence was more than enough.
His goals were beautifully taken, the difference between pretenders and the real deal in the upper echelons of the league, given West Ham’s recent form had seemingly catapulted them into the mix for Champions League places.
Salah’s first came on 57 minutes, immediately after Jurgen Klopp had introduced Curtis Jones for James Milner. The substituted man, by popular reputation one of the most unselfish, obliging players in the league, looked mildly disgruntled. Klopp clearly thought he deserved an explanation. So he gave him one, the pair in earnest conversation on the touchline as the manager imparted his logic.
Behind him, a more practical demonstration was beginning to take shape. Jones was on a surging run through West Ham’s midfield, ending in an interchange of passes involving Xherdan Shaqiri and Trent Alexander-Arnold, before
Jones supplied Salah. The moment he got it on his left, West Ham were in trouble and Salah curled it sweetly past Lukasz Fabianski into the far corner. Klopp and Milner hugged, laughing. No further words were necessary.
Confirmation that Liverpool were back to their best came after 68 minutes. The second goal started from a West Ham corner, showcasing the ferocious counter-attacking style of old. A clearance to Alexander-Arnold, a precise crossfield ball to Shaqiri, a splendid centre to the feet of Salah, one touch to control, the next to dink the ball into the net. Simply beautiful and very Liverpool. West Ham were done.
After 84 minutes, AlexanderArnold was involved again before Firmino, another substitute making a big impact, laid the ball for
Georginio Wijnaldum to finish. Craig Dawson ran one in from a poorly defended corner soon after but it gave the scoreline a more balanced look that was not reflective of the match. Liverpool were in a different class and one suspects those inside West Ham always suspected they might be.
When West Ham manager David Moyes bumped into an old friend, David Pleat, on a scouting mission at Tottenham on Thursday, his first tongue-in-cheek request was that Pleat’s Tottenham might tire a few Liverpool players out for yesterday’s encounter. Well, that is the polite version anyway.
And while all was said in jest, Moyes might even have cracked a smile when the teamsheet arrived, confirming an injury to Mane, picked up at Tottenham, and with Firmino on the bench, having put in a highly energetic display in an important win.
Coupled with the makeshift defensive partnership of Jordan Henderson and Nathaniel Phillips, it made this a very good weekend to be playing the champions.
Yet, as the season wears on, a very obvious divide is emerging between genuine title contenders and those just in a good moment. Manchester City and Liverpool look better than the rest. Manchester United are clinging to their coat-tails. The rest are falling away or too inconsistent. Imagine if Liverpool had the full team out for this fixture. This was their domestic cup-tie team, and still West Ham could not compete.
It was that way from the start, really. Liverpool had the better of it the whole game, and certainly enjoyed the best chance of the first half, in the final minute of normal time. Thiago Alcantara played a splendid pass which almost put in Divock Origi at the near post.
What a clever player Thiago is. His eyes were saying ‘square, across the perimeter of the penalty area’, his feet delivered a dangerous inswinger which Origi could not get on target. The striker will always be a cult figure on Merseyside, for obvious reasons, and he put in a hard-working performance but, undoubtedly, Liverpool dip a little when he replaces one of their famed front three.
The opening 45 minutes did set the pattern for the game, mind, lots of possession from Liverpool and perspiration from West Ham with goalmouth action limited. Salah had a header from a Thiago cross go wide after 23 minutes and soon after he held the ball up well, only for Shaqiri’s shot to be blocked by Dawson.
West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell was equally resilient the other side of half-time, blocking a close-range shot from Salah, who was always Liverpool’s prime threat.
West Ham? Their best chance came after 24 minutes when a Cresswell cross should have been finished by Said Benrahma, but he hesitated and it fell instead to Pablo Fornals, whose shot was headed away by Andrew Robertson en route to goal.
Moyes said this was a lesson for his players, and he is right. West Ham’s fixture list is unbalanced, opening with a stretch against the league’s strongest teams, then respite. They have capitalised of late, so here was reality.
It is hard to see them as top four contenders on this evidence. Liverpool showed what is needed — and very few teams possess it.
WEST HAM UNITED (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Dawson 6.5, Ogbonna 6, Cresswell 5; Soucek 5, Rice 5; Bowen 5 (Fredericks 79min), Benrahma 5, Fornals 5.5 (Yarmolenko 62, 5.5); Antonio 6 (Noble 79). Subs not used: Balbuena, Lanzini, Diop, Martin, Johnson, Odubeko. Scorer: Dawson 87. Booked: Soucek, Rice. Manager: David Moyes 5.5. LIVERPOOL (4-3-1-2): Alisson 6; Alexander-Arnold 6.5, Phillips 7, Henderson 7.5, Robertson 6.5; Thiago 6.5, Wijnaldum 7, Milner 6.5 (Jones 57, 8); Shaqiri 7 (Firmino 69, 7); SALAH 9, Origi 6.5 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 80). Subs not used: Adrian, Minamino, Tsimikas, R Williams, Kelleher, N Williams. Scorers: Salah 57, 68, Wijnaldum 84. Booked: None.
Manager: Jurgen Klopp 8. Referee: Jonathan Moss 6.5.