David Moyes and his Hammers gave Liverpool a hard blow at their home stadium last November, ending the Reds' all-time unbeaten run in all competitions. However, the team's unstable state since the end of last year has made them lose the initiative in the "scramble for four" battle, coupled with the Europa League matches, West Ham United do not have enough squad thickness to support their two-tier battle. This time at Anfield, although they were unable to retreat, they still caused considerable trouble for Liverpool, making the Reds realize once again that the Hammers are indeed one of the hardest "hard bones" in the league.
Liverpool have been in incredible shape since entering 2022, unbeaten in 14 matches, including a penalty shootout against Chelsea to win the Carabao Cup. Once Liverpool are out of form, it's hard to stop, as they have maintained a 25-game unbeaten record. In the battle for the league title, Liverpool showed their determination to fight Manchester City to the end. Against West Ham United, they not only avenged the away defeat, but also maintained a 3-point gap with Manchester City, continuing to put pressure on the Blue Moon Army.
Both sides started the line-up
Klopp did not stay for the Champions League three days later, and he sent the full squad to show his determination to win West Ham. Midfielders Keita and Fabinho are tightly positioned to strengthen the protection of the defence. The right trio Salah, Henderson and Alexander-Arnold are still the main points of attack. Mane took on more organizational tasks and stood slightly behind on average. Diaz on the left cut in an attack to provide Robertson with a forward pressure passage.
Moyes' 4-4-2 formation, Dekran Rice's absence due to illness, the return of Cressville and Vlasic to the starting lineup on the left side allowed West Ham United to focus on this side, the left duo's position is relatively high, coupled with the lack of defensive concentration, or lay the hidden danger for losing the ball. The multi-level dense positioning of the middle road is to strengthen the organizational transmission, hoping that Antonio can destroy Liverpool's defense with a powerful impact.
Klopp's ingenious changes improved organisational capabilities, and Liverpool's lateral pull created holes
West Ham United put on a defensive posture of low-mid-level interception, locking the core area of the middle with a 4-4-1-1 formation, when Liverpool are organized in the backcourt, West Ham United's double forwards will not press too far ahead, he will take the initiative to press forward when Liverpool's midfielders have the ball. Liverpool added two ingenious changes to their signature 2-3-5 attacking formation to help the team's organisation advance. First, Keita's position is relatively backward to form a "double back", and he often retreats to Fabinho to reduce the pressure on his teammates, which makes Liverpool have 4 players in the middle of the backcourt to participate in the team's backcourt organization. Second, Mane and Henderson took turns retreating to provide more access to forward passes for the backfield.
The above scene shows these two changes in Liverpool. Keita and Fabinho formed a double back in front of the double centre-back, but after Henderson attracted The Attention of Lancini, Mane's aggressive retreat created a route forward, Conat did not hesitate to send a direct pass, Mane received the ball and quickly tapped it to Salah on the flank, completing a high-quality organizational advance.
West Ham United's midfield four also had some problems with their positions, too far ahead and gradually pulling away from the defender line. The four-man line is afraid of Liverpool's long pass attack and does not dare to go too far, which leaves too much room for the home team attackers in the middle area, which allows Liverpool's striker to quickly turn around and attack the defender line after receiving the ball here (pictured below).
Although Liverpool found a way to push the ball into the attacking third zone, because West Ham's defensive line formed a tight position when defending at a low post, and defenders rarely left their positions, it was difficult for Liverpool to tear up the gap in the defensive line through vertical passing. West Ham's defensive line was particularly tight against Liverpool's attackers, with Salah, Mane and Diaz sometimes forming a clever combination in front of the penalty area, but they were unable to break through the last line of defence.
When the longitudinal attack was contained in the attacking zone three, Liverpool began to use lateral transfers to stretch the away team's formation, and after a few attempts, they discovered another problem in the away team's defense. In the low-post defensive phase, the two full-back positions in West Ham's midfield defence always protrude forward, especially when Vlasic always has a few yards above Lancini when defending on the weak side, which ultimately became the key to Liverpool's opening situation.
This is the scene that appeared a few seconds before Liverpool scored the only goal of the game, Robertson cut inside the box without success, and could only pass the ball back to Keita, who quickly picked out the weak side Arnold, Flasic's sudden position in front of him prevented him from forming interceptions and interferences as soon as possible, Arnold took the ball in front of the box to quickly send a cross, Mane in the middle of the road to break the goal, and in the end, Liverpool won with this only goal.
Liverpool's lateral shift in the attacking three zones is very threatening, thanks to the fact that they have keita and Fabinho two reception points in the middle, and West Ham's lack of aggressive backfield defense gives Liverpool a double back to suppress the two men, giving Liverpool the time and space to make a horizontal transition calmly.
This is yet another example of Liverpool's lateral transition to create a threat, with Henderson crossing to Fabinho, who picked up ribs deep. Vlasic broke away from Arnold again, giving the latter room to quickly plug in and catch the ball. The two forwards in the middle of the road also ran very cleverly, Salah moved laterally in front of the goal to restrain the opponent's left-back, Diaz swerved to the small penalty area to receive Arnold's pass and volleyed, West Ham was in chaos in front of the goal, and several players blocked the goal line in succession to clear the ball.
West Ham has repeatedly created dangers and has insufficient finishing power
West Ham's attacking idea is simpler, that is, to go all out to play Antonio, using his impact to create attacking opportunities. However, in the face of Liverpool's staged high pressing, it is not easy for them to deliver the ball to the front. Depending on two different situations, the way they deliver forward will also be different: first, when Liverpool is not pressing enough, West Ham will push forward through the side to create a numerical advantage, which is relatively slow; second, when the home team strengthens the pressing, West Ham will advance quickly through long passes, Antonio's fulcrum role is more obvious, this kind of defense is easier to create a threat, but the success rate is not high.
West Ham was forced to take the ball at the back and did not have a suitable route. Lancini could only send long passes after scoring the ball on the side of the field to get out of the pressure circle created by Liverpool. Antonio played an important pivot role, and he pulled back to pass the ball to Vernals, who again picked forward to create a quick attack opportunity for Vlasic. However, due to the lack of reception in the frontcourt, this rapid delivery failed to pose a threat.
This is a prime example of West Ham taking advantage of their numerical superiority on the flanks to create attacking opportunities. Due to the lack of pressure from Liverpool's midfield, West Ham had four men on the left side of the midfield to form a tight position. Lancini drew the attention of Henderson and Fabinho at the midfield line, sending the ball in front of the opponent. Vernals received the ball and quickly picked up the ribs, Antonio stepped forward to catch the ball and rushed into the box to shoot, and goalkeeper Alisson blocked the ball off the line.
West Ham was able to grab a big deal behind the opponent's high back line when Liverpool was undercrowded, creating a very threatening attacking opportunity, and the long pass attack combined with Antonio's containment of Liverpool's centre-back, and the rapid forward insertion of the two forwards created the team's best chance to break the goal, but the poor finishing force allowed them to watch the ball meet the goal line at the moment they were about to enter.
Johnson was given the opportunity to be undisturbed on the right side of the backfield, and when he saw Vernals step forward, he decisively sent a long pass over the top. With both Liverpool centre-backs drawn to Antonio on the strong side, Liverpool's defensive weak side was vacant. Vernals rushed into the penalty area with a single knife and sent a provocative shot to the attacking Alisson, but just before the ball was in the goal, the fast-moving Arnold defused the danger on the goal line.
Throughout the first half, West Ham made 10 attempts on goal, 5 on target, but failed to score 1 goal, and poor finishing power was one of the main reasons for their defeat. This also reflects the gap between them and Liverpool, a giant team, that is, they still have a lot of shortcomings in the details control, and if they want to get points stably, they must grasp every link on the field as much as possible. In this battle, West Ham not only can't seize the opportunity on the offensive end, but also repeatedly exposes loopholes on the defensive end, so why can such a bad performance compete with the powerful Liverpool?
West Ham learned his lesson and stepped up the pressing, and Liverpool steadily defended in the second half to score three points
Shortly after the start of the second half, Bowen's unexpected injury gave Benrahma a chance to play, but Benrahma was not really the kind of attacker who could form an effective breakthrough in the offensive transition, and his play did not bring much improvement to West Ham's attacking end. However, with this substitution adjustment, West Ham have been more aggressive in grabbing the ball. Many times, they placed 3 players in tight positions in midfield and shortened the distance between the two lines of defence, learning the lesson of leaving too much room for movement in the first half.
Liverpool were at their best in possession, but they didn't fare as well as they did in the first half. With West Ham often pressuring, Liverpool had the opportunity to strike back quickly under salah and Diaz. Mane's retracement in the middle played a better pivot role, but West Ham players did a better job of defending the fall rate, leaving no room for Liverpool to further create threats.
This was Liverpool's most threatening attack in the second half, and although it was a quick attack created by Liverpool using an attack conversion, West Ham still had four defenders in the backfield, plus 2 men who intercepted Mane in the middle, and the 6-on-3 defensive situation basically ensured that this defense was successful. However, Liverpool Trident's excellent ball control ability almost broke through the West Ham goal, and Diaz received a pass from Mane and tried to shoot from a distance directly outside the box, and the ball was slightly off goal.
When Moyes' side discovered Liverpool's weakness on the wing, they also had a chance to score. In the attack pictured above, Vlasic and his teammates broke through the Liverpool wing trio with a pass combination. Vlasic moved forward quickly to form a 3v4 situation, his quick cross to create a great opportunity for his teammates to break the goal, And Lancini swung past Arnold and the shot actually flew away.
In the final stages, Moyes' side were still able to keep passing the ball to good positions on the flanks, but they weren't capable of turning those opportunities into key passes, let alone shots. The Liverpool defender line stopped the visiting team's attack with effective pressing, either cutting off the opponent's passing route or regaining the ball before the opponent's pass. They only had West Ham deliver three shots on target in the second half, not one on target. Liverpool won with a successful defence.
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West Ham had a chance to take the points at Anfield, but the poor finishing power left them tossing and turning for more than 90 minutes. In the standings, there are Manchester United blocking the way, and then Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur are in hot pursuit, and their competition for the fourth place is extremely serious. Look at Liverpool in the title zone, with excellent form and a key 3 points, with a wave of 12 consecutive wins once again proved that they are a stable and strong team.