London Stadium that night really celebrated the victory party for David Moyes’ squad, when West Ham United managed to beat Liverpool with a final score of 3-2. A win that lifted the Hammers to 3rd place in the standings until week 11 of the Premier League. This West Ham United is very solid full of ways that their opponents, Liverpool, couldn’t imagine. The Hammers squad defended well with a zone marking pattern placing 5-8 players in their defensive area.
They are also very clever counter-attack through the Liverpool centre-back duo. Imagine West Ham only having 31 percent possession during the game. They also only had 7 chances. Three opportunities were on target against Liverpool and these three opportunities actually managed to become goals.
Several times Michail Antonio escaped Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip. The West Ham striker has several times created golden opportunities. One of them was when he had escaped the off-side trap of a Liverpool defender and was just dealing with Allison Becker. But unfortunately the ball got out of control so the ball could be secured by Alexander Arnold.
When the game lasted 4 minutes, West Ham winning 1-0. Just then a Pablo Fornals corner curled into the net and went straight over Alisson’s head. A closer look showed that Alisson had actually deflected the ball into his own net when it hit his glove.
VAR had time to do a review to see the potential encouragement from Angelo Ogbonna who at that time had a duel with the Liverpool goalkeeper. But apparently, the goal was still given to the home squad. This is a quick goal that makes Liverpool have to ponder listlessly.
There was also a horror tackle by Aaron Cresswell a few minutes later but luckily he escaped a red card for this tackle on Jordan Henderson. During the first half the game was one-sided as Liverpool continued to attack to equalize. But the Hammers squad with high discipline always managed to repel every attack.
In the final minutes of the first half a moment of Declan Rice’s foul on Mohamed Salah in the area near the West Ham line was an opportunity for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold cleverly curled a fantastic shot past Lukasz Fabianski into the top right corner of the West Ham goal. Fabianski could only stare at Arnold’s curved kick.
David Moyes fielded a starter for the West Ham squad, unchanged from starting when they clinched a 4-1 win against Aston Villa a week ago. Meanwhile Liverpool made four changes from their 2-2 draw with Brighton when Joel Matip, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabinho and Diogo Jota came on for Ibrahima Konate, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Roberto Firmino. Those who were replaced because of an injury so they could not return to play.
Moyes’ tactics against Liverpool deserved high appreciation from West Ham fans at the London Stadium that night. The clever tactic with a defensive pattern with discipline and a quick counter-attack through the wings with action from Michel Antonio. West Ham’s second goal was born from this quick counter-attack tactic. In the second half, West Ham took the lead again when Bowen broke away from three Liverpool players.
Then the ball was passed to Pablo Fornals who was free on the left and the Spanish midfielder shot the ball early into the Liverpool goal, ahead of Alisson’s strike. West Ham 2-1 Liverpool in the 67th minute after 1-1 at halftime. Throughout the game that night West Ham counterattacked every minute. Several times this counter-attack troubled Liverpool’s defense which was applied with a high line. They also managed to always counter Liverpool’s attacks so as to secure Fabianski’s goal.
When Bowen returned a corner kick, goalkeeper Allison was too focused on Antonio’s movement. Instead the ball rolled to the far post and from a hidden corner Zouma jumped to head the ball past Alisson. It is interesting to observe the goals that were born in West Ham’s match against Liverpool that night. Of the three West Ham goals, two goals were born from set pieces, namely the first goal and the third goal.
Since Moyes’ first game back in charge of West Ham in January 2020, the Hammers have scored 32 Premier League goals from set pieces excluding goals from penalties. This result is five times more than any other team in the Premier League. In addition to these records, of course for David Moyes this victory is an important record in the history of his coaching career.
According to a note from Opta as reported, it was stated that West Ham’s Manager David Moyes picked up his first win against Liverpool in their 15 Premier League meetings. Previously Moyes had a record 10 times and always lost and only won 4 draws in his entire career as coach of Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham.
The match that night was also the Hammers’ first win in 11 league meetings with the Reds, after losing 8 and only drawing in 2 matches. West Ham have collected 23 points from 11 Premier League games this season. Won 7 matches, drew two games and lost two games.
That night only a goal for Liverpool presented by Divock Origi to close the gap. The process of the birth of this goal is very astonishing. Origi made a move with a twist of body and a finishing footed shot from the edge of the box, pierced the right corner of the West Ham goal. Origi did it just seven minutes after coming on for Diogo Jota.
Actually Sadio Mane should have equalized in added time, when Mane headed in Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick, but Mane’s header went wide past Fabianski’s left post. With this result Liverpool suffered their first defeat in 26 matches in all competitions. Previously Liverpool had a record of 18 wins and 7 matches ended in a draw.
Congratulations to David Moyes and his team, The Hammers West Ham United. The journey of the Premier League competition is still long and there will still be another surprise from West Ham for sure.
ASL
