A good scoreline, a lot of own goals, and some interesting talking points going into the next few games, all marred by the lack of a clean sheet again, and the more serious issue of Gerrard's injury. Having said that, a good game to watch, for a few reasons.
Liverpool’s ShapeLiverpool’s shape, certainly in the first half, was very well balanced. We played a 4-2-3-1 for all intents and purposes, but with Sterling and Coutinho combining well with Suarez, it transformed into probably the first bona fide 4-3-3 we’ve played under Rodgers in a long time. The midfield also held a near-perfect triangle, with Henderson pressing from the front, Allen controlling the space in front of the defence, and Gerrard linking the play. Flanagan played the more conservative fullback role, with Johnson pushing forward aggressively. Sakho and Skrtel played traditionally, close together and split only when needed. This played into Skrtel’s strengths, and apart from the own goal and a couple of other moments, he had a good game:
In terms of attacking play, we dominated on the right side, with 42% of our attacks coming from there, with Johnson playing a prominent role. Our four most involved players in the game were Coutinho, Allen, Johnson and Henderson, with Gerrard up until his departure through injury. Indeed, Henderson, Johnson and Sterling – with Gerrard as usual – looked to play through West Ham with a high number of key passes each. This was a dominant game in every sense of the word. Part of this was the effectiveness of our pressing. In fact, it was probably our best pressing game this season, with the possible exception of Fulham.
Liverpool PressingIn terms of our defensive tactics, Liverpool went on the hunt for the ball in West Ham’s half a lot more than they have recently. If we compare our defensive actions in the West Ham half, with their lost possessions in the same area, we can see a clear pattern of volume of pressing that has largely been absent this season:
Compare this with West Ham’s lost possessions:
We can clear see from here that we did a lot of work on the right side of the field, between Henderson, Johnson, Sterling and Gerrard (and Allen after Gerrard). This enabled us to dominate the game, save for the short period after they scored. All in all, it was a positive thing to see, and something of an indication to Rodgers that if he could have us play that way in most of the away games, we would probably get better returns from the away results.
Joe Allen’s Pivotal RoleAllen played a great game and looked a lot closer to the player we paid £15 million for than he did for much of last season (due to his on-going injury, most likely, it has to be said). As mentioned before, 42% of our attacks came down the right, as well as the large majority of our pressing. This would seem to suggest that we Allen was right-side dominant too, but his passing tells a different story. Most people think of the “pivot” and the “double pivot” as defensive roles, shielding the back four – but the “pivot” part of their job is actually to switch play. There are three main methods for switching play – the big switch (which Gerrard excels at), the switch through the forward target (which we don’t have), and the switch through depth (holding midfielder or central defenders). Allen was – to coin a phrase – pivotal in this sense against West Ham. With a lot of the pressure coming on the right hand side, and a lot of the counter-attacking too, whenever Allen got the ball, he looked to release the ball for the pressure zone and move it to the other side of the field:
As we can see, there is a definite left-side pattern to his passes, including one or two central switches, some through balls, and two key passes (in red). Although he was occasionally outmuscled for the ball, he more than made up for it with the intent of his passes, and he could become a very important part of the midfield set-up in the next few weeks depending on how long Gerrard is out for.
The Goal ConcededThe own goal was a very unfortunate one to concede, but the responsibility for it is being misplaced. Lucas, for certain, has an indirect responsibility for the goal, because he lost the ball carelessly in the first place. It’s one thing to lose the ball trying an ambitious pass, but altogether another thing to lose it from behind, dithering on the ball waiting for options. There is a possible excuse that he wasn’t given a call to let him know there was a player behind him, but even still – it was a schoolboy error. However, fully 8 passes happened before the cross, so although Lucas’ unforced error lost the possession, the defensive breakdown was elsewhere. Lucas, in losing the ball, could and should have taken advantage of any one of 3 viable immediate options:
Option 1, the obvious one, would have been to switch the ball across to Johnson. Option 2, the safer one, would have been to drop the ball back to Skrtel and recycle the ball. Option 3 was the last resort, which would be to play the ball long to the attackers. This would have been a low percentage ball, but it would have put West Ham on the back foot, and any turnover of possession would have been in West Ham’s half. Instead, he took too much time on the ball, was indecisive, and lost the ball. Eight passes later, West Ham were in a crossing position, and this is where the real breakdown occurs.
If we look at the moment of the cross, we see something very telling:
As the ball is coming in, Johnson and Jarvis are touch-tight. So far, all is well – Johnson is practically on Jarvis’ toes, and is in a good position to challenge him for the header. However, a second later, Jarvis pulls away to meet the ball in the air, but Johnson doesn’t go with him. There was no reason to not track with Jarvis and at least challenge for the header – it was a standard defensive play. In the box, mark tight, go with your man, and if he jumps, you jump with him. You might not win the header, but you’ll do enough to put him off and stop him getting it cleanly. Had he done that, we might have been looking at a harmless deflection out for a throw or goalkick, or at worst, a corner. Instead, Johnson leaves Jarvis free to make the header:
There’s about 2 yards of space between Johnson and Jarvis as the header is made. Jarvis is also moving backwards as he makes the header, further emphasising the point that even minimal physical pressure would have rendered the header harmless. Instead, with space and time to cushion the ball, he puts it across the 6 yard box, with Skrtel already facing away and out (a good body position to take if Johnson had done his job). Because the header comes back across, Skrtel has to now turn and react, knowing the Maiga is behind him ready to pounce. What he did was unfortunate, instinctive and unlucky. But it was probably the right call, given that he was initially facing away from the goal as the ball came across.
In the totality of the goal, two errors stand out – Lucas’ indecision in a vulnerable area of the field when there was no need to be, and Johnson’s lack of marking at the back post. This is a particular weakness in his game. It won’t be eradicated at this point, so it will probably cost us again. Skrtel was unfortunate, but there wasn’t a lot he could do under the circumstances. There probably could have been better pressure on the ball in West Ham’s 8-pass sequence, too. But the telling moments were the Lucas dispossession, and Johnson’s lack of marking at the back post – with the latter being the bigger error.
Going ForwardComing into a big month of big games, the loss of Gerrard is unfortunate, but we saw in the second half that we are capable of dealing with his absence. Allen could become a stand-out player in the next few games, in terms of passing and field coverage. Henderson will probably retain his place, while the blossoming trio of Coutinho, Suarez and Sterling might perform well enough to make it hard for Sturridge to walk straight back into the team when he returns from injury. There are some elements to worry about after the West Ham game, but also a lot to be positive about too.
