Liverpool are not done yet. Jürgen Klopp has invented Trent Alexander-Arnold 2.0, unleashing the right-back’s full weaponry by putting him in midfield, freeing him from his defensive responsibilities, and he also has more ways of winning games with Luis Díaz fit again.
If it is not quite a return to the mentality monster days, it certainly is encouraging for Klopp. This was Liverpool’s third consecutive win, maintaining their faint hopes of squeezing into the top four, and it was not earned without a fight.
West Ham were tough, inventive opponents, albeit slow to react to Klopp’s changes shortly before Joël Matip headed in the decisive goal, and they had cause to rage after not being awarded a penalty when Thiago Alcântara handled during the dying stages.
The increasingly indecipherable laws around handball rescued Liverpool. They could argue that Thiago had no chance of getting out of the way when he lunged into a tackle on Danny Ings and more or less punched the ball to the turf, but West Ham fumed at the VAR’s refusal to intervene. David Moyes’s side, who remain five points above the bottom three, saw nothing but injustice.
“You’ll probably see them coming out with some rubbish about he needed to break his fall,” Moyes said. “If you lunge it’s your fault for being out of control. The hardest thing to take is the disrespect from VAR – that VAR wouldn’t have at least said to the referee that this might be worth having a look. That tells me they don’t see that as even close to a decision.”
Still, Liverpool dug deep. Their winner was their fourth set-piece goal in two games, Matip heading home with 23 minutes left, but there was also style. Alexander-Arnold caught the eye with an assist when Cody Gakpo cancelled out Lucas Paquetá’s brilliant opener and Klopp had strength in depth on the bench. Díaz, recently back from long-term injury, stretched West Ham after coming on for Diogo Jota on the left.
Liverpool’s inconsistencies were on show from the start. They set out to control, with all the impetus coming from Alexander-Arnold morphing into his true form: that of roving, freewheeling, inverted right-back.Watching Alexander-Arnold drift inside to start attacks from deep was like seeing Liverpool evolve in real time. Outnumbered in midfield, West Ham struggled to get out. Liverpool pressed, Mohamed Salah and Gakpo both seeing early shots blocked.
Yet Liverpool also gave West Ham hope at the other end. After four minutes Virgil van Dijk lost possession to Jarrod Bowen, whose centre just missed Michail Antonio. Bowen was proving a handful for Andy Robertson and, with Alexander-Arnold rarely in his way, Saïd Benrahma was lively on the left.
Liverpool’s system was not foolproof. It was too easy when West Ham took the lead in the 12th minute, although it was a beautiful goal. There was a sense that something special was happening when Benrahma killed a high ball, then when Paquetá glided up the left after a one-two with Antonio.
Liverpool were too open. There was no challenge from Jordan Henderson after another one-two between Paquetá and Antonio. Fabinho stood nearby, watching admiringly. Antonio’s flick was perfect and Paquetá slammed a first-time shot past Alisson from the edge of the area.
A rollocking from Klopp told Liverpool to respond. They had trailed for six minutes when Alexander-Arnold moved inside and slipped a pass behind Tomas Soucek. Gakpo had space in front of West Ham’s back four and the forward used it by drilling a low shot beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
“I heard about the handball,” Klopp said. “I thought he just fell on the ball. But I can understand Moyesie sees it completely different. But if you see the game we are the deserved winner. These boys do it like animals. We chase the ball again. We defend completely differently.”
There were drawbacks to Alexander-Arnold’s positioning. He was absent when Bowen gave Benrahma a chance to run at Henderson. Only a last-ditch touch from Van Dijk stopped Antonio from tapping in Benrahma’s cross. West Ham almost scored from the resulting corner, Antonio heading wide. The game was in the balance and Liverpool were in danger of being overrun at the start of the second half. Declan Rice became increasingly dominant, pushing higher in possession, then storming back to thwart Salah.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
Liverpool needed a jolt. They got one when West Ham countered and Bowen had a goal disallowed for offside. Klopp soon turned to his bench. Thiago offered poise in midfield after replacing Henderson. Díaz soon began to toy with Vladimir Coufal.
A tiring West Ham fell back. They escaped when Fabianski’s right knee denied Matip, but they were not focused enough on their marking. Another corner came in, delivered by Robertson, and Matip was free to head home.
“Two sloppy goals,” Moyes said. But his real anger lay with the officials.
