Digging Deeper Into Liverpool’s 5-2 Victory Over West Ham United

Liverpool came into this match with the same mandate they’ve had since the rough patch in the Autumn: take the maximum points against a Premier League side in order to maintain momentum. It’s a prompt that, to this point, Liverpool have not really shown capable of keeping and, despite the eventual scoreline, there were moments today where some might be forgiven being concerned it would be the same old story. But Liverpool managed to match the energy of their opponent in the second half to string together a win. Let’s take a closer look at how things shook out.

Winners
Hugo Ekitike
The French Striker was once again in the middle of all good things happening for the Reds as he managed not just the opening goal, but also providing two assists on the day including a lovely cushioned pass off of his in-step while traveling backwards for Alexis Mac Allister’s goal.
Ryan Gravenberch
Prior to being purchased by Bayern, a lot of the talk around Gravenberch was that he had the ability to potentially shine higher up the pitch. He never got the chance to showcase that in the Bundesliga and while at Anfield, plugged a hole at the 6 for Liverpool. But seeing him play further up today and using his mix of physicality as well as technique to provide a lovely, chopped pass to Ekitike for the opener was really something. For most of the match, Gravenberch was in the middle of lovely moves and could have even had a goal or two on the day. It wasn’t perfect – he played a sloppy pass and the general lack of porousness of the team might have something to do with shifting our one nominally defensive midfielder further up the pitch. But, truly, the attack looked about as well as it has in some time and the Dutchman had a huge role in that.

Losers
Alisson
Tough to single out a stalwart and future legend of the club but Ali nearly cost the club at least one goal on what should have been a relatively routine clearance. If it were the only moment that he’d looked shaky, I could let it go but this season in general, I think we’ve seen the first real signs of age hitting our iconic #1. It’s saying something that even in this slightly diminished version he’s still a source of calm when he’s included in the teamsheet. But his performances this season have, for me, cemented the reasons for Liverpool going into the market for a keeper last season, in a similar way to Mo’s dip in form likely informed the club’s desire to find a player who can play on the wing (Jeremie Frimpong) and players to distribute the goals/creative focal points onto (Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and Alexander Isak).

Mo Salah
Speaking of the man, Mo did not have a great day. It was bad, per se, but it did feel a bit anonymous and lacking in the usual threat we’ve come to expect. Which is, unfortunately, more of the same for this season. It is increasingly looking like this may be the end of an era for one of Liverpool’s greatest to ever do it.

An interesting wrinkle I saw emerge in this match was Ryan Gravenberch getting into the box more often. While it isn’t necessarily new from the midfield – Curtis Jones crashing the box a few weeks ago stands out – Gravenberch had generally been tasked with playing like in a more decidedly defensive role in his time with Liverpool. Over the last few matches, however, he’s been pushed higher up the pitch.

I can’t say for certain what’s allowed this, but I feel that shifting back to a structure that sees the right-back tuck into the midfield like we saw Joe Gomez do today and Dominik Szobozlai do in previous weeks might allow that necessary solidity through the central of the park for Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister to roam further forward. It has also made the offense feel more fluid even in the absence of Florian Wirtz, which is a plus.

It’s certainly not perfect, though, given how successful some of the West Ham attacks did seem to prove, but going forward, Liverpool certainly has seemed to reclaim a similar groove to last year, if not quite at the level of prime Klopp-era. If Liverpool can manage to pin wingers back a bit – the introduction of Jeremie Frimpong, for example, seeming to do that – I think the tilt of the field will go the way of the Reds and make the battles on the pitch a little easier to manage.

Giving Credit to the Opposition

We’ve talked about it but we need to give proper credit to West Ham who kept pressing throughout the match. And while there’s a lot of context missing from dropping stats – for example, game state and Liverpool clearly shifting towards a game management approach in the second half – it can’t be lost on folks that West Ham created more overall in the match than Liverpool in terms of xG. According to xG Philosophy, Liverpool created 1.92 xG to West Ham’s 2.09.

In particular, Crysencio Summerville managed to give Liverpool fits essentially the full match, as his speed and trickery afforded him space in dangerous areas throughout the contest. If we’re being honest, a more clinical Summerville might have punished Liverpool and made the scoreline less flattering.

Liverpool look to back-to-back matches against Wolverhampton, first on Tuesday in the League and then again just three days later on Friday in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. Arne Slot clearly had these fixtures on his mind, opting to give Hugo Ekitike and Joe Gomez a breather with about 15 minutes left in regular time, opening up a chance for more significant minutes to go the way of Rio Ngumoha. Trey Nyoni also made it onto the pitch for a little over 10 minutes worth of match time (including injury time) as Ryan Gravenberch was also given a rest. Here’s hoping that the lads can recover and keep the good results rolling in over the next few weeks.