Liverpool were absolutely dominant against West Ham United (WH). We could have scored earlier and more if not for the heroics for the WH GK that pulled out some great saves throughout. Our pressing was good and it seems with Slot getting used to the Premier League and having more data about opponents, he is now able to assert his tactics from the off. With that said, WH were really poor and if not for their GK and our wasteful finishing, especially Salah weirdly as he could have gotten 2 hat tricks with the chances he had, it could have been double figures.
Alisson – he was not really tested though his bar was rattled thrice!
TAA – supported the attack well, and pinged some really beautiful forward passes and through balls, nice pass for the 1st goal, and what a beautiful goal. thought he defended most of his 1v1s well too.
Robbo – apart from the one big mistake early on, he defended aggressively and well, and also supported the attack well. glad he was taken off early for a rest as a fully fit and fresh Robbo is still a very good player.
Gomez – shame about his injury and hope he won’t be out for long as he was playing well. good front footed defending, good passing including some long ones, and rightly shocked by the blindness of AT. won the corner but was given a goal kick and ushered the ball out nicely for a GK and was presumed to give up a corner
VVD – felt like an easy game for him as he was not really tested.
Gravenberch – wins the ball and spray in forward, receives the ball, turn and strides it forward. It’s almost becoming predictable what he’s going to do so nicely and effectively. Probably the best deep lying playmaker in the league at the moment.
Mac – when he stays on his feet, no diving, no whining, and just moving about, pinging the ball around nicely, good pressing and tackles, he is world class.
Jones – always enjoyed his skills in tight areas, went about doing his thing to press, cover, move the ball along and probably should have scored. a proper CM performance for me.
Our front 3 were irrepressible in the 1st half. Diaz, good touch and finish for his goal and his winning the balls back and winning at defenders is surely frightening. Gakpo, always running at the defender and a well taken goal. Salah, what a nice assist for first, and another good 2nd assist for Jota too. A very good finish, probably should have scored more but ‘lost’ his duel against Areola I would say. His overall play was electric, but his overall finishing was very average to be honest, but nothing spots him from having end product still.
Quansah – a good run out for him to rebuild some confidence, nice passes and glad he emerged well from the 1v1s.
Endo – with him on, you can be sure to expect tackles, break up play. found good pockets of space to receive the ball, turn and stride forward too.
Jota – nice track back, tackles and winning the ball. a mix of good and poor build up play but will always enjoy his shimmies and goals.
Elliot, Tsi – game was already over and good to see him having a run out.
Thought to note that Kudus was enjoyable to watch. Good control, dribbling, strong, good shot and was unlucky to hit the post twice. Probably doesn’t have the end product of Salah but he was probably WH’s best player in effort and application.
We are top of the league! Let’s keep the Slot machine rolling and we may have quite a few trophies to collect this season.
Written by sgynwa December 30 2024 08:05:41
