Liverpool play well and lose to a set piece goal. Lucas is too eager in a challenge and gives away the free-kick that Liverpool are punished for. Christian Benteke misses chance after chance. Sounds eerily familiar doesn’t it? Liverpool fans once again had their very own groundhog day as West Ham knocked The Reds out of the FA Cup with a last minute Angelo Ogbanna goal. Unlike some of the losses Liverpool have had this season there are plenty of positives to be taken from this performance, and a few negatives of course.
We’ll start with the negatives and get them out of the way.
Christian Benteke. I don’t know where to start with the Liverpool number 9. He’s without a goal in 594 minutes of play, during this time he’s only got one assist to his name. He has a disconcerting habit of missing what look like guilt edged chances; ones a £32.5 million striker should finish with relative ease. Two stick in the mind tonight; the volley he puts wide from 14 yards and the one on one he hits straight at Randolph. If the Belgian puts those away Liverpool defeat West Ham at a canter.
The jinxed left-back position. Jose Enrique, Alberto Moreno and Brad Smith are the left-backs Liverpool have on their books and none of the three fill the fans with confidence. Many fans have been calling for Smith to start ahead of Moreno for weeks now, not because he’s talented and suppressing him is doing damage to his development, no, but because he’s not Alberto Moreno. It’s as straightforward as that. Brad Smith tonight showed why he’s not all that. Culpable for the first West Ham goal when he gets drawn in centrally it leaves the West Ham player free at the back post to fire home. His night continued in similar fashion as he was nowhere defensively for large parts and didn’t try to get back like Moreno does. If you’re one of the fans who doesn’t rate Moreno how is Smith good enough?
Now on to the positives.
Better defensively. Liverpool as a unit looked much better defensively in both open play and during set pieces (if the winning goal is ignored). Lucas, captain for the night, has taken many plaudits for his display in the heart of the defence alongside Tiago Ilori, who also played well, but a lot of the credit deserves to go to Kevin Stewart and Pedro Chirivella. The two central midfielders patrolled the area ahead of the defence and offered the protection to them that is rarely seen from a Liverpool midfield. Both midfielders are rated highly by the academy staff, especially Michael Beale and Alex Inglethorpe, and if Stewart doesn’t get minutes in the Premier League this season it will be a surprise.
Return of cheeky Phil.
https://vine.co/v/i1QlbhagtM7
Look at it. How can Philippe Coutinho pulling the pants down of basically the entire West Ham team not make you smile? To execute such a free-kick just shows how despite missing many matches through injury he’s returned just as confident as ever.
The dancing man is back. Daniel Sturridge made his long awaited return early in the second half and showed his class from the off. Even when he’s not match sharp he’s still the best player on the pitch and he immediately transformed the Liverpool attack. Not only was he a goal threat he was also the creator in chief, threading passes to Benteke who unfortunately wasn’t able to finish. The signs are positive though, it won’t be long until we’re witnessing the wriggly arm dance once again.
We just have to replace Benteke not a top striker to play for a world class club like Liverpool fc
That challenge was unfortunate, the ref should’nt have given it , look at all the pushes that the liverpool players got but the ref failed to blow and the hammer players over reacted and he blew. But beside that , again the same idiots are to blame for the loss, SM want to be acrobatic in his saves where a simple catch was suffice and when he had to be acrobatic and save that two simple goals, he stood there like a pillar. CB won some balls in or near the box but when it mattered most he could not score even when he only had to beat the keeper. same old same old when is JK going to start punishing these guys and leave them on the bench and give players like DW and RK a chance. I’m sorry to say I have been a fan for 31 years and when I saw SM and CB in the tunnel I already predicted a loose. The score should have been 5- 2 in liverpools favour. Well done JK I hope you dont wke up too late.
Benteke played well, he got in the right positions and was very strong at holding the ball up. It’s just his confidence in front of goal at the moment – of course this doesn’t suit the ridiculous narrative. He is easily good enough as a plan B squad player. If you look at his career he always has these periods and then goes on scoring streaks. What about Lucas as a CB, with Lovren or Caulker? (Sakho is nowhere near as good as the narrative makes out, never has been – 1 oustanding game in 10. He’s Skrtel level, if that. Can in the holding role.