Having made eight changes to the side that beat Norwich 2-1 in the FA cup fifth round midweek – only Alisson Becker, Ibrahima Konaté and Jordan Henderson keeping their starting places – Liverpool started as if they were going to steamroller the Hammers, with Mo Salah having three good chances to open the scoring in the first 11 minutes.
The Egyptian king’s failure to convert reflected a frustrating evening for him as he found himself swarmed by defenders, obstructing his path to goal and when he did get to see the whites of Lukazs Fabianski’s eyes, superb blocking tackles and challenges thwarted the Reds’ number one striker.
Meanwhile, at the other end, the industrious, hulking Michail Antonio caused no end of problems to the Liverpool backline with his strength, persistence and unpredictable play. Alisson had to make several saves from the West Ham centre-forward to keep his side level.
Liverpool’s two best players were – again – their full backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold, the Reds' right-sided star claiming the assist for the winner on 27 minutes – the 66's mishit shot falling into the path of Sadio Mané who, barely onside, poked the ball home from four yards out.
The first half may have finished 1-0 to Liverpool but it could have seen the Reds three up or, paradoxically, West Ham going in for an orange and cup of tea with a comfortable lead.
This back and forth continued into the second half, but this time with West Ham creating more and better chances.
Not even the departure to a bad-looking injury of Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen on 53 minutes – to go with the absence through illness from the start of the Hammers’ most influential player, England midfielder Declan Rice – dented the threat to Liverpool.
Alisson continued to be called into action and in addition to the Brazilian’s heroics Liverpool relied on clearances off the line and last ditch challenges to keep their lead in tact.
As the contest wore on and Liverpool’s lead looked more and more precarious, the match was crying out for substitutions from Jurgen Klopp, to tighten up or finish off the game.
It was a surprise, therefore, that when a sub was brought on not that the replacement was Diogo Jota but that the man hauled off was Salah, who looked suitably disgusted when his number came up.
Indeed, if Salah is currently the best player in the world – i.e. is in the class of Messi and Ronaldo when they were at Barcelona and Real Madrid – then it’s hard to see why you’d want to take off such a talent.
The puzzlement at Klopp’s decision deepens when it’s borne in mind that Salah was having just as good – or bad – a game as Mané and that Luis Diaz’s second half performance was not as effective as his first.
Moreover Salah has a habit late in matches of punishing tiring defenders or teams that have over-committed looking to rescue the game.
Still, Liverpool held on, an awful miss in front of an open Reds goal from Manuel Lanzini notwithstanding, and move on to the second leg of their Champions League tie against an out-of-form Inter Milan.
Klopp’s men go into the game at Anfield 2-0 up and it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the Reds boss will make to his usual starting lineup, bearing in mind that the next Premier League game will be a tricky trip to the south coast to play a Brighton side needing to recover from a dip in form.
The Egyptian king’s failure to convert reflected a frustrating evening for him as he found himself swarmed by defenders, obstructing his path to goal and when he did get to see the whites of Lukazs Fabianski’s eyes, superb blocking tackles and challenges thwarted the Reds’ number one striker.
Meanwhile, at the other end, the industrious, hulking Michail Antonio caused no end of problems to the Liverpool backline with his strength, persistence and unpredictable play. Alisson had to make several saves from the West Ham centre-forward to keep his side level.
Liverpool’s two best players were – again – their full backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold, the Reds' right-sided star claiming the assist for the winner on 27 minutes – the 66's mishit shot falling into the path of Sadio Mané who, barely onside, poked the ball home from four yards out.
The first half may have finished 1-0 to Liverpool but it could have seen the Reds three up or, paradoxically, West Ham going in for an orange and cup of tea with a comfortable lead.
This back and forth continued into the second half, but this time with West Ham creating more and better chances.
Not even the departure to a bad-looking injury of Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen on 53 minutes – to go with the absence through illness from the start of the Hammers’ most influential player, England midfielder Declan Rice – dented the threat to Liverpool.
Alisson continued to be called into action and in addition to the Brazilian’s heroics Liverpool relied on clearances off the line and last ditch challenges to keep their lead in tact.
As the contest wore on and Liverpool’s lead looked more and more precarious, the match was crying out for substitutions from Jurgen Klopp, to tighten up or finish off the game.
It was a surprise, therefore, that when a sub was brought on not that the replacement was Diogo Jota but that the man hauled off was Salah, who looked suitably disgusted when his number came up.
Indeed, if Salah is currently the best player in the world – i.e. is in the class of Messi and Ronaldo when they were at Barcelona and Real Madrid – then it’s hard to see why you’d want to take off such a talent.
The puzzlement at Klopp’s decision deepens when it’s borne in mind that Salah was having just as good – or bad – a game as Mané and that Luis Diaz’s second half performance was not as effective as his first.
Moreover Salah has a habit late in matches of punishing tiring defenders or teams that have over-committed looking to rescue the game.
Still, Liverpool held on, an awful miss in front of an open Reds goal from Manuel Lanzini notwithstanding, and move on to the second leg of their Champions League tie against an out-of-form Inter Milan.
Klopp’s men go into the game at Anfield 2-0 up and it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, the Reds boss will make to his usual starting lineup, bearing in mind that the next Premier League game will be a tricky trip to the south coast to play a Brighton side needing to recover from a dip in form.
