Match report
You don’t need to be a professional lipreader to see Jordan Henderson tell somebody to eff off at the final whistle. Liverpool will be frustrated with that result; they played some terrific football, and Darren Randolph made an awesome save at 2-2, but their defensive imperfections cost them again. West Ham put in a helluva shift, and all in all it was a richly entertaining match. Thanks for your company, night!
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Full time: Liverpool 2-2 West Ham
Peep peep! What a fantastic match that was.
90+2 min Payet breaks forward dangerously, one against one with Matip, who stands his ground and wins the ball cleanly. That was lovely defending under severe pressure. At the other end, Cresswell twists his body to chest Milner’s deep cross behind for a corner. This is pulsating stuff.
90+1 min Carroll is back on. There will be three minutes of added time.
90 min Carroll has a cut on the eye after that clearance from Karius a few minutes ago, which means West Ham are down to 10. Origi tries to wriggle free in the box and goes over after a challenge from Reid. Mark Clattenburg wasn’t interested and although Reid’s leg caught Origi, I don’t think it was a foul.
87 min Ogbonna curls a booming deep cross towards Carroll, and Karius flies from his line to punch clear. Good goalkeeping.
85 min Milner’s long-range shot hits Nortdveit - yet another block - and goes behind for a corner. Nothing comes of it and West Ham break wearily. Nothing comes of that either. Both sets of players have given so much in this game.
83 min Another gorgeous move from Liverpool. Clyne plays it down the right to Mane, who crosses first-time on the turn. Lallana then flicks it daintily behind him to Clyne, who thrashes over from the edge of the box. That was lovely one-touch play.
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82 min “Although I was only joking about the freak event, I’m not sure Liverpool’s failure to win against Chelsea was just due to that piece of bad fortune,” says David Wall. “Up to that point they’d created absolutely nothing, and didn’t look like doing so. That was one of the reasons why Gerrard had dropped to deep to get the ball when he (let’s not forget) let it roll under his foot into the path of Demba Ba and lost his footing trying to recover. The daft thing was that they could have drawn that match, and followed up with a win at Palace, to stay on top of the table. I think Peter Oh’s point is a good one, Henderson had been great for them in the run in, allowing Gerrard, Sterling, and Coutinho to surge forward without so much of the defensive duties that Gerrard messed up against Chelsea.”
Interesting. I think they’d have won without it but I wouldn’t abuse you on social media for having an alternative viewpoint.
81 min Payet makes room for a shot 25 yards out, only to belabour it into the posh seats.
80 min Liverpool are pressing furiously, and a nice stat on Sky Sports shows they lead 48-4 when it comes to touches in the opposition box. West Ham look tired now.
79 min “I completely agree about the significance of The Slip,” says Matt Dony. “Had Liverpool won that game, they wouldn’t have got carried away with ridiculous goal-difference chasing at Crystal Palace. The three Liverpool goals came so easily, it was as if they thought they could score the 6 or 7 they needed, putting even more pressure on an already ropey defence. What could have been, eh? We don’t need it proved in a court of law. The MBM is the highest authority I recognise.”
78 min A West Ham change: Edimilson Fernandes on, Lanzini off.
77 min “Just to answer Peter Oh’s question about Henderson, he was sent off in the game against Man City at Anfield,” says Ken Coogan. “If you look closely enough, you’ll see the bottom lip wobble as he walks off the pitch......I’ve always believed that if we’d had Henderson in the team during that run-in, we’d have easily made it over the finish line.”
76 min Now Mane is booked for throwing his hands into Cresswell’s face.
75 min That’s a big blow for Liverpool as Mane will now miss the Merseyside derby a week tomorrow.
74 min Mane punches Carroll in the chest off the ball. It was only a tap but he’ll be getting a three-match ban for that.
72 min Mane’s low shot is kicked away by Reid. West Ham have blocked so many shots today.
70 min Randolph makes an exceptional save from Henderson’s booming long-range curler. What a save! It was not dissimilar to Henderson’s stunning goal at Chelsea, though struck from a more central position. It was a brilliant effort that was going in the top corner before Randolph flew to his left and stretched with his wrong hand, the right, to palm it over.
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67 min A great move from Liverpool: Firmino’s penetrative pass, Lallana’s precise cutback, Wijnaldum’s turn and finally Wijnaldum’s shot that is blocked crucially by a defender.
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66 min West Ham have calmed things down, for the time being at least. I’d bet my last pot of Acai that this won’t end 2-2, though.
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64 min “Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “Re: David Wall’s question (49 min.). I can’t recall if it was due to injury or a red card-induced ban, but Jordan Henderson’s absence in a crucial set of late season matches was as big a factor as any in Liverpool’s failure to charge to the title in 2014.”
Didn’t he get sent off at Norwich? Either way, though his absence was important, they were dominating Chelsea until the gods dropped one on Gerrard from a great height.
63 min Liverpool legend Andy Carroll comes on for West Ham, replacing the anonymous Andre Ayew.
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62 min Wijnaldum lumbers into all sorts of space down the left before coming infield and sweeping a cross-shot just wide of the far post. He needed a soupcon of curl on that to bring it inside the post.
61 min A good pass from Lanzini to Ayew, who turns in the D and belts a shot that is well blocked by Matip, I think.
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61 min Here’s Alex Netherton. “Would you say that this season, with the league pretty open, that Liverpool are at the precipice of an enormous crossroads if they lose this game?”
My concern would be that two straight defeats could cause some dysentery among the ranks.
60 min Liverpool look like creating a chance with every attack. They manufacture a corner on the right, which is taken by Henderson. Antonio uses his appreciable noggin to clear.
58 min Franco Baresi. Franz Beckenbauer. Carlos Kaiser. Paolo Maldini. Jaap Stam. Steve Bruce. Steve Bould. Cafu. Jorginho. Alan Hansen. Jurgen Kohler. All these legendary defenders are turning in their metaphorical grave at the state of modern defending.
55 min “Evening Rob,” says Steven Hughes. “Are Liverpool’s defence fishing for their own one-hour, HBO comedy special?”
There’s nothing funny about football, Steven. This is serious business. This is more than life or death. This is this league. This is football.
54 min I’d forgotten Ayew was on the pitch.
53 min Firmino is booked for a foul on Noble, who was breaking dangerously. I thought Firmino got the ball, but whatever. Payet’s resuling free-kick is headed wide from eight yards by the stooping Ayew, who might have done better. Actually I think he ended up inadvertently punching it wide, such was the sharp dip on the ball. By the time it got to him he could have volleyed it.
51 min A loose ball comes to Origi, whose vicious snapshot is well blocked by Reid.
50 min Wijnaldum shoots just wide of the right-hand post from the edge of the area. West Ham are under siege. They seriously need to score four here, just to get a point.
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49 min “What was that ‘one freak event’ in 2013/14 that prevented Liverpool winning the title?” asks David Wall. “The capitulation from a three-goal lead to draw at Selhurst Park?”
I can’t prove it in a court of law, but if Gerrard hadn’t slipped I am sure they’d have beaten both Chelsea and Crystal Palace. That Palace collapse was only really of symbolic value. The title was gone by then.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 West Ham (Origi 48)
That didn’t take long. Mane’s cross from the left is dropped by Randolph at the feet of Origi, who clips it in off the post from six yards. He almost missed that. I’m not sure Randolph needed to go near that cross, and he certainly didn’t need to try to catch it. Randolph the red-faced, oh dear.
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47 min “Conte’s socks are on fire?” says Ian Copestake. “Isn’t that a Beyonce song?”
I had Hootie and the Blowfish?
46 min Peep peep! West Ham kick off from left to right.
Liverpool have made a half-time substitution, with Ragnar Klavan replacing Dejan Lovren.
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“OK. thought experiment: can you imagine an Antonio Conte team conceding those goals?” says Jake Lynch. “Sure, he acts like his socks are on fire, but he sure knows how to organise a defence.”
Oh, never, but can you imagine a Conte team playing attacking football as consistently exhilarating as Liverpool’s?
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Half-time chit-chat
“It could be the Sunday beers or the tiredness from an earlier Ikea trip but I read the last three West Ham subs (Quino, Browne, Pike) as Quinoa, Brown Rice,” says Andrew De Asha. “I’ve become hideously middle class and am ashamed.”
I still get misty eyed about Roy Keane’s goal about Foie Gras.
Half-time: Liverpool 1-2 West Ham
Peep peep! West Ham have come from behind to lead, thanks in part to some imperfect goalkeeping and defending from Liverpool. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
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45+2 min Payet is fortunate not to concede a penalty for a very clumsy challenge on Lallana. From the resulting corner, Matip loops a header onto the bar! Mark Clattenburg blew for a foul, though I think that was after it hit the bar.
45 min Cresswell’s errant pass allows Liverpool to counter. Eventually Origi’s twinkle-toed snapshot from 15 yards is blocked by a defender. This game, in the parlance of our time, could end up anything. I’m sticking with the pre-match prediction of 5-2.
42 min “You were saying Robby?” says Yoann Lechenault.
Defences lose first halves. Attacks win matches.
41 min Good play from Wijnaldum, who beats his man down the right and crosses towards Firmino. His header drifts just wide of the far post, though Ranolph may have had it covered.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-2 West Ham (Antonio 39)
Antonio has given West Ham the lead! Nortdveit’s angled driven pass from the right looped up off the head of Henderson, wrongfooting the last man Matic in the process. That allowed Antonio to run through on goal, and he flicked the ball gently past the static Karius. Matip was strangely slow to react to the change of trajectory.
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38 min This is Liverpool’s best spell of the match, and West Ham would be happy to hear the half-time whistle.
37 min Lallana’s delicious reverse pass from the left finds Wijnaldum, whose shot is blocked by Ogbonna. The ball comes to Mane, whose shot dribbles wide from the edge of the box.
35 min “As a Liverpool fan I would love to agree with you about our chances of being champions but we just cannot and do not defend well enough,” says Jake Lynch. “Caught with nine players in the opposition half last week when 3-1 up away from home - now giving away a silly free kick to a bunch of wasters like West Ham. Klopp must go!”
What if he bought Fonte or Van Dijk from your feeder club in January? I do see what you mean but I don’t totally agree – the defence in 2013-14 was hopeless but you’d have won the league were it not for one freak event. Attacks are so powerful these days that I’m not sure the Keegan/Newcastle precedent is quite as powerful as it used to be.
34 min Milner’s excellent inswinging corner from the left is flicked on by the head of Matip at the near post, but nobody can get on the end of it at the far post. Klopp growls with annoyance on the bench. Do Opta have stats to show whether any top manager grits their teeth more than Klopp? Doesn’t he know he’s a role model?
30 min “Offence wins games,” says Yoann Lechenault. “Defence wins championship. Liverpool is too vulnerable. Yes the free-kick is great, but they never should have given it in the first place.”
So in theory your attack could win all 38 games and you’d still lose the title?
29 min After a terrific move involving Mane and Lallana, Henderson’s first-time shot from eight yards is crucially blocked by a defender.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 West Ham (Payet 28)
Payet equalises with the free-kick, though many eyes will again be on the goalkeeper Karius. It was a good free-kick, over the wall and dipping sharply towards the bottom-left corner. It wasn’t right in the corner though, and although Karius got his right hand to the ball, it went through him and into the net.
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26 min Obiang is fouled 25 yards from goal by Lallana. It’s in Payet Territory™.
25 min “Every manager in CM/PM would keep a versatile player like Antonio in their team, usually sitting on the bench as the perfect sub,” says Matt Hanley. “My mate at uni would always rename him ‘The Waffle’, as in ‘Birdseye Potato Waffles, they’re waffling versatile.’ That was almost 15 years ago, but it still makes me giggle.”
23 min The atmosphere is a bit flat. Modern football got to Anfield too, it seems. The game is ambling along pleasantly enough, but with no chances at either end.
20 min “Were you singling out Kalle Weis-Fogh as the weak link on the MBM?” says Matt Dony. “Barbaric. And as much as I would love to agree with you about Liverpool’s title chances, I just can’t see past a late-season collapse. It makes it hard work enjoying the free-flowing goal-scoring fun at the moment. My word, football can make us grumpy...”
I just don’t see Klopp teams as the collapsing type, for all the pressure they will be under after the events of May 2014. Also, as well as the manager, most of these players weren’t at the club then, which doesn’t hurt. I’ve arranged a long summer holiday in an internet-free haven, just in case.
19 min Breaking news: not much is happening. Liverpool look in control, and West Ham - though not playing badly - have the air of a team whose subconscious is telling them not to bother attacking, because they probably need to score five to get a point.
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16 min “Thank heavens for an early goal,” says Hubert O’Hearn. “I’ve been working since 6AM editing a magazine and i was worried I’d nod off during the match. But never! Not with Energizer Bunny Adam Lallana on fire. Now to relax with a bottle of Special Grape annnnndddd zzzzzzzzz....”
I was so tired the other day that I think I fell asleep standing up. Old-middle age is going to be heaps of dignified fun.
15 min Mane, on the right wing, drills a terrific square pass to find Firmino in space just inside the area. His shot is deflected behind for a corner.
13 min West Ham have started the game well, with lots of possession, but one slight of concentration at the back means they trail. If Liverpool get a second soon this will get messy.
9 min “So the result at O.T. means the gap between United and Sunderland and the gap between United and Chelsea is the same: 13 points,” says Phil Grey. “Does that make United mid-table? I’d like to think so.”
Please don’t go all mean, median and mode on our collective ass, not on a Sunday. Don’t even drive out to Jersey.
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8 min Karius makes a good save to deny Antonio. Reid played a long, speculative pass behind the defence, allowing Antonio to run away from Lovren. Although Lovren got back to cover, Antonio was able to whip a near-post shot that was palmed round by the stretching Karius.
7 min A West Ham corner is punched away unconvincingly by Karius to Lanzini, who volleys high and wide from the edge of the box.
6 min A theme of the season is players who have been revitalised not by a change of club but by a change of manager: Rojo, Sterling, er loads of other s I can’t remember ... and of course Lallana, who has been terrific.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 West Ham (Lallana 5)
That didn’t take long. Mane goes on a winding run from right to left before clipping a low cross to Lallana, who controls the ball 10 yards from goal and pings an excellent left-footed shot into the far corner.
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4 min West Ham are playing with Antonio up front and Ayew on the right. Antonio would be a Championship Manager’s dream: DMF RC.
3 min A busy start from Liverpool, as you’d expected, and Randolph has to come from his line to punch away Henderson’s cross.
2 min “That Liverpool bench,” sniffs John Beaven. “That’s really not a title winning squad is it?”
I see what you mean but they do have a few injuries, and the need for a strong squad is reduced by the fact they aren’t in Europe. I still think they will win it.
1 min Peep peep! Liverpook kick off from left to right. They are in red; West Ham are in white.
“Off to the pub to watch the game,” hics Kalle Weis-Fogh. “Before a ball has even been kicked, I can feel your anti-Liverpool bias in your MBM. I am, frankly, pre-outraged.”
You can pre-off, Kalle.
Team news
Liverpool (4-3-3) Karius; Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner; Lallana, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Mane, Origi, Firmino.
Substitutes: Mignolet, Moreno, Klavan, Lucas, Alexander-Arnold, Ejaria, Woodburn.
West Ham (possible 4-2-3-1) Randolph; Nordtveit, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble, Obiang; Antonio, Lanzini, Payet; Ayew.
Substitutes: Adrian, Carroll, Fletcher, Fernandes, Quina, Browne, Pike.
Referee Mark Clattenburg
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Liverpool against West Ham at Anfield. All eyes will be on how Liverpool recover – not so much from their 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, but from the trauma of hearing Steve Cook’s barbaric comments about Loris Karius. The likelihood is that they will take their frustration out on a West Ham defence that isn’t exactly watertight. It’s barely even bustight.
West Ham finished above Liverpool last season. They also did the double and put them out of the FA Cup. A few months later, they are third bottom and Liverpool are third top. West Ham’s struggles have led to entirely ludicrous calls for Slaven Bilic to be sacked, and they will increase if West Ham take a beating today. One thing’s for sure: with these two defences, there is no chance of a goalless draw.
Prediction Liverpool 5-2 West Ham.
Kick off 4.30pm.
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