West Ham Show Spirit at Anfield — But Set-Piece Woes Prove Costly

The match may have finished Liverpool 5-2 West Ham, but in truth it could easily have been 7–4 to the home side, such was the open nature of the encounter.

On paper, it looks like West Ham sustained something of a thrashing at Anfield. In reality, Nuno Espírito Santo’s team were competitive for large parts of the game.

Ordinarily, in the middle of a season where relegation was not looming large, there would be plenty of positives to take. After all, this has traditionally been a very difficult away fixture for the Hammers. Unfortunately, the context is everything. West Ham are in deep relegation trouble and, at some point, we are going to need to start winning games we are not expected to win. This could — and perhaps should — have been one of them.

Crysencio Summerville played well again and should have got on the scoresheet. Konstantinos Mavropanos had two decent chances, while the usually reliable Jarrod Bowen seemed to get almost everything wrong — aside from his corner, which led to a consolation goal from Taty Castellanos.

Familiar Problems Return

Ultimately, though, it was familiar old issues that resurfaced.

West Ham’s inability to defend free-kicks and corners proved costly once again. Serious questions must be asked as to how Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Mac Allister were both left unmarked from set-pieces. Liverpool scored from three dead-ball situations, and even their two goals from open play took deflections.

All we can hope is that Nuno and his players do not suffer too severe a confidence knock, because there were positives buried within the chaos. That said, it was always going to be tough when only one of the Hammers’ flanks was functioning properly.

With a midweek clash against Fulham looming — and very little time on the training pitch — it will be a tricky turnaround for the backroom staff.