This weekend we saw Liverpool once again edge a victory in the Premier League. Last season the Reds won 14 games by just one goal on their way to the Premier League title. It may not be pretty but it’s effective. This weekend Liverpool were saved by the selfishness of Pablo Fornals for West Ham.
Liverpool 2-1 West Ham
Jürgen Klopp faced one of his toughest tasks to date this weekend as he had to go rummaging through the squad to field his side.
Nat Phillips, tipped for the exit door over the summer, was selected in the heart of defence and he stepped up to the plate – collecting the man of the match award.
The visitors took the lead after 10 minutes, as per the rules of Anfield these days – it’s that hard to come here that we let our opposition go ahead early on.
Pablo Fornals tucked away from just outside the box when Joe Gomez graciously set him up with a soft header.
The Reds restored parity shortly before halftime when Mo Salah won and converted a penalty.
Thereafter it was yet another episode of the Liverpool Dominate Possession Without Threatening show. Eventually a couple of guest stars in Xherdan Shaqiri and Diogo Jota entered stage right to win the game with their flair and determination.
Pablo Fornals selfishness
Liverpool got extremely lucky that Pablo Fornals was found on a few occasions to be quite selfish.
Twice in the second half the goal scorer snatched at an opportunity when his teammate was better placed to score.
We saw a cross flash across the box and Fornals stretch out his leg only to see the ball bobble towards Alisson – had he left it his teammate could’ve swept the ball past the goalkeeper.
Later on, the Reds defence at sixes and sevens, Fornals bore down on goal and fired into the back of Andy Robertson when a square ball to Jarrod Bowen would’ve seen a guaranteed tap in for the winger.
Had Fornals had a bit more vision and a little less single mindedness we may well have seen the Reds’ unbeaten record broken.
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