FIVE things we learned from West Ham’s win over Liverpool
West Ham put in a tantalising display of traditional attacking football that made Liverpool look like an average side rather than a title chasing team.
The tactics were a joy to behold, the starting eleven all gave 100%, the atmosphere was electric, and everyone had nothing but positive things to say after the game.
A rare sight of happy hammers, and one that opened our eyes to a few things that we can learn about our beloved West Ham after that game.
So, here are the five things we have learned after the game.
Click on Allardyce to reveal
Downing looks the part in his new role
Stuart Downing struggled to fit in at Liverpool despite a lot of promise and some would say the same of his time at West Ham because he hasn’t really got involved much at times and his crossing left a lot to be desired.
However, the manager has had the winger playing in a slightly different role, down the middle, with a bit more freedom to roam round the pitch-finding himself tucked nicely behind the striker. This new role saw him completely take Steven Gerrard out of the game. which in itself is a great feat. When on the ball, Downing also looked a lot better; he was linking up play, providing defence splitting passes, was involved in all three of our goals, and covered a lot more ground on the pitch.
He looked like a new player, one that gave his previous employers a lot of headaches on the day, and the England boss some food for thought. He looked fantastic and had a big smile at the end of the game that showed us how much his performance meant to him.
Where do Nolan and Carroll fit in?
Sam’s two favourite players would have walked straight back into the team last season, such was the lack of competition for places and the lack of quality on show from the players who were picked.
Although you would noramally assume they would walk (or limp) straight back into the first team, the performance against Liverpool makes it almost impossible to justify it. Sakho is on form upfront with his strike partner Valencia at the moment, the two ran circles around the Scouse defence and caused them headaches all game.
In Nolan’s place we have Song, Zarate, Valencia and even Downing who are all doing way to well to be dropped at the moment. All those players care versitile and can play in Nolan’s position.
Top six isn’t being over ambitious
Liverpool were not exactly poor on the day. West Ham were quite simply too good for them. We competed with them in all areas of the game and came out on top in every department. Liverpool were outplayed and outclassed despite their best efforts. It didn’t look like a fluke either, when we had the ball, the players looked confident and comfortable.
Alex Song and Downing dominated the midfield easily and put together some fantastic phases of play, and im defence we soaked up all the pressure and defended solidly without looking shakey or nervous. This is proof that we can achieve Gold’s target of a top six finish if we play like this every week. How often in recent seasons have we looked so good against stronger opposition without them having a poor game?
We look very strong and very fluid at the moment and need to keep it up. It wont be the same every single game, and it wont be as pretty to watch as it was against Liverpool but if we can keep the performances up then we can look above us rather than behind us in the table.
Noble deserves an England call up
We as West Ham fans have been saying this for years about Noble. However, the game against Liverpool will have given the England boss the biggest shout for a call up yet. England officials were at Upton Park for the game and even if they tried hard, they would have failed not to notice how easily Mark Noble had the likes of Henderson amd Gerrard in his pocket throughout the whole game.
His work rate, tracking back when needed to make a tackle, his passing, his attacking runs, how easily he managed to outclass his oponents in the game; all have to go a long way to convince Roy Hodgson that it is time for an England Cap at senior level.
The national side are lacking his type of player in midfield at the moment, an area in which they are struggling with big time, yet there are players like Delph and Colback who get the nod first because of who they play for domestically. If Noble’s performance did nothing, it showed us how capable he is in the big games to make a difference. Time to give him a shot!
Another player has proven to be good business
In our season up to date, we have had a lot of new players find their feet very quickly and start scoring goals. Zarate, Valencia and Sakho have proven to be very effective at finding the net, which for West Ham is a nice thing to see; goals coming from various sources-again not something we have seen of late.
Morgan Amalfitano added his name to the list with a superb instinctive finish from a Stuart Downing through ball on 88 minutes to seal the win for West Ham. We have been spoilt with a host of new players in the summer who not only have increased the squad size but have added a much needed quality boost to the side.
Every single signing is a quality bit of business and every player so far has done superbly for us. Valencia and Zarate are famed for quality long range efforts, Sakho for his number nine instinct in front of goal showing that he will be there at the right time and place to poach a goal and now Afamilato.
It is so refreshing to see so many players able to find the net for us. Last season we struggled for goals, this season we are scoring them for fun!