FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED: West Ham United 1-4 Liverpool

It’s time to do it all over again. This is Five Things We Learned: West Ham 1-4 Liverpool.

5: No passion or determination in the First Half.

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The first half was a bit of a nightmare. No two ways about it. We looked absolutely abysmal, lackluster and somewhat defeated from the beginning. However, with more lazy passes, sloppy tackles and bizarre plays, this was far from an improvement to the 2-2 draw last weekend at Selhurst Park.

Mohamed Salah was on the score sheet early for Liverpool as his goal came from a West Ham United corner in the Liverpool half which was cleared before turning into a counter attack. Then, Joel Matip scored his first in over a year as he made it 2-0 for the visitors through a returning Sadio Mane corner.

The first goal was somewhat special to watch as it showed how easy Liverpool were able to break down the defence and expose our weak spots, thus making it easier for the rest of the game. Fair play to Salah though - that’s another couple of goals to celebrate back in the Premier League.

4: Service still an issue

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West Ham manager Slaven Bilic opted to go for a 3-4-3 formation against Liverpool, however service from the midfield to the top remained somewhat of an issue. As the game went on, Manuel Lanzini appeared to drop back and assist the midfield, however it wasn’t until Mark Noble made way for Marko Arnautovic that we saw more service headed up towards Hernandez, Ayew and Carroll (once substituted on).

The attackers for West Ham were kept somewhat quiet by a side who have been in form for a while, and it shouldn’t exactly be a surprise that Manuel Lanzini was our only goal-scorer, however Liverpool were by far the better team, and deserved to win this match.

3: We could have been a little better.

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Andre Ayew’s cracking attempt on goal almost made us jump and scream, both at the London Stadium and wherever else we may have been. After some excellent build up play, we found the Ghana international coming nail-bitingly close to scoring another brilliant goal, however the ball had other ideas as it went just wide.

Chicharito also had a brilliant attempt, but failed to control his header. Coming in from a Lanzini corner, the ball streaked in towards the attacking players, however it was Chicharito who made the jump, only to send the ball over the bar through a fingertip save from Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet.

2: Time for Hart to have a rest.

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Once again, Joe Hart had another average game with a couple of really good saves, but the keeper slipped in 4 goals to help Liverpool gain 3 points. While Adrian struggled to keep 4 out last time, many West Ham United fans are slowly saying the same thing: Get Adrian in.

I tend to agree with this as it’s another game where he’s conceded goals. Surely his period of readjusting from Serie A to the Premier League is over by now, but it raises the bigger question of if he’s going to continue conceding goals, why does England boss Gareth Southgate insist on selecting him for England duty?

Personally, I feel Hart deserves a couple of weeks off to rest and recuperate before making a return to the sticks.

1: Will the Board make up their mind and sack Slaven Bilic?

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This game against Liverpool should’ve been the one to finish Slaven Bilic’s career at West Ham, but the Board haven’t made their decision to sack the Gaffer yet. Already this season, we’ve seen Crystal Palace remove Frank de Boer, Everton sack Ronald Koeman and Leicester City fire Craig Shakespeare, yet the Board haven’t done this to Bilic, despite similar bad results.

Why is this? Because it appears the board have become extremely lazy in recruitment of a new manager, and West Ham fans are calling for a change in leadership on both a management and boardroom level. Will it happen though? Doubtful. At this current rate, we could be holding the highest capacity stadium for the Championship, yet it is too early for that sort of talk just yet.

Whatever happens over the next two to three weeks, one thing is for sure. We won’t have another defeat next week, it’s time for an international break - a break where Cresswell won’t feature in these upcoming friendlies.

The Kiwi Hammer YouTube Channel will have a full review on this game shortly after this article is released.