Mersey Mission Impossible? West Ham and David Moyes Pay Another Visit To Anfield’s Unhappy Hunting Ground

Midweek European group stage games can be something of a lottery. Opposition strengths and weaknesses are an unknown quantity and managers must try to balance progress in the group with the opportunity to rotate squad resources. In the end West Ham had enough quality to overcome the resistance of TSC despite an early setback, just as Liverpool and Manchester City had to in their respective games against LASK and Red Star Belgrade.

With David Moyes making nine changes from the eleven that had started the previous weekend it is impossible to draw any conclusions from Thursday’s victory other than suspecting that qualification from the group will be straightforward enough. The game saw useful debuts from Mohammed Kudus and Konstantinos Mavropanos both of whom should be pressing for Premier League starts in the coming months.

Thursday night’s game was not the most riveting of encounters. A lively start from the home side struggled to create clear-cut opportunities and they appeared to have lost their way before going behind in disastrous circumstances. A slip by Angelo Ogbonna compounding poor decision making when attempting to play the ball back to the keeper. At least it woke the Hammers up, but it would take a brace of James Ward-Prove set piece special deliveries to give the scoreline a respectable look.

The novelty of West Ham bossing possession is unlikely to be repeated at Anfield this afternoon where it will be a return to the counterattacking and set piece threats which have always represented the manager’s safe space. Liverpool are a very different, more direct proposition to the ball-loving sides that the Hammers have already faced – Chelsea, Manchester City and Brighton – and there are sound reasons to maintain a solid and compact defensive shape against them.

The Reds are unbeaten this season. In their previous two home games both Bournemouth and Villa allowed way too much space between defence and midfield which was exploited ruthlessly by the Liverpool forwards. The Hammer’s challenge will be denying space at one end while getting enough players forward quickly to create chances at the other.

West Ham’s shocking record at Anfield is legendary. A 3-0 victory in August 2015 being the solitary away win over in 60 years. The victory in 2015 was instrumental in Liverpool’s decision to replace Brendan Rodgers with Jurgen Klopp. Since Klopp’s appointment the record shows one draw and seven defeats for the Hammers – the last four all by a single goal margin. The statistics also show that Moyes has failed to win in 19 visits to Anfield as manager of four different clubs.

The predicted Hammers lineup today should show few changes from the side that lost out to Manchester City. Alphonse Areola will return between the sticks after his midweek rest. There may be a case to leave Nayef Aguerd on the bench following some unconvincing lapses, but I expect Moyes to stick with him for now. The manager will want to include both Edson Alvarez and Thomas Soucek as a defensive shield to counter the home side’s impressive attacking and aerial threat – and also to put pressure on Alisson at set pieces. With the more attack minded players selection will depend on the fitness of Jarrod Bowen who failed to make the midweek squad due to sickness. In his absence Kudus will fill in.

In this type of game there is no viable alternative to Michail Antonio in the lone striker role. With Danny Ings looking increasingly ineffective in the West Ham setup, the failure to bring in a new striker will surely cause a drag on performances until the oversight can be resolved. It is such a sharp contrast to the attacking talent available to Klopp who can select from Salah, Gakpo, Jota, Diaz, and Nunez.

It will require a battling West Ham performance to take anything from the game. We know that Moyes team are organised, disciplined, and resilient these days – and that they rarely fold like West Ham teams of old. However, they have yet to keep a clean sheet this season and will likely need to get on the scoresheet themselves in order to get a result. Can they do it? I’m hoping so provided the Anfield VAR behaves itself. A game with honours shared, I think. COYI!