Liverpool show they can win ugly in edgy victory over West Ham

Wins like the two Liverpool have managed in the last few days help convince players that in a season full of setbacks, another one is not necessarily coming straight around the corner

Darwin Nunez celebrates scoring Liverpool’s winning goal (AFP via Getty Images)

This was not Liverpool’s most important win of their season so far. That was on Sunday against Manchester City. It was far from their most convincing, either, or their finest performance. At the final whistle, it was a stretch to even say that they had played well. West Ham left believing they deserved at least a point or more and they were right. On another evening, they may have taken all three.

If you wanted to be picky, there was enough here to suggest that Sunday’s potentially transformative result will not transform their season at all. At least not immediately. Familiar defensive frailties – particularly in the second half – meant that David Moyes’s visitors came away from Anfield with a higher xG tally than their hosts.

Part of that was down to Jarrod Bowen’s penalty – conceded by Joe Gomez, saved by Alisson – but it was also down to anxious final quarter-of-an-hour when counter-attacks kept coming and an equaliser felt increasingly likely.

And yet at full time, Jurgen Klopp agreed that this was the type of win that Liverpool’s season has been missing. A narrow 1-0 victory against a difficult opponent – a lead established, then just about defended. Klopp agreed that it was exactly the sort of victory they have needed. “Absolutely. It didn’t happen too often,” he said. “It’s not like we are used to these things. We either win really high or not.”

The scoreline was the same as on Sunday, of course, but the circumstances were very different. Against City, Liverpool had to play for much longer without the ball than they typically do. They had to soak up pressure and hit on the counter-attack, adopting a style that for all their speed and verticality in attack, does not come easily to a team that typically has things their way. They were never going to concede almost two-thirds of possession to West Ham in the same way as they did to City, even after going ahead.

Liverpool did not exactly dominate, though, only shading the battle for supremacy of the ball. This was not as attritional as Sunday but then, not far off either. Even their match-winner gave the impression of a player who, like his team, is currently fighting his way into form.

Darwin Nunez was the chaotic presence that Anfield has come to know in the short time since the move that could one day make him this club’s record signing. Even after this – his best Liverpool performance to date – it is too early to know whether he will be a success or not. His most striking ability as a footballer is certainly not his close control or his interplay – both of which still have room for improvement – but simply his tendency to make things happen. In his 57 minutes on the pitch, he scored, hit the post, almost beat Lukasz Fabianski with an outrageous half-volley, which were three of six shots in total. He was Liverpool’s most effective player.

After the downward header that opened and concluded the scoring, he now has three goals in three starts. “He’s arrived 100 per cent,” Klopp beamed. But following his substitution just before the hour mark due to a muscle twinge, even with Mohamed Salah as a focal point, Liverpool’s attack lost what edge it had. It is still a work in progress in this new shape and system. There was no gluttony of high-quality chances, not in front of West Ham’s goal at least. There were more in front of Liverpool’s, which led something of a charmed life.

The cliche goes that winning without playing well is the mark of champions when in reality, your best bet is to simply play well. Given the standards that City and Liverpool have set in recent years, even the slightest underperformance can lead to ground being lost. And in any case, if Liverpool are to be considered outside contenders, this result still left them 11 points adrift of leaders Arsenal having played their game in hand.

Yet wins like the two Liverpool have managed in the last few days foster and then harden a certain spirit, build a particular resilience, and help convince players that in a season that has been full of setbacks so far, another one is not necessarily coming straight around the corner.

If beating City on Sunday was the type of result that can turn a season around, perhaps this was the first demonstration of that after all. Liverpool found a way to win a game that earlier in this season they may have lost.

The three points take Klopp’s side up to seventh, at the back of a leading pack which looks mightily familiar, albeit with the unsurprising inclusion of Newcastle United. It will feel good to be back in that company, to not have wasted Sunday’s hard work. The trajectory is trending upwards again. And though there are still creases to iron out in the performance, when you start a season as disappointingly as Liverpool did, for a while all that counts is the result.