Fan blogger Joe Difford gives his latest take on all things West Ham United...
After two successive disappointing defeats at the hands of Manchester United and Arsenal, we faced yet another top opponent on Sunday, and given the Reds’ scoring record this season, it looked to be a tough affair.
Just a few minutes in, Liverpool lived up to expectations, with Adam Lallana finding space in the penalty area and tapping home past Darren Randolph.
After a shock defeat to Bournemouth last week, Jordan Henderson and Co. were spurred on by their early goal, and continued to press, forcing us to simply pump the ball up field to our stand-in striker, Michail Antonio.
Subsequently, it is no surprise that our equaliser came from a set piece, and of course it was yet another magnificent free kick from Dimitri Payet. The Frenchman, who had a brilliant overall performance, looped the ball up and over the wall, into the bottom left corner. Some have argued that poor goalkeeping was to blame for this finish, but Loris Karius almost certainly didn’t expect it to find the bottom corner.
After this, we began to push forward, but long balls seemed to be the only way to create any real chances. For a while, this approach seemed to be lacking, but one mistake in the Liverpool back line allowed Antonio to break free and tap past Loris Karius.
After conceding nine goals in two games, our defence needed to put in a shift to prove that they are capable of showing the form they displayed last season, and for the most part our back line was excellent.
Our only major mistake, frustratingly, lead to a Liverpool equaliser, as Randolph failed to punch clear a cross and Divock Origi tapped home.
The Irish shot stopper did manage to show his class later however, as he pulled off what will certainly be a contender for save of the season. As Henderson let rip from outside of the area, Randolph leapt into the air and tipped the ball over the crossbar, when it was destined for the very top right hand corner.
It might not have been that elusive win we are searching for, but a point at Anfield is a great result no matter the opposition. We showed we can score and also defend relatively resolutely, and this performance made it clear that the players believe in what they are doing.
A home clash against Burnley on Wednesday is a great opportunity for us to turn this confidence into three points, and if we perform as well as we did against Liverpool, we could show our true class.
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The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United