Welcome to the LFC Final Word. In this series, I provide an in-depth analysis of games from a Liverpool supporter's perspective.

Match Facts

West Ham vs Liverpool

London Stadium

Monday 4th February, 20:00

Result

West Ham 1 - 1 Liverpool

Betting Results

  • Liverpool to win: loss
  • Over 2.5 goals: loss
  • Over 3.5 goals: loss

Match Summary

Following a disappointing draw against Leicester in the previous round of fixtures, I wasn't sure how much of the result could have been explained by the poor weather conditions. Well, today I got my answer and it wasn't the one I was hoping for. There were no indications in Liverpool's performance that this was a team that wanted to win the league. All of the speed, attacking flair, and dangerous counter-attacking has seemingly disappeared in the last few games and it's worrying, to say the least.

Of course, Klopp is having to deal with a lot of injuries at the moment with Gomez, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Wijnaldum, Henderson, and Oxlade-Chamberlain all unavailable for selection. However, we were already struggling before the turn of the new year and there's a reason for the January transfer window. As the club decided that they'd loan out Clyne, an adequate right-back, we are now left with a makeshift team that looks like it has never played together. This isn't good enough.

Performances from Firmino and Keita, in particular, were dreadful this evening. The former far from his usual best and giving the ball away in key positions while the latter was far too deep to have much of an impact. Whether this was a tactical decision on behalf of Klopp or the player was looking to hide is unknown to me, but either way it is not good enough.

Things could have been much worse had Manchester City not lost to Newcastle recently, but what was an opportunity to see Liverpool go 7 points clear at the top of the table has now turned into a scramble to hang on with just a 3 point lead 2 games later. Losses and draws can happen at any time and that's not the real issue here, but I expect to see a team that is committed to doing its best to get a positive result. I did not see that this evening and it all feels too familiar. Liverpool's chances of winning the Premier League title were above 70% a couple of games ago and they're now priced in with a 43.1% chance with Manchester City now favourites. With the squad they have available, it's difficult to see the Reds recovering from this.

The Final Word

Liverpool are still at the top of the Premier League but will fall to 2nd place if Manchester City manage to beat Everton on Wednesday. Everton are known for downing tools when there's a chance to screw over Liverpool so that's almost a given. All Liverpool can do now is get back to winning ways and see what happens but the pressure now feels like it's gone, as has the Premier League title. I go to bed tonight feeling let down by the Reds for yet another time in my life.