Liverpool FC - Why West Ham Are A Far Tougher Opponent Than Tottenham

The Big Man Cometh. Actually, the Big Sam cometh. Liverpool FC’s Brendan Rodgers will face off against the Premier League veteran this weekend. Sandwiched between ties with Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, most would see this is as almost a break between two tough fixtures with top half sides. But don’t let the 19 point gap between the two London sides fool you – West Ham will pose a much tougher challenge than Tottenham did. Let us first look at what happened when Tottenham came calling to Anfield, and then understand why West Ham will be a tougher nut to crack.

Sherwood’s Blunders

Tim Sherwood - Tottenham Hotspur manager | — Sherwood’s tactics were as poor as AVB’s

Both Tottenham games this season have been hyped up as ‘season-defining’ and ‘cup-final scenario’ games. But both have been surprising in the limp nature of the opposition. This is not so much a reflection of the players the team has at their disposal but rather of the amateurish tactics deployed by the managers. How Brendan Rodgers utterly outwitted Andre Villas Boas is well documented, but Tim Sherwood hardly performed any better. While Liverpool have transformed from a tiki-taka loving team last year to an incisive counter-attacking side this season, their central midfield remains the key conduit from which these attacks flow forward. Some of Liverpool’s toughest games have involved opposition that have stifled the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson, effectively cutting the supply lines from defence to attack. The 2-2 draw against Aston Villa is a good example, where Steven Gerrard had what was probably his worst game so far this season. As a footballer, Gerrard is as complete a player as anyone in the game’s history, but one thing he is not is a nimble-footed dribbler. This means that if he is quickly closed down by his opposition every time he gets on the ball, he is likely to eventually make a mistake or two. Fortunately for Liverpool, not many have been able to successfully exploit this chink in the Reds’ armor, mostly because they spend a majority of the 90 minutes reeling from Liverpool’s frenzied attacking.

Tottenham - Use of inverted wingers, like Sigurdsson, are hindering Soldado's game — Using Sigurdsson as a central midfielder made no sense

So what does Tim Sherwood do? He deploysAi??Nabil Bentaleb, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Christian Eriksen in central midfield. Now, Bentaleb and Eriksen are logical decisions, as Bentaleb has been one of Spurs’ better players in the holding midfielder role this season, and Eriksen is by far their best attacking player. But Sigurdsson’s deployment in a Central Midfielder role is inexplicable. Remember, the Iceland national was regularly played in the number 10 position by Rodgers during their days in Swansea City, which is where he came into the limelight. Rodgers tried to sign him for Liverpool, failed, went on to sign Philippe Coutinho in the winter for the same role (thank God for that). To play Sigurdsson out of position in central midfield in such a key match, not to mention such a key zone of the pitch, made absolutely no sense. Especially when you have the likes of Mousa Dembele and Sandro available. Dembele especially would have been a much better choice, with his mix of physical presence and comfort on the ball.

The situation was worsened by the fact that the Spurs player looked nervous from the kick-off, with Sherwood probably not doing any better a job of man-management than he did with the tactics. In the end, Liverpool saw out the game with relative ease, against an opposition with no ideas on how to stop their natural game.

Bigger & Smarter Sam

Sam Allardyce has been managing English teams for two decades now, and has made a career of handling relegation battlers and mid-table sides. He is fairly sorted in his head on what sort of football helps you survive relegation: forget possession, just sit deep and go long. He’s done it time and again, and it has worked time and again. Just looking at his team, you know what you’re going to get. Aside from the crossing specialists like Stewart Downing and Matt Jarvis, the rest of the team are built like tanks. The play is about as simple as it gets: pass the ball to Downing, who will charge down the left flank and lob the ball in for Andy Carroll to either head towards goal or knock down for the charging Kevin Nolan.

So what’s the problem? Well, there are 3 problems really, as far as Liverpool are concerned.

Problem 1: Big Sam’s Bus

Firstly, West Ham aren’t a team that top 8 teams have been able to simply walk all over. In their last 10 games, they have managed to get a 0-0 draw over Chelsea, aAi??3-1 win over Southampton, and a 1-0 loss to Everton where they kept it goalless for 80 minutes. What will also worry Liverpool is that West Ham are more than happy to cede possession,Ai??sit back and defend deep. Most of the teams that Liverpool have slaughtered this season have been the ones that don’t park the bus and try to get on the ball and attack. If Big Sam decides to set his team up for a 0-0, the man who out ‘Mourinho-ed’ Jose Mourinho could just manage to keep the Liverpool attack at bay.

Problem 2: Muscle Power & Skrtel Madness

Martin Skrtel (left, Liverpool defender) and Kolo Toure (right, Liverpool defender) | — Skrtel keeps forgetting you only swap shirts at the end of a game

Liverpool’s defence is really the only part of their game that has been criticised this season. Assuming the centre-back pairing of Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel persists, they both have their own issues. Agger is not the same defender he was 3 years ago. He’s not as dominating in the air, and it will worry Liverpool that the defensive zone he protects is one which will be attacked by three of West Ham’s strongest players: Carroll, Nolan and Mohamed Diame. All three are capable of out-muscling Agger, and will readily take him well out of his comfort zone to force an error.

Martin Skrtel, on the other hand, is walking penalty threat when faced with physically stronger opposition. When marking from set pieces, or when tracking an attacker who is physically robust, Skrtel has time and again resorted to shirt grabbing. He was lucky to get away with it a number of times, till luck finally caught up with him in the 4-3 win against Swansea City. He grabbed Wilfried Bony’s shirt to stop him from getting at the end of a ball in the penalty box, and was rightly awarded a penalty. He’s toned down this aspect of his game since then, but there’s no telling whether he’ll regress when marking Andy Carroll. Fact is, Carroll is going to be more than a handful during set-pieces and from crosses, and Skrtel might just have another moment of madness.

Problem 3: Carroll and Downing

Andy Carroll could trouble Man United! — Andy Carroll would be out to prove a point

Confidence and motivation go a long way in football. Just ask Fernando Torres. And there are very few things that get players as fired up as facing a former employer, especially one that sent you packing after deeming you surplus to requirements. Liverpool’s own Daniel Sturridge always has some extra zing in his step whenever he plays Manchester City or Chelsea. So it’s a little worrying that two of West Ham’s best players are former employees, both of whom were shipped off by manager Brendan Rodgers himself.

Rodgers has again shown his intelligence by stating pre-match that Andy Carroll is “one of the best players in Europe in how he plays”, and Downing was “a very important member” of the Liverpool side last season. But this may not be enough to stop the English duo from wanting to make a point by putting Ai??the ball in the back of the Liverpool’s net.

No Room For Complacency

All in all, this really shouldn’t be the toughest of outings for Liverpool, as long as they show the same kind of form they have retained in recent games. If they decide to take it easy against a perceived weaker opposition, West Ham and Sam Allardyce certainly have the means to punish them and steal a point or three.

Liverpool FC – Why West Ham Are A Far Tougher Opponent Than Tottenham

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