After an impressive second half performance at Anfield, West Ham somehow managed to come away with nothing on Wednesday. There were some standout individual performances as the Hammers went toe-to-toe with Jürgen Klopp’s team for periods and, though the team didn’t manage to secure the right result, the team showing will have given David Moyes much to build on.
Łukasz Fabiański – 9
Another really impressive performance from Fabiański who was sharp off his line twice to deny Mohamed Salah after repelling a couple of fantastic Darwin Nuñez efforts in the first half. He could do nothing about the winning goal.
Ben Johnson – 5
This was one of Johnson’s weakest performances in some time as he was moved back out to right-back after featuring in a back three against Southampton last Sunday. He struggled to deal with Fabio Carvalho’s movement drawing his protection away and leaving him in a 1v1 battle with Kostas Tsimikas and could’ve done a lot better for the goal – he completely failed to close the left-back down and allowed him to whip in an inch-perfect cross for Nuñez. There was some improvement late in the game as he advanced up the pitch to support the team’s attempts to salvage a point but this was a disappointing outing overall.
Kurt Zouma – 6
Zouma was far less active than his centre-back partner and was generally okay without impressing. He was somewhat fortunate to see a crucial intervention from a Jordan Henderson cutback bounce off the top of his own crossbar.
Thilo Kehrer – 4
While Kehrer impressed at times with the ball, his defensive work left an awful lot to be desired. He won just one of his three aerial duels and got torn to shreds by Salah after the Egyptian was moved into a central striking role for the final 30 minutes of the match.
Aaron Cresswell – 8
Cresswell continues to impress at the back as his positive work in possession provides an excellent platform for those ahead and, though there were a couple of cheap giveaways in the second half, he was largely brilliant again on Wednesday night. Easily the standout defender, Cresswell handled Salah perfectly and recovered to make an outstanding block to deny Roberto Firmino a tap-in in the second half. He perhaps should’ve come away with an assist too as Kehrer failed to nod in a perfect delivery late in the first half.
Flynn Downes – 8
Playing in an unfamiliar right-midfield role in the first half, Downes coped admirably and was central to the pressing that won Moyes’ side ten high turnovers – his 19 pressures were the joint-most of any West Ham player and second only to Fabio Carvalho (28) for the match. Carvalho was difficult enough to control in that first period but Downes’ job in the second half was arguably even more challenging as he was shifted forwards into a number ten position to man-mark Thiago and stop Liverpool’s Spanish quarterback from having such a significant impact on the game. To Downes’ credit, he did that job brilliantly and was only hooked to allow Michail Antonio to come on as West Ham chased the game late on. An excellent full Premier League debut.
Tomáš Souček – 6
Souček struggled in possession as time was limited on the ball under Liverpool’s press and he was overwhelmed by Carvalho’s movement with the Portuguese attacking midfielder drifting into central areas from the left. This left Souček unsure as to which angles to cover or who to press and made him a little too easy to play through early in the game. Despite this, he was typically busy in the middle and made a number of crucial tackles and interceptions alongside 19 pressures with a respectable 37% success.
Declan Rice – 9
Putting in a truly exceptional individual performance in the second half, Rice certainly didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. The stats speak for themselves again as Rice played seven (team high) passes to the final third, maintained 96% passing accuracy (match high) while playing 16 long passes (team high) – 15 of which were successful. His carrying was incredible as he progressed the ball 178 yards (78 yards further than the next best West Ham player) and his defensive work didn’t slip at all with 17 recoveries (match high) and six blocks (match high). When Rice plays like this, you could honestly reel off most of the recorded statistics and he would come out somewhere near the top. He completely dominated the midfield at Anfield for an extended stretch and this is hugely impressive.
Pablo Fornals – 5
Had Fornals been at it in the opening period of the match, Moyes’ side could’ve taken the lead as Liverpool faltered under pressure and played without the necessary incisiveness and quality to truly take control of the match. The Spaniard was likely included for his defensive qualities and his ability to play sharp line-breaking passes when the ball is turned over but he struggled to carry out these duties and continually turned possession over in the first half. He did improve significantly after the break but was rightly substituted in the 61st minute to make way for Saïd Benrahma.
Jarrod Bowen – 7
Although he missed a penalty and had less impact in the second half, there were still some huge positives to take out of this match for Bowen. Slotted into the side as a second-striker in a 442, Bowen often dropped deeper than Gianluca Scamacca to pick up possession and drive the team forward. His ability to receive, spin, and keep his body between defenders and the ball is crucial to the effectiveness of West Ham’s counters without Michail Antonio in the starting lineup and Bowen performed this role fantastically here.
Gianluca Scamacca – 5
Lifted by his pressing and positioning out of possession, this was an otherwise poor performance from Scamacca that did nothing to resolve questions over his ability to lead the line when service is limited and offensive threat is reduced to counter-attacks. Most disappointingly, the Italian failed to lift his game alongside his teammate in the sections of the second half where West Ham were able to take control. His movement was extremely laboured and left others without options and he will look back on a couple of opportunities after Antonio’s introduction with regret.
Saïd Benrahma – 8
Wednesday gave us another excellent substitute appearance from Benrahma who came on and drove at Trent Alexander-Arnold to create a couple of brilliant openings late in the game. The Algerian may have done better when Rice’s cross landed at his feet just a few yards out but his engineering of space on the left deserves real praise as he seems to have found much-improved balance and use of his two-footedness which is enabling his productivity to increase significantly.
