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West Ham United 1-4 Liverpool
Goals: Mohammad Salah 21' 76', Joel Matip 24', Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 56'; Lanzini 55'
It was a stroll in the park for Jurgen Klopp and his men as Liverpool brushed West Ham United aside to a comfortable 4-1 win. Mohamed Salah opened the scoring with a counter-attack as fast as lightning and Joel Matip doubled the scoring three minutes later.
Manuel Lanzini pulled one back after the break but Oxlade-Chamberlain scored almost immediately to grab his first league goal for Liverpool.
Salah then scored his second of the night and inflicted more pressure on the Hammers. This win took Liverpool to sixth in the table, level with Chelsea and Arsenal on 19 points, whereas West Ham are just one place above the relegation zone.
On that note, here are the five talking points from Liverpool's comfortable win over the hapless Hammers:
#5 The Superman(e) returns
When Sadio Mane was named in the starting lineup by the Reds, it looked like a surprising move by Klopp with the wide man returning to training after his long hamstring injury layoff on Thursday. Out since October, Mane did a miraculous recovery weeks before his expected return and started the game for Liverpool at the Olympics stadium.
He immediately brought in a positive impact to Liverpool's forward play with his directness and speed lacking in the previous weeks. Mane's gut bustling run in the first half created the first goal where the Senegalese hitman ran almost 70 yards to finish off a brilliant counter-attack, gifting Salah a goal on a platter.
Two assists on the night and Mane is back for the Reds continuing his hot streak. Liverpool look like a totally different outfit going forward with Sadio Mane in the squad, which reflects his influence on this side. More than Salah's goals and Coutinho's creativity, it is Mane's directness which makes this Liverpool side a dangerous side.
#4 Time bomb ticking, Mr Bilic
Having played 50 times for West Ham, Slaven Bilic enjoys a good relationship with the fans and the players alike. The bad form has always followed Bilic in his stint as the Hammers manager but the Liverpool defeat was different. The team was booed at halftime and even more vigorously at the final whistle which tells you about the current mood at the club.
West Ham owners have been patient with the Croatian but soon enough, David Sullivan and David Gold have to take the final call on Bilic's future. The team does not look like improving from the previous games and the progress of this team has been completely stagnated.
Against Liverpool, the Hammers looked devoid of a plan until Andy Carroll was introduced. Though the hosts made glaring individual errors, the team wasn't set up to take on Liverpool against their weaknesses. How else can you explain West Ham's strategy of leaving just Aaron Cresswell behind on a corner against one of the fastest sides in the world?
#3 Mo Salah shines yet again
Another game another goal for Mohamed Salah. What a start to the season for a player who was once termed as a Chelsea reject! His double against West Ham takes his club tally to 12 goals in 17 matches - a fine start to life at Merseyside.
Frankly, Salah could have scored at least 4 against the Hammers - that's how many chances he got as he missed his hattrick by a small margin.
His first of the night was down to his sheer pace as he and Mane combined to perfection to finish a blistering move. Salah scored his second in the final quarter of the game and it was a special one. Again combining with Mane, Salah hit a powerful shot, contrary to his usual technique and beat Joe Hart at the far post.
Salah did not give defenders any time to think with his passing and movement being absolutely top class. He looked ever so calm with possession in the final third, a trait seen in very few players around the world. Salah is on a brilliant run at the point and looks to be the 25-goal-a-season player which Liverpool have lacked in recent times.
#2 Manuel Lanzini - the only shining light for West Ham United
There were talks of Manuel Lanzini being the replacement for Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool but both sides managed to keep their top stars on their roster. Against the Reds, Lanzini was West Ham's best player on the field and looked a class apart than his teammates showing just why Liverpool were interested in him.
Other than his well-taken goal, he was involved in every meaningful West Ham attack and looked assured in possession.
For his goal, Lanzini handled the physicality of Joe Gomez smartly and beat him to take the ball on his chest and then flick it beyond Simon Mignolet. It was a beautiful goal by the Argentine and he should have had another, a few moments later but missed it by a very fine distance.
Lanzini is West Ham's go-to player and his absence for the beginning of the season due to a knee injury made the Hammers look one-dimensional which also coincided with them losing their first three matches. If Bilic stays or a new man comes in, it is imperative for West Ham to build a strategy around Lanzini and have him the lion share of the ball to save them from the relegation scrap.
#1 Klopp's tactical switch pays off
Despite a good run in Europe, Liverpool have struggled domestically. But the West Ham game reflected that Jurgen Klopp is working out different methods to bring out the best from this Liverpool side. There were surprises to this Reds team right from its lineup.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane made a surprising come back into the playing eleven with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain getting his first league start in midfield.
The initial assessment was that Liverpool will lineup in a traditional 4-3-3 formation with Emre Can sitting deep in Jordan Henderson's absence. But in reality, it was a mixture of 4-4-2 and 4-2-4 which was displayed by the Reds.
The back four and Emre Can sat deep whereas the front three along with Wijnaldum and Chamberlain interchanged positions at will and were performing in a free-roaming role.
Bilic's ploy to man-mark Mane and Salah failed straightaway as the interchangeability made them impossible to mark. This fluidity produced a different looking Liverpool side where the fullbacks stayed deeper than usual to help out a low on confidence defence whereas the front five rotated to wreck havoc.
This strategy will work best against teams that sit deep as the free roaming role to the attackers gives the opposition far less time to think and make a decision.
