When you look at this West Ham United side now third in the Premier League table you see strong characters, honest pros willing to take responsibility. You see young Ben Johnson standing up to Sadio Mane, Kurt Zouma rising high to head clear Liverpool crosses and then soaring to head in what proved West Ham’s winner.
You see Declan Rice controlling midfield, sitting deep, picking off Liverpool passes, then picking his own passes, sweeping the ball left and right, urging West Ham full backs forwards. You see Jarrod Bowen riding challenges, keeping his balance and his focus and then delivering the pass of the match through to Pablo Fornals for West Ham’s second. You see Michail Antonio tireless in attack, causing constant alarm in Liverpool’s defence and creating space for his team-mates. Others contributed, too, not least Craig Dawson stepping off the bench and into the fray, just the type of warrior-pro that Moyes knows he can rely on. And Dawson immediately threw himself into the mission of thwarting Liverpool.
Ultimately, you see that West Ham players reflect their manager, Moyes, a hard-working, grounded football man. There are no egos in claret and blue, just good characters. Mark Noble, the club captain, embodies that. So does the current team captain, Rice, an established England international who would walk into any midfield in the country, yet is as down to earth as they come.
Where some players elsewhere copy-and-paste club-approved messages on social media, Rice types out his own heartfelt, emoji-filled posts, including a celebratory picture of him and a beaming Tomas Soucek, his midfield accomplice, after this famous win.
These are Moyes’ men, a team united, following their manager’s instructions perfectly. Moyes, who celebrated his 1,000th game as a manager on Thursday, was managing against Liverpool for the 36th time and this was only his sixth win, and it felt so sweet that he celebrated Zouma’s goal with a jig on the touchline. It was hardly the Dashing White Sergeant but his joy and pride were understandable. He certainly had Liverpool reeling. Moyes and his staff drill the players extensively on set-pieces and two of their goals came from corners. His tactics of a low block and countering also paid off.
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Liverpool’s dreams of setting a club record of 26 professional games without defeat, beating the mark set under Bob Paisley in 1982, went up in a swirl of bubbles. Jurgen Klopp’s side were below par, failing to switch play with their usual freedom and pace, but that was partly down to West Ham’s prodigious work-rate. Liverpool also counted the cost of a rare off afternoon by Alisson, their usually outstanding and reliable keeper, culpable in varying degrees for all three West Ham goals. For all the disappointment surrounding Liverpool’s performance and the result they are only four points off the leaders, Chelsea.
West Ham are only three points off Chelsea. For the watching Czech billionaire, Daniel Kretinsky, here was a perfect advertisement for the club he is considering investing in. The atmosphere was good, overcoming the distance from the pitch, and the team were very good.
Their hunger and character was evident from the start. When Trent Alexander-Arnold was caught upfield after four minutes, Antonio sped down the left, and even though Virgil van Dijk managed to close him down it came at the cost of a corner.
As Fornals curled the ball in, Angelo Ogbonna ran towards the goalline, then checked back. Alisson leapt, trying to rise above Ogbonna to reach the ball. The Brazilian stretched out a hand but was unable to make sufficiently strong contact and the ball continued into the net. Alisson sat on the ground, holding his hands up in a mix of disbelief and supplication for some intervention by the officials. He clearly believed he was impeded by Ogbonna.
VAR checked for a possible foul to widespread boos, then checked for a possible handball and then Pawson simply pointed to the halfway line, signalling a goal. Correct decision. Jurgen Klopp was furious afterwards, but Ogbonna was simply following the flight of the ball. Liverpool failed to track him. Alisson was too diffident in trying to reach the ball. Ogbonna is not duty-bound to move out of the way.
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Pawson could then easily have dismissed two players. Aaron Cresswell flew in on Henderson, his studs catching the Liverpool captain’s right knee. VAR checked for serious foul play. All eyes turned to the big screens. Decision? No red card. Then Ogbonna took an elbow from Diogo Jota just underneath his eye. Pawson deemed it accidental but West Ham complaints were understandable.
West Ham appeared happy simply to contain and almost made half-time with lead intact. Then Mo Salah went down fairly easily between Rice and Cresswell. Alexander-Arnold lined up the free-kick, just outside the D, slightly right of centre with Salah standing two yards away. Lukasz Fabianski lined up his wall, a human barricade of Cresswell, Antonio, Zouma, Dawson, Soucek, Rice and Bowen. Fornals assumed the draught-excluder position.
Alexander-Arnold touched the ball to Salah, who stopped it, allowing the right back to whip it over the wall, clearing the jumping Rice and Bowen, and in close to the post. Fabianski was six yards away, staring in frustration as the damage was done.
West Ham continued to thwart Liverpool.
Dawson blocked Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shot. Zouma stopped Jota’s pass reaching Salah. Johnson was too strong for Mane.
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As the clock showed 67 minutes, Fabinho tried to drive a low ball through to Mane but Dawson read it. Rice flicked it on, and Fornals found Bowen, who raced away from Fabinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Joel Matip stepped towards him, trying to bar his path but Bowen calmly released the ball through to Fornals and took the compliment of Matip running vainfully into him. Alisson managed to get a hand to Fornal’s shot but it was too weak, and the ball carried on into the net.
Seven minutes later, West Ham struck again. Antonio forced a corner from Van Dijk which Bowen curled towards the back-post. Mane failed to keep with Zouma, always a mismatch anyway, and Alexander-Arnold was a mere spectator. Zouma rose and headed back across, through Alisson’s raised hands, and in.
Liverpool did manage to pull a goal back with eight minutes remaining. Divock Origi, who had just replaced Jota, turned, flicking the ball to follow him and then drove his shot past Fabianski. But West Ham, showing all their character, deservedly saw the game out.
