Most goalless stalemates are the product of teams cancelling each other out, or highly defensive contests, or just stern midfield battles. Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with West Ham on Sunday, however, was one of the more unusual goalless draws.
We started a 4-3-3, presumably to add an additional body in midfield. The team naturally lined up with Agger and Carragher flanking Lucas at the back. The fullbacks, Johnson and Enrique bombed on – with the latter dropping back often to cover space – and we had Henderson and Gerrard in the middle recycling possession, with Henderson pushing forward often.
Goalless at half time saw us go into the second half with the same defensive set up, but the forward line was significantly supplemented with Gerrard bursting forward on the right, and Henderson and Suarez playing just behind Daniel Sturridge, who came on in the first half for the injured Stewart Downing.
For 90 minutes there was only one team in it: we threw everything we had at West Ham with no end product.
The issues raised in this particular game were firstly the complete lack of composure and patience Liverpool have in the final third. The limited space in front of West Ham’s compact and narrow defence meant a cool head was needed by midfielders to make the best pass. Of course, the best passes to forwards were made by Coutinho and Gerrard. Jordan Henderson, it must be said, appeared to lack enough creative spark to carve open the defence with a pass. Henderson’s touch also looked off, and it has to be said his performance off the ball was far superior to his performance in possession.
The other issue that was even more glaring was our complete waste of set-pieces. Of the 12 corners we had, none of them particularly disturbed West Ham, and we seem totally out of ideas when taking set-pieces in general, unless they are direct free-kicks.
In our credit, Rodgers’ tactics meant that a usual problem that has plagued our season – the lack of physicality in midfield – was not a factor in this game. Our closing-down was impeccable, and the maintenance of our extremely high defensive line was done admirably.
We really did perform as a team against West Ham, and all our players did seem to perform.
What this result does not call for, however, is a plan B. A result such as this one, where we controlled the game and created chances does not imply that we need to begin working on a new style of play where we utilize a different philosophy. Such a thought is ridiculous in light of the fact that we could have – and thoroughly deserved to – won that game very comfortably.
It is disappointing, but for the first time this season it is not down to our performance: the players and the game plan were superb. Bar his first half mistake, Lucas was outstanding in winning the ball and laying off simple passes. There were enough triangles in midfield to get a tempo going thanks to very good movement from midfielders and fullbacks.
This is football: you don’t always get what you deserve. Hopefully the issue of composure and perhaps new ideas at how to create clearer chances against a firm defence can come into contention.
Follow Kerushun on Twitter @_kpil
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