Three Things We Learnt From West Ham United Vs Liverpool – This Team Can Grind Results Too

Liverpool went one stage closer to being crowned the Premier League champions come May and although it was not a fluent free flowing Liverpool that we are so accustomed to, it was a gritty Liverpool side which took home the three points today. With the pressure of both the title rivals picking up maximum points the stage was there for Liverpool to show the world that there is no weak underbelly in this Liverpool side and Brendan Rodger’s side did just that. While the match was marred in dodgy referring decisions, Steven Gerrard’s two penalties meant that Liverpool walk away from East London with the best chance of winning the Premier League in the last two decades. The three things we learnt from this match are as follows:

1.Liverpool looks to have the grit that sides need to win the Premier League:

Gerrard

For seasons on at an end we have all witnessed Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams winning ugly game after game at the business end of the season. In fact it is common knowledge that to win titles a team needs to win ugly. For the better part of the season Liverpool were winning by playing some beautiful football. However now at the last laps of the Premier League race, the Merseyside team has started grinded out results which was not possible from them even a season ago. In fact West Ham United played splendidly on the night and it was just Liverpool’s doggedness which saw them through. These are the kinds of matches teams looking to win the Premier League needs to win.

2. Liverpool know when to be pragmatic:

Today at the end of the game with five minutes remaining, Liverpool took off Daniel Sturridge to bring on Kolo Toure to make it five at the back to counter anything the home side might throw at the end. After having played the best football in the league by a country mile, Brendan Rodgers is ready to improvise with his defensive tactics too at this late stage of the season. After all Brendan Rodgers knows that he cannot out muscle and outscore his way to three points in every match. In a tight match where West Ham were just as good as Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers decided to give West Ham the respect they deserved and went with five at the back which ultimately resulted in the three points.

3. Lady luck seems to be on Liverpool’s corner:

Inspite of all the tenacity and doggedness shown by Liverpool there cannot be any denying the fact that Liverpool were extremely lucky on the day. Scoring both penalties, where one was definitely not a penalty and even the other one was very soft and could easily have been not given just highlights the fact how much Liverpool were lucky today. On top of that a legitimate goal was chalked off from West Ham United’s score sheet which really should have stood. With the luck Liverpool enjoyed today it would not be entirely unfair to say that perhaps lady luck is in Liverpool’s corner this season.