0 voters
Unused Subs: Adrian, Minamino, N Williams, R Williams
Mo SALAH 42’
Diogo JOTA 85’
Sub: 
Shaqiri 
Jones
Sub: Jota Firmino
Sub: Milner Salah
Never in doubt.
Trick or treat? That was the question on everybody’s lips this evening and Jürgen treated us to a much-changed lineup, giving Nat Phillips his first Premier League start and Curtis Jones only his second. West Ham had only won one of their previous 47 games at Anfield and David Moyes had yet to beat the Reds at their fortress in 16 attempts. Three points in the bag, surely?
A weak clearing header by Gomez (why did he stoop to head the ball when he could’ve just wellied it?) fell to Fornals on the edge of the box and his shot crept in off Alisson’s right hand post. Once again, our opponents had taken an early lead at Anfield. I know that Scousers have a reputation as generous hosts but this is getting ridiculous.
Still, we had plenty of time to turn things around, and came close when Henderson steered the ball narrowly wide in the 25th minute. I’m not quite sure how Mané’s being bundled over in the penalty area by Cresswell- with the defender making no attempt whatsoever to play the ball- isn’t a penalty, but the refs seem to have it in for us again this season.
Robbo volleyed over from Mané’s deep cross ten minutes later and Trent blasted a free kick (awarded for far less than the earlier challenge on Sadio in the box) into the wall before Salah’s quick feet lured Masuaku into a clumsy trip; this time, the penalty was awarded (by the linesman, not the referee) and Mo drilled it straight down the middle to level the scores.
Parity at the break, then, and it was the Hammers who had the first decent chance of the second half, with Fornals unable to connect properly with Masuaku’s pull-back and Alisson making a comfortable save. After we created the sum total of fuck all, Klopp decided to haul off Jones and Bobby (yet another poor game from him) on the 70-minute mark; Jota and Shaqiri, both of whom played well midweek, came on to freshen things up.
The switch to 4-2-3-1, with Salah spearheading the attack, almost yielded immediate results but our Egyptian King wasn’t quite able to find the top corner from Sadio’s setup. A few minutes later, Jota found the back of the net after Fabianski parried Mané’s shot and, after an on-field review, it came as absolutely no surprise to see the goal chalked off for a supposed foul by Sadio on the ‘keeper.
Six minutes from the end, the two subs combined lethally, with Shaqs playing a wonderful weighted (and waited) ball to Jota, who lifted the ball past Fabianski with gusto. The only surprise was that the goal was not disallowed for Mané’s being in an offside position; the Senegalese star was not interfering with play but we get so many decisions against us that it would have come as no surprise had it been ruled offside.
Atalanta next then, followed by the title decider (well, it will be according to Sky’s hype machine) at the Empti(even more than usual)had next Sunday. Phillips did well today but isn’t in the Champions League squad, so it’ll probably be Matip or Williams next to Gomez against the Italians. Win that one and we’ll have one foot and three toes in the knockout rounds.
WOTM: Graziana Grassini. A rare venture to Italy today (the missus decided to make lasagne, so I opened an Italian wine) and what better than the delicious, almost ethereal 2015 Sassicaia? Dr Grassini, the consultant winemaker at this celebrated estate, is renowned for her ability to impart a delicate complexity to her wines and- stupid as this may sound to the uninitiated- you can almost taste the woman’s touch in this wine. Quite stupendous.
3 points, all that matters in the end. Our defence was really good for a change. Bar that one silly error, Gomez led the line pretty good thereafter. He came forward to clear a lot, very positive. So was Philips. Hardly put a foot wrong. One of my MotM for this game.
Hendo dictated the play beautifully. Jota and Shaqs were excellent after they came on. Mane very impressive as well. He is always willing to take on players and that return pass from Salah if made through after he carved their defense open might have been one of the best goals this season.
The pass from Shaq though, ah! The vision to make that pass. He’s such an amazing player when on song and fit. Jota has the be our best finisher at present, he’s so clinical!
Onwards and upwards!
Another routine win against var and the hammers. Onwards and upwards.
Stick that up yer bollox, VAR cunts.
Jota must take Bobbys place.
Shaq amazing again.
Take the 3 and never speak about the first 75minutes again.
Nat Philips take a bow. Absolute colossus.
Wonderful play from the subs for the goal. Jota is brilliant and Shaq is a very important part of this squad.
Huge win.
A piece of piss.
Well done Nat Phillips.
3 points.
Got the job done.
That’s all matters.
Nat philips man of the match.
Jota and powercube changed the game.
Hendo brilliant again.
Up the reds.
Buzzin after that great win great performance all round
3 points clear. Just like that.
How important did that win feel 
Jota a real 
Voted Hendo, Jota and Phillips, shame i had to miss Shaq out but Phillips did well especially for his first game. Hendo deserved it for that 1 pass alone and you ant leave Jota out. Deserved the win but seriously getting worried that VAR is chalking off so many goals. Mane was well entitled to go for that ball and whats the bet that if he did get a touch on it they would have ruled it out for offside instead. As Mascot said in game, the attacker has every right to go for that ball.
They tried to cheat us, but Jota would not be denied. Lovely pass Shaqiri, nice finish Jota too.
Philipps MOTM. He stood strong, won headers, was there when needed, including a nice header at the finish from their corner. Glad he’s still here and he looks like he might move up the pecking order a bit based on what we saw today.
VAR a disgrace. We have been very hard done by. We could have lost our mojo and drawn, or even lost, after that setback.
But no, we got the three points. Mentality monsters. Digging deep, overcoming obstacles. Lovely to see.
YYEEESSS
Again without being brilliant, our lads managed to increase the quality of their game, and finished really well, also thanks to Shaq and Jota who managed to create and score two brilliant goals, one of which was unjustly taken away by Kevin f****** Friend (what a surprise, eh?).
Nat Phillips one of the big winners, so he goes on my list of MoM, alongside the two subs who really turned the game in our favour.
Top of the league, well done! 
Fuckin’ get in! What a thoroughly satisfying win.
I think it speaks really well for the coaching staff that we’ve had 2 young players come in at centreback and done well. Both Williams and Phillips today looked like they’ve been in the team for years and never looked out of place. Neither of them may have the skillset of VVD, but as long as we play to their strengths (aerially both of them are very decent, and both seem at ease with the ball at their feet), we should certainly do just fine. Phillips looked very solid today and in fact I think he is one of my 3 MOMs (with Hendo and Gini).
The VAR decisions evened themselves out for me. The penalty might not have been given, and Jota’s disallowed goal seemed understandable on replay. I’d take one goal out of the 2 decisions, and luckily it turned out to be enough.
The Shaq has now won 2 games for us in a week. Another game-winning incisive pass, just wow. I think, if not for his fitness (and possibly unsuitability to our pressing game) he would certainly be playing a lot more than he is now. Certainly his class is without question, what an amazing pass.
We’ll get through this difficult stretch yet, top of the table is never a bad place to be. YNWA!
Gritty win but even when down I felt that we were in control, not our best performance but deserved winners on the base of the second half. Phillips was doubted by many, myself included, but he and Diogo as my co-men of the match. As I said before, what an absolute snip by the recruitment team the latter is, particularly great because everyone was talking about how Thiago was the one we needed since we didn’t go for Werner, then Jota was like the Fabinho signing where it just happened with no advance notice. What an excellent character he is, I really do feel like he has the potential to improve like Mané under Klopp.