West Ham (H) - Sat 5th Mar 2022 (5:30pm)

[Trumo]

A Saturday evening slot is better that being asked to play after City have played again. As it’s the Manc derby, it was always going to be scheduled as Sky’s big game of the weekend. Plus, we have a Champions League game on Tuesday so other than Saturday 3pm, 5:30pm is the best available slot scheduling-wise. One reason why City were able to build up a lead is that they were playing before us game after game so we were always playing catch-up. That was something we had to deal with in 2018/19 as well. That season we racked up a then-club record of 97 points and still fell short. Dickhead fans and bantz merchants revelled in the fact we “failed”, completely ignoring that our points total was more than enough to win the league every year bar that and the previous one, when financial doped FFP-floating UEFA-threatening City could do whatever they wanted. Anyway, West Ham then:

 

Jizz-inducing football. Energy. Luck. Liveliness. Intensity. Effort. Drive. Exuberance. Electricity. Love of the game. Style.

 

I don’t ask for much.

 

Last season’s fixture saw the Reds bounce back from an early Fornals goal to claim the 3 points at Anfield. Mo got booted in the box far more firmly than Robbo on Welbeck in the Brighton game (though that didn’t stop the pundits cry-arsing about Mo supposedly being a diver), and he got up to convert the spot kick shortly before half time. As the game approached full time, Diogo ran through to slot the ball past Fabianski. He’d been denied a goal a bit earlier when VAR chalked it off for a foul by Sadio on the goalkeeper.

 

October 1967 saw the Reds beat the Hammers 3-1. This was the West Ham side of Moore, Peters and Hurst so they had a smattering of quality, and had won both the FA Cup and the Cup-Winners’ Cup in previous seasons. League-wise they were still West Ham so never part of a title challenge. Two goals by Saint and one by the Anfield Iron put Liverpool in complete control, with West Ham’s Martin Peters grabbing a consolation. Can’t find footage or even a match report, so here’s the team line-ups from the matchday programme.

 

https://www.lfchistory.net/images/programme.covers/1967-68/MatchProgramme_Lineups-1967-10-14-WestHam.jpeg

 

Mid-October 1967 saw the box office dominated by the big screen portraying of America’s most famous Great Depression era criminal couple, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. It’s called Bonnie and Clyde, in case you hadn’t guessed. Arthur Penn directed this criminal caper which starred Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the titular couple. It laced humour with some startling brutality for its time (only Sam Peckinpah was as overt about depicting violence in his films back then), not least when showing the demise of the pair. Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers ramps things up a notch but you can see how Penn’s 1967 film influenced it. The film starred Gene Hackman as Clyde’s brother, and is notable also for being Gene Wilder’s film debut. It’s a very good film but, violence aside, very much of its late 60s era. Bonnie and Clyde, for all their obviously heinous crime, remain popular in much the same way as Tony Montana in Scarface. Protagonists that are arseholes.

 

 

The West Ham game gives us the chance to close the points gap once more, even if only for 24 hours. Moyes has got them performing above expectations this season. It’s not so long ago when West Ham were staring relegation in the face. Covid hit and their owners were all about null and void to preserve their top flight status. They’ve done very well since then, and beat us earlier in the season when we were distinctly below par. Right that wrong, show the correct level of attitude and application, and just get the 3 points. Keep approaching every game like that, and see where it leaves us at the end of the season.

[aRdja]

Alisson; Trent, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Keita, Thiago; Salah, Diaz, Mane

[magicrat]

Thiago is injured 

[Creator Supreme]

We'll lose!

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Klopp has managed the squad magnificently in the last couple of months (which is much more enjoyable than the "if you're fit, you're playing" situation we had for much of last season). I expect him to be able to field a team that's sharp enough and hungry enough to match anything West Ham can throw at us. They're a decent side, but we're a very, very good side, so we should have too much for them.

 

Just get these beat, Reds.

[an tha]

Want these beat as payback for that loss at their ground earlier in season.....just something about that loss that really rankled.

[aRdja]

6 hours ago, magicrat said:

Thiago is injured 

Alisson; Trent, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Keita; Salah, Diaz, Mane

[rubble-rouser]

Naby and Jones struggling, no Matip.

[Pete]

Twat ‘em. 3 points, Move on. 

[Allan]

16 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

Naby and Jones struggling, no Matip.

Didn't really elaborate on Naby - Just said they were not sure on Naby. Pretty much the story of his time here.

 

Said Curtis isn't serious and could be OK, but more than likely misses West Ham.

 

Matip is not available due to illness - Klopp confirmed it's not covid.

 

No Bobby either - Looking good and could be back to full team training on Sunday.

 

Thiago definitely out for the West Ham game.

 

Offal

 

Thiago continues to be sidelined with the hamstring issue he sustained during the warm-up for the Carabao Cup final, while Matip is suffering from illness. 

 

Curtis Jones and Naby Keita will be assessed ahead of Saturday's 5.30pm GMT kick-off at Anfield. 

 

Roberto Firmino, meanwhile, is closing in on a return to full training after his muscle issue. 

Klopp told a press conference: “So, you’re right, strength in depth is really important, no doubt about that, especially when you have to play different competitions. But we have players who are not available. 

 

“I'm pretty sure that nobody will tell me differently because yesterday he didn't train, Thiago will not be available for tomorrow. 

 

“Curtis is not bad but if it is good enough to go again tomorrow, I don't know. 

 

“Joel Matip is ill – no COVID, nowadays you can be ill in different ways as well – so he will not be available. 

 

“So all of a sudden, we played a tough game midweek, all these kind of things, so we still wait a little bit for who is how in which moment. So from eight midfielders – Naby we don’t know – to four midfielders in a week, that can happen easily. 

 

“So it's not nothing as well that we, like, enjoy, ‘Oh my god, we have the full choice.' You have the full choice one day and then the other days you don't have it. 

 

“So we have to make sure that we stay as fit as possible because we have a lot of games to play in these upcoming months.”

 

He added: “Naby was not in the squad on Wednesday. Bobby is looking good but not good enough for the weekend. I think the plan is that he trains on Sunday, first time. That sounds then doable for Tuesday.”

[AngryOfTuebrook]

26 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

Naby and Jones struggling, no Matip.

Konaté might be a better option against these gronks anyway.

[Megadrive Man]

Ali, TAA, VVD, Konate, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott, Mane, Jota, Salah.

[Jordy Brouwer]

5 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

Ali, TAA, VVD, Konate, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott, Mane, Jota, Salah.

Agreed except I'd play Diaz instead of Jota because he should be fresher. 

[Salou]

Klopp talking about Bowen again in the build up and what a fantastic signing he's been.

[an tha]

Fully fit squad lasted about 3 days!

[lebron]

30 minutes ago, an tha said:

Fully fit squad lasted about 3 days!

Ha-ha, so true!

 

We'll still be able to send out a fantastic side, but having no Thiago again worries me a bit. Curtis and Naby are better suited to playing the left sided 8, but I guess we'll go with Hendo, Fabinho and Elliott as the 3 from right to left. Only other question is who of the front 4 is left out. I think I'd go with Mane as the striker again, with Jota on the bench. Let him prove his fitness first.

[an tha]

23 minutes ago, lebron said:

Ha-ha, so true!

 

We'll still be able to send out a fantastic side, but having no Thiago again worries me a bit. Curtis and Naby are better suited to playing the left sided 8, but I guess we'll go with Hendo, Fabinho and Elliott as the 3 from right to left. Only other question is who of the front 4 is left out. I think I'd go with Mane as the striker again, with Jota on the bench. Let him prove his fitness first.

About right that

[diamondjoe]

Getting in early to call Martin Tyler a cunt before some other cunt does.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

You don't have to call Martin Tyler a cunt for him to be a cunt, but he is a cunt.

[m0e]

Elliot won't start this

[3 Stacks]

Don't love the #vibes around this game, to be honest. Lot of short term injuries and some uncertainty in midfield. It's good that it's at Anfield. I think we may need the crowd.

[jonnyp]

12 hours ago, an tha said:

Fully fit squad lasted about 3 days!

Yes, but it was a glorious era in whose glow we all eagerly basked.

[Bob]

One of my best mates is an Iron and we’ve reached an agreement that if we win comfortably with no scares, but they don’t get any injuries and their goal difference doesn’t get too much of a hit we’re both happy.

 

just trying to get that through to Moyes and Klopp to let them know we’ve sorted it.

[Bobby Hundreds]

A must win and every other cliche. They're a tough side but we have ambitions of being one of the greatest sides. The players should be up to fight for every single ball, every single game. Someone send thiago to a mad scientist who can toughen up his weak arse body give him some captain America juice. 

[Daisy]

Crowd needs to be up for this. Utter wank again for Norwich game