It’s nice to know that West Ham United boss Sam Allardyce feels Liverpool’s pain. On the back of a tough Champions League fixture on Tuesday, the Reds travel to the Boleyn Ground this weekend hoping to get their league campaign back on track after losing out to Aston Villa at home last Saturday.
After five seasons away from Europe’s most prestigious club competition, the upswing in both matches and the quality of their opponents could very well comes as a shock to the Merseysiders after enjoying a far less cluttered fixture list over the last couple of seasons. Playing in Europe midweek and then in the league on the weekend is hard for even top sides — a problem that Allardyce himself knows well enough.
“Aston Villa caught Liverpool on a bad day. That’s not taking anything away from Villa’s terrific performance, they were excellent. But I think Liverpool had the Champions League on their mind after several years away from it,” explained the Hammers boss in his pre-match press conference. “It depends on the squad Brendan has assembled. On past history of playing teams after they’ve played in Europe, and having taken Bolton into Europe I know how hard it can be.”
While it’s a bit laughable to hear Allardyce expound on his European pedigree, he’s certainly not wrong and the Irons won’t be the only club that’ll try to capitalize on Liverpool’s fatigue or lack of focus following their forays in the Champions League. “If we can seek out any advantage we will do, from our part we’ll concentrate on things within in our power and that is making sure we play well to the best of our abilities” he continued. “We obviously focus on tactical awareness of the opposition but first and foremost we must play to our strengths.”
Where exactly those strengths lie remains to be seen. The Hammers have won only twice in their last ten league matches, though the attacking duo of Enner Valencia — who scored a spectacular 25-yard strike on his first league start for his new side — and Diafra Sakho could play a major role in fixing that damning statistic. While it’ll certainly take time for both to adjust to the rigours of English football after making the move to London over the summer, Sakho has high hopes for both himself as well as his new club.
“I want to achieve things with West Ham and lots of them. I am super motivated and I’m going to give all that I possibly can to help the team” said the Senegalese striker in the build-up to the 2-2 draw with Hull City. “I feel good at the minute with everyone around me doing their utmost to see that I’m in the best shape possible” he continued before setting himself an ambitious target for the season. “It’s great to have scored on my home debut and hopefully you’ll see plenty more of that. Whenever I turn out at the Boleyn Ground, the minimum I’m aiming for is to score once.”
When you consider that the East London club found the net only 40-times over 38-games last season, one goal per match from anyone in a West Ham shirt would do them a world of difference — it doesn’t even have to be the same player. Liverpool’s defensive woes have been well documented, and though they’re expecting things to turn around as the new faces in the back-line settle in, this could very well be the perfect time for the Hammers to have a go. That is, as long as they don’t forget to keep things tight at the back as well.
Trying to criticize Allardyce’s defensive record sets up a pot, kettle, black situation with the stark reality that the 13th placed Hammers conceded only a solitary league goal more than 2nd placed Liverpool last season. While you try to wrap your head around that, you can also try to sort out exactly what Alex song is wearing in this picture and wonder to yourself if he’s the right man to protect his new sides rather fragile defenders.
The Reds were heavily linked with a loan move for the Barcelona man during the last days of the transfer window, but the sartorial nightmare chose the Boleyn Ground over Anfield and he’ll be looking to pick up some points when his former suitors come knocking this weekend. “There were lots of positives to take from Monday into the Liverpool and Manchester United games. We have to show the same attitude we did on Monday – we know they are hard games to play but we have nothing to lose” he told the clubs official website. “We will be working very hard in training to try and do something positive on Saturday.”
Even if they don’t pick up any points, hopefully that something positive results in the 27-year old sorting out something decent to wear. It shouldn’t be that much of a bother living in London…
–Steven
