The Reds earned their first win since early November, thanks to goals from Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo, although they remain in ninth place in the Premier League table. Isak scored his first league goal for Liverpool in the 60th minute. Gakpo’s last-gasp strike in the 92nd minute secured all three points, with West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta receiving a red card toward the end of the game.
The Reds now face a difficult home game against high-flying Sunderland and an away trip to Leeds United. Manager Arne Slot hopes his players can learn from their poor performance and continue their rise up the table, both domestically and in Europe, with the January transfer window approaching. Here is all the latest Anfield news.
Arne Slot dismisses Wirtz advice
Arne Slot ignored the performance staff’s request to bench Florian Wirtz ahead of the Reds’ 2-0 win over West Ham, according to the Mirror.
The midfielder may have given his best performance for Liverpool yet, working with Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Alexis MacAllister to create opportunities for the attacking line.
Slot revealed that his coaching staff advised against starting Wirtz due to his recent injury layoff, but the manager elected to add the German despite.
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Following the game, the Dutchman stated: “After a very positive performance by Florian, I can accept that, but I also want to emphasize that the team performance was far superior.
“We sought to create an extra midfielder, and he was critical to us finding that extra midfielder each time. He was good at dribbling and one-touch passing.
“He passed one ball to Cody, which did not result in a shot, but we had plenty of those moments, and he was a part of them.
“Performance staff were continually telling me ‘he needs to go out’ because he’d be away for one-and-a-half weeks and had only trained once, so keeping him on the team was potentially risky.
“But some situations ask for an exception, and today was one of them.”
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