While Liverpool trounced the Hammers and earned their fourth 3-1 victory of the season in all competitions, there is an inescapable sense that more work is required.
This is understandable given that the Merseyside club concluded the regular season with 47 goals conceded – only the joint-seventh-best record in the division.
Only Manchester City have shipped less goals in the Premier League than the Reds have so far, which is encouraging, but poor starts continue to threaten disruption, with West Ham appearing the better of the contending teams on Sunday afternoon until Mohamed Salah’s opening score.
The Athletic’s ever-optimistic James Pearce claimed after Jarrod Bowen’s headed equalizer before the interval that it was “too slow and predictable,” yet he was correct in adding that the away team were rightly level.
Darwin Nunez’s delightful volley from an equally delicious looping through ball from Alexis Mac Allister reclaimed the lead in the 60th minute, before substitute Diogo Jota added to the lead with a close-range effort following Virgil van Dijk’s knockdown.
While Liverpool’s offensive guile and fluidity were on full show, one of the standout performers was a defender. Joe Gomez, who was chastised so frequently last season, appears to be having a second coming this year.
How effective was Joe Gomez last season?
To be honest, not much.
Gomez was at the epicenter of a shaky defense beset by a lack of identity and confidence, and he only started 15 league games after losing his manager’s trust, going unplayed in nine of the final ten matches of the season before languishing in the final match, a 4-4 draw against Southampton that prompted podcaster Graeme Kelly to label him “finished.”
With comments from those such as Alan Shearer, who said he “makes too many mistakes,” compounding his struggles on the pitch, making errors leading to shots and goals last season, as well as giving away a penalty in the Premier League, the £85k-per-week defender’s future looked increasingly certain to lie away from Anfield.
It was a long cry from the dynamic defender who helped Liverpool win the Premier League and Champions League under Klopp’s management, having made 179 appearances for the club since coming from Charlton Athletic for an original fee of £3 million as an 18-year-old in 2015.