Diaz is No.9 and Salah is just getting better – 5 talking points from West Ham 0-5 Liverpool – Liverpool FC

Liverpool’s final game of 2024 featured a dominant first-half performance that gave them a fully deserved lead and the Reds sit eight points clear at the top tonight.

West Ham 0-5 Liverpool

Premier League (18) | London Stadium
December 29, 2024

Goals: Diaz 29′, Gakpo 39′, Salah 43′, Alexander-Arnold 53′, Jota 84′

Slot’s third No. 9 the real No. 1?

Division of duties for the start of the season as striker: Diogo Jota the effective starter, Darwin Nunez his replacement, although the Uruguayan has played more in the league this season due to the Portuguese’s injuries.

However, neither was relentlessly effective – Jota was clearly better than Nunez, but still not outstanding – and so, given the game load and Cody Gakpo in the lead role, Arne Slot looked for an alternative.

Luis Diaz has now had a few appearances as a center forward in our starting XI and it’s fair to say that he has impressed to a large extent.

The way we play, the No. 9 will go through phases in the game that don’t really affect the build-up of the game, but still needs to be an out ball, a way to stop, take out defenders and be available in the penalty area to create opportunities.

Diaz did everything and plundered several goals in the process.

His instinctive shot opened the scoring here and contributed to the brace against Tottenham. Slot actually has three options at the position, but perhaps Diaz is the leader at the moment.

Quansah needs to find form quickly

Barely halfway through the game, Jarell Quansah was called on at centre-back for the second time since the opening day in the Premier League.

Given he was stuck at half-time in that Ipswich game and had only played 20 minutes in that position since his home game against Fulham, it meant the youngster only needed to reach the end of that game to achieve his longest appearance of the season correct position considering he played as a makeshift right-back against Man City and Newcastle.

While that is a positive for the young defender, the negative for Liverpool is that the need for him arose when Joe Gomez was ruled out with an apparent hamstring strain.

Given that Ibrahima Konate remains sidelined and Gomez has taken on the role in excellent form, it is a real concern for the Reds ahead of their next game against Man United.

While Quansah had a good year last season, he hasn’t looked confident or consistent when he’s been deployed this year, and we’ll need him to be able to do both if he now faces a deficit in the starting XI

Salah keeps hitting the right notes and numbers

It has now been eight different seasons in which Mo Salah has scored 20 or more goals for Liverpool – this season he reached the milestone before the turn of the year.

In the Premier League alone he has up to 17 goals and 13 assists, a total of 30 contributions in just 18 games – the man is a sensation and simply in ridiculous, incredible form.

To put these numbers in perspective, for the entirety of last season, Cole Palmer topped the goals plus assists charts (if that’s the case now) with 33, followed by Erling Haaland (32), Ollie Watkins (32). ) and Salah himself (28).

Yes, he had already surpassed his own record from last year before halftime.

As if that wasn’t enough, he also set a new Premier League record today: he scored a goal in the same game eight times in a single season (once against West Ham) and assisted twice.

All that and he missed out on a hat trick of sitters!

Clean sheets are a welcome return

Surprisingly, this was Alisson Becker’s first clean sheet since returning to the team – we’ve been a bit lax at the back of late than we’d have liked, and certainly compared to the start of the season.

Domestically, this was our first shutout in six games; Since the win over Man City we have only kept a clean sheet against Girona.

For Alisson specifically, his last gap came against Crystal Palace in October, and he didn’t play in that game either as he left injured, so almost three months have passed since his last 90-minute appearance as he kept the opponents at bay held.

We are excellent in attack and often have free goals, but we want perfection on both sides. With two centre-backs out, Ali could be busy in future games, so this was a good confidence boost on that front.

Slot plans for United and a massive attack on all fronts

In the last few games we have played behind our fiercest rivals; This time we played in front of Chelsea and Arsenal. The gap between us is a little more even as this trio have now played 18 games – and we are ten and nine points ahead of them respectively.

Sure, Nottingham Forest are second but they’ve still played one game and it’s still a big challenge for them to be so consistent all season, while Man City have also played and won but are now 14 points behind.

So Liverpool host Man United at Anfield at the top and in all the cups – and with two top performers available after Arne Slot substituted Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo early on, both a yellow card without a suspension. Both are deservedly the starters and play a big role against our biggest opponents.

But a lot can change quickly and consistency is always the most important thing – and we’re now playing nine games in less than a month, across all four competitions.

We are capable of going the distance, perhaps in more than one of these competitions, but as always we have to go out and prove it again and again. Another five-goal win in the next game would be a good start!