Last season, Jurgen Klopp described Diogo Jota as the best finisher at Anfield. If Arne Slot is yet to bestow such a compliment – and, more modest in his rhetoric, his praise of anyone so far has tended to be measured – he has installed the Portuguese as his first-choice No 9, a role he only had intermittently under the German. If Slot looked justified after the biggest win of his brief reign, this was a night when Klopp felt vindicated, too.
Jota’s first double since January displayed his predatory instincts, elusive movement and capacity to make scoring look simple. As Liverpool came from behind to beat West Ham United, the catalyst was the one member of Slot’s first-choice team to start. Jota may have felt the outsider in a second-string side but he served as their rescuer after Jarell Quansah, continuing his inauspicious start to life under Slot, accidentally put the Hammers ahead.
But Liverpool turned a deficit into a 3-1 win against AC Milan last week. Their powers of recovery were apparent again as Mohamed Salah, with one, and Cody Gakpo, with the second brace of the night, ensured history repeated itself. Last season, West Ham lost 5-1 at Anfield in the Carabao Cup.
Slot has emulated Klopp in one respect and as the German went on to win the competition last year, he may hope for a repeat. Comparisons with the German are unavoidable, but some are enviable.
Liverpool were comeback kings last season; across two midweeks, they have shown they have not lost the habit after all.
Klopp had plenty of scoring substitutes in his valedictory campaign and Salah came off the bench to strike. Gakpo’s double had a different sort of significance: terrific in San Siro, he scored his first goals for Slot in a four-minute burst. After one left winger, Luis Diaz, struck twice on Saturday, another followed suit. First Gakpo drilled in a shot at the near post, then a deflected effort went in off Jean-Clair Todibo at the far. There was a confidence in the way he ran at defenders, and a conviction to his display. “I see him in training and the way he hits the ball around the box with incredible speed,” Slot said. Just as pleasing for him was a clearance Gakpo made in his own penalty area. “That is also what he brings to the team.”
And after Liverpool made a slow beginning, Gakpo ensured it was a rousing end. So Slot’s has been an almost perfect start, marred only by the Anfield loss to Nottingham Forest. Jota scored the first goal of his reign. A mini-drought followed. “He played a lot of good games for us already and he as only on the scoresheet in the first,” Slot reflected. “A striker always wants to score. He did, with the inadvertent aid of a newcomer.
Federico Chiesa made his first start for Liverpool. He played for 58 minutes and looked lively. Ostensibly on the right flank, he darted over to the left. A nutmeg on Vladimir Coufal went down well. He opened an account at Anfield with an accidental assist.
And when Gakpo crossed and Chiesa volleyed, he was surely shooting. Jota reacted to the bouncing ball, showing the speed of thought to head in. It stemmed from Liverpool’s first attempt at goal and involved three of their four forwards.
Because Slot had crammed a quartet in, playing something of a 4-4-2. Jota played off Darwin Nunez; the sense is that the manager likes his ability to drop deep but also break into the box. And the ability to time his arrival was apparent for his second goal, Jota accelerating smoothly on to Curtis Jones’ pass and guiding a shot beyond Lukasz Fabianski.
Before then, Slot’s impact subs killed off West Ham. The six ever-presents in his reign – Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Salah – were rested. But the Argentinian and the Egyptian were summoned. Salah scored, slotting in the rebound after Mac Allister’s shot was saved.
The midfielder almost joined him on the scoresheet, Fabianski tipping a thunderbolt on to the post. And Salah further tipped the tie Liverpool’s way when Edson Alvarez collected a second booking for upending him.
It summed up West Ham’s frustrations. Julen Lopetegui was booked for dissent, claiming a penalty when the ball struck Kostas Tsimikas’ ribs. The Spaniard’s side had started the brighter.
Initially, Liverpool looked uncertain. With a midfielder fewer, Liverpool lacked both control and creativity. They trailed before they had mustered a shot.
And, for four minutes when West Ham led, it seemed the ugliest of goals could have a beauty for the visitors. After Liverpool failed to clear a corner and Alvarez tried to prod the ball goalwards, Wataru Endo struck Quansah with his attempted clearance. The ball went in off the unwitting defender. Substituted at half-time in Slot’s bow, Quansah’s misadventures under the new manager continued.
Jota ensured his own goal became an irrelevance. If Liverpool could be grateful to Caoimhin Kelleher for a double save from Michail Antonio and Max Kilman, if there was evidence of the attacking talent in West Ham’s ranks, they ended up thrashed. “We don’t deserve this scoreline,” said Lopetegui. But they got it. West Ham have now only won once at Anfield in 57 trips and they have more 5-1 defeats in the last year than victories in the last six decades. With managerial change at each club, the score stayed the same.