Saturday, 20th September, 2014
West Ham boss Sam Allardyce believes his side took Liverpool by surprise today as they ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over the Reds.
While Liverpool managed more possession throughout the match, West Ham had more touches of the ball in the opposition area and looked more dangerous throughout.
The Hammers took the lead at Upton Park in the very first minute of the match when Winston Reid helped the ball home.
Diafra Sakho then hit a superb chipped goal in the seventh minute to double West Ham's lead.
Liverpool hit back though, Mario Balotelli seeing a shot blocked but Raheem Sterling taking advantage of the rebound to drill the ball home in the 26th minute.
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Liverpool pressed near the end of the match, but Morgan Amalfitano put the game beyond doubt two minutes from full time, toe poking the ball home to make it 3-1 for the Hammers and leaving Allardyce delighted.
"The first half was absolutely outstanding, from our point of view the way we went about our jobs in the first half really took Liverpool by surprise", Allardyce told Sky Sports.
"We've been looking at the quality of our finishing and how to improve it in the summer. I thought we could have been three or four up in the first half.
"We really finished Liverpool off brilliantly today."
Allardyce also admitted he thought before the match that Liverpool would be vulnerable from set pieces.
"We think so [that they are vulnerable]. I think everyone is vulnerable to a set piece when the ball is good and you've got good headers of the ball.
"I was disappointed that Liverpool scored a goal in the first half as they only had one shot on target and that was the goal."
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