West Ham ace Pablo Fornals has explained why he tried to chip Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker during our 1-0 defeat at Anfield on Saturday.
The Hammers were unlucky to take nothing from the game against Liverpool but in truth, we just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal.
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One huge positive is that we actually set up with far more ambition and caused the Reds all sorts of problems throughout the match.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp would have been delighted when the full-time whistle went. That says it all really doesn’t it?
Had the West Ham players not been so wasteful in front of goal then who knows, perhaps we would have left Merseyside with all three points.
Manuel Lanzini missed an absolute sitter in the second-half and Fornals was guilty of wasting a very good opportunity just before half-time.
Pablo Fornals explains intentions behind attempted Alisson chip
The Spaniard was put through on goal late on in the first-half by Ben Johnson.
With the Hammers trailing 1-0 at the time, it was a superb chance to get back in the game.
Alas, Fornals dithered and tried to lob the ball over Alisson. Trent Alexander-Arnold cleared the ball off the line and Liverpool escaped.
Pablo spoke to WHUFC.com and explained his thinking behind trying to lift the ball over the imposing Brazilian:
“Well, I was talking with him (Allison) after the game and I was waiting for him to do something to let me decide what to do and he was waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do and finally I tried to chip the ball over and he got a touch in the last moment and this made the ball go slower to the goal and Alexander-Arnold had time to save the ball.”
In hindsight, Fornals just took too long to make his decision. Having so much time when through on goal is often not a good thing.
The 26-year-old should have just slotted the ball either side of Alisson and the scores would then undoubtedly have been level at half-time.
The West Ham players have been incredibly profligate in front of goal over recent weeks and months. David Moyes needs to sort that out asap. The Hammers have a huge run of games coming up against Aston Villa at the London Stadium, Tottenham away and Sevilla home and away in the Europa League.
If we are to head into the final international break of the season unscathed from those fixtures, the West Ham players need to be far more clinical in front of goal.
Let’s hope the boys work hard on that on the training pitch this week ahead of what is a pivotal run of games for the football club.
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