David Moyes hails 'brilliant victory' as West Ham end Liverpool's 25-game unbeaten run
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Updated 07/11/2021 at 22:17 GMT
The London Stadium was rocking for David Moyes' 1000th game in management as his side beat Liverpool for the first time at home since making the switch from the Boleyn Ground. The win means West Ham leapfrog Liverpool and climb to third place in the Premier League ahead of the international break.
'Two people hiding' - Klopp takes swipe at referee and VAR
David Moyes praised his West Ham stars after seeing them end Liverpool’s 25-game unbeaten run with a statement win at an electric London Stadium, as the Hammers climbed to third in the table ahead of the international break.
Pablo Fornals and Kurt Zouma were on target for the hosts in the second half, after they took the lead through an Alisson own goal inside the opening four minutes.
Managing his milestone 1000th game, Moyes reacted to his side’s "brilliant victory" which saw West Ham go above their opponents in the table.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, he said: “We played Thursday night, so to come and put on a performance with the energy and hang in at the end was great by the players.
“If you’ve seen Liverpool play recently they’ve been so good with the ball and I think they’ve improved, and we tried to shore it up a little bit but I didn’t like it as much in the first half, so we did another subtle change at half-time to try and alter it.
"It certainly worked because our play in the second half was great, and we got three goals and maybe on another day we could have had another one or two.”
Delving deeper into that half-time change, Moyes revealed he changed Fornals' role.
“We thought that Liverpool had shown a lot in the pockets at the sides [in previous matches] and it was hard to cover all the areas, with their forward player dropping in, so we tried to look to spot it," he said.
But in the second half we said, not good enough, let’s go back to basics and see if we can get after them a little bit more, and we did.
Moyes said he’s “very much” enjoying this point in his career, with the result marking West Ham’s first home win over Liverpool since they moved to the London Stadium.
“I challenge myself, I have to win,” Moyes said.
I’m not going out to get a draw, or lose, or anything else, I’m trying to win.
“I prepare to win but it’s never easy beating Liverpool, they’ve always had really good teams, and unless you have a good team, you’re going to struggle to beat them.
“If you look at them (Liverpool) at the moment, without going over the top, it would be hard to pick a better team in the world at the moment.”
Moyes’ opposite number Jurgen Klopp cast doubt over the referee’s decision to award West Ham their first goal.
Fornals swung in a corner which Alisson attempted to punch clear but clattered into Angelo Ogbonna, who had peeled off the front post to flick it on, in the process. Alisson flapped at the ball but couldn’t direct it away from goal as it planted into the far corner.
Talking about the controversial incident, Klopp said: “I think the first is a foul on the goalie (Alisson), it is a foul against the goalie, the arm goes against Ali’s arm so how can he catch a ball?”
The West Ham celebrations were delayed while VAR checked the goal, which was eventually given the green light.
Klopp's men drop to fourth as the Hammers overtook them, and will be looking to bounce back when they face Arsenal next when Premier League football returns after the international break, while West Ham will be aiming to extend their seven-game unbeaten run in all competitions when they take on Wolves.
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