West Ham United fell to a crushing 4-0 loss against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in their first match of the new Premier League season, and many fans have taken to Twitter to criticise boss Manuel Pellegrini for his defensive tactics.
A double from Sadio Mane and goals from Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge saw the Reds to victory, with West Ham’s high line in defence identified as the source of their problems at the back.
Many fans have now criticised Pellegrini on Twitter following the defeat, with many of the opinion that playing such a high line against one of the league’s most dangerous attacks was a poor tactical decision from the Chilean.
Forever West Ham have rounded up some of the best tweets:
Wasn’t expecting anything today to be honest, so losing the isn’t the worry.
The main problem I have from today is the MANAGER.
Why did he set up the defence to play with such a high line v Liverpool. It’s a massive mistake tactically & not to change it at HT is a worry! #WHUFC— ⚒ GEEDEE ⚒ (@GeoffDowns) August 12, 2018
Our defence is a shambles, how we think we can come to anfield and hold that high of a line and think it’ll work is embarrassing #COYI #WHUFC
— Boleyn Blood (@BoleynBlood) August 12, 2018
I hope he sees the light tactically, he completely got them wrong today you can’t play such a high line against Mane,Firminio and salah….suicide ⚒ coyi
— Alan James (@Alan_James2012) August 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/Fluuked/status/1028728802279661569
Big fan of #Pellegrini & like a couple of the new signings but playing the high line & trying to catch Liverpool's pace in an offside trap is just the most ludicrous tactic. Might work against some teams but not Liverpool! Somebody should have told him this? @WestHamUtd #COYI
— LindsayWesker (@LindsayWesker) August 12, 2018
West Ham played a defensive high line/ offside trap against an attacking team that have improved since appearing in the champions league final 3 months ago. A ridiculous high risk that cost us time after time, and it was obvious from the first 10 minutes how we could be exposed.
— G Mills ⚒ (@gtmills) August 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/BubbaNathan/status/1028654086827204610
West Ham guilty of school boy defending, if you play a high line you must still go with the runners, and our usual luck with the assistant sleeping for the 3 goal offside not even close yet he missed it, we must sort this quickly, or relegation battle looms, forward play not bad
— Peter & Pat & the Hammers. (@cosyinnit) August 12, 2018
OPINION
These West Ham fans are obviously not happy with Pellegrini’s tactics against Liverpool, and that is understandable. Playing such a high line against a front three containing Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino does seem slightly suicidal from the Hammers, especially considering it was the first game of a new season. However, it must also be pointed out to these fans that Pellegrini’s high line did technically work, with Mane’s second goal clearly scored from an offside position, and the Hammers can therefore count themselves unlucky in some respects. Criticism should also be levelled at the West Ham midfield, with Mark Noble struggling to keep pace with the game and new signing Jack Wilshere anonymous throughout most of the match. Again, some of the blame must lie with Pellegrini, who had other players such as Pedro Obiang available who would have been better equipped to deal with this Liverpool side. Anyhow, West Ham have a home match against Bournemouth next week to contend with, and these fans will hopefully be a lot happier after that one.
