Liverpool is making up for lost time by arriving late to the set-piece party. Sports News

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Join them if you are unable to defeat them. Liverpool's remarkable comeback, particularly their 5-2 triumph over West Ham United at Anfield on Saturday, has been largely attributed to their willingness to adopt the game's increasingly agrarian approach, despite their sluggish adoption of the Premier League's set-piece revolution.

After Manchester United's victory over Leicester City in September 2016, Liverpool became only the second team in Premier League history to score three goals from corners in the first half of a game when Alexis Mac Allister scored the home team's third goal of the afternoon in front of the Kop. It's the kind of figure that would have looked absurd in the early going of the season, when the Reds'


lack of proficiency at both scoring and defending set pieces negatively impacted their fortunes on an almost weekly basis.

Although manager Arne Slot openly supported his former colleague when questioned about it last week, Liverpool's problems in that area were so severe that the team decided to fire set-piece coach Aaron Briggs in December.

Since I'm ultimately accountable for everything, it would be extremely unjust to Aaron, who was only partially to blame, Slot said. "It's always my duty in the end. However, we were quite unlucky at that time.


Liverpool is ranked lower than all 20 teams in the Premier League Power Rankings. Osimhen poses a serious threat to the Reds in the Champions League round of 16.Nobody enjoys late drama as much as Liverpool does. Why do they start so slowly?


That luck has now begun to shift, based on Saturday's first-half performance. Liverpool, who have consistently started slowly in the top division this season, jumped out to an early lead when Ryan Gravenberch recovered control from a corner and found Hugo Ekitike, who finished deftly past Mads Hermansen at the near post.


Ekitike, a France international, became the first Liverpool player to surpass 20 goal contributions this season with his 11th league goal and 16th goal overall. He also contributed four assists. Virgil van Dijk rose highest to nod Dominik Szoboszlai's in-swinging corner into the back of the net, but West Ham, who had only lost one of their previous six league games before this weekend's trip to Merseyside, rallied well after the early setback.
Ekitike assisted Szoboszlai's deft pass into the path of Mac Allister, who scored with style to double his Premier League goal total for the season as Liverpool used the identical approach to goal once more on the stroke of halftime.

His goal was the longest streak by any team in the history of the league, marking Liverpool's seventh straight league goal from a non-penalty set piece.
The disparity in Liverpool's figures is striking, even if Slot was correct to say that his team's sharp improvement in set-piece form shouldn't be attributed to a single player.




Liverpool has only scored three goals from set pieces in their first 20 Premier League games this season, the fewest of any club in the league. However, they have scored nine set-piece goals in their last eight league games, more than any of their rivals, thanks to their effectiveness from corners on Saturday.

In his post-match press conference, Slot stated, "That's very pleasing because that is the reason we have won." "I think we've performed better when we've lost and given up set pieces. However, as I've always stated, things returned to normal.

You could see the exact reverse tonight. In the first part of the season, we created a lot of chances from set pieces, and nearly every set piece we gave up went in. I'm positive that their first significant opportunity was a set piece that would have been in during the first six or seven months. When it doesn't, though, and we begin to score from set pieces, things start to seem much better and more promising. We, the team, and the supporters all find that to be quite satisfying.

For the first time since the day they won the title against Tottenham Hotspur in April of last year, Liverpool broke with tradition by scoring three goals in the first half of a league match. This has been a season marked by late drama. Tomás Soucek, however, diverted El Hadji Malick Diouf's drilled cross past Alisson Becker just four minutes after the restart, reviving the Reds' unwanted tendency of making things tough for themselves.

West Ham had nothing to lose and kept causing their hosts a lot of trouble until Cody Gakpo's deflection shot helped to ease some tension at Anfield.

The Netherlands international's passionate celebration indicated that it was a pleasant relief to be back on the scoreboard, as it was only his second goal in the league since his goal in the rematch at the London Stadium in late November.

The unpredictable nature of Liverpool's second-half performance was only made worse by a late header from Valentín Castellanos and an even later own-goal from Axel Disasi. Slot will be aware that his team needs more poise and control if they are to end the season stronger than they began.

However, Liverpool is now up to fifth in the Premier League, only three points behind third-place Aston Villa, after winning seven of their last nine games in all competitions. They are undoubtedly still a work in progress, and even though they achieved their season's joint-largest top-flight victory, they shown that they still have a lot of room to grow.

Liverpool is now determined to make up for lost time, though, after arriving late to the set-piece celebration. It might be the secret weapon they need to succeed in this campaign.