West Ham 0-2 Liverpool: Alexander Isak FINALLY bags first Reds goal - as Arne Slot's major selection calls pay off to banish recent woes

Arne Slot walked slowly towards the Liverpool supporters, acknowledged them with a wave and a thumbs up and then folded his blue mac over his left arm and strode down the tunnel.

We have seen the ritual many times before. Slot is an understated man, when things are good and also – we are learning – when things are not so good.

That has been the Liverpool manager’s way as the pressure has grown over the last two or three weeks and that was his way once a big victory had been assured here in east London.

Calm in the storm and all that. And though it has not passed yet – games against Sunderland and then at Leeds make up an upcoming testing week – here he was rewarded for not only managing to retain some kind of perspective within the madness but also for some brave and thoroughly sensible decisions ahead of this game.

No Mo Salah here against West Ham. And opportunities again for Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. Big choices, all. Big choices that came off.

Isak scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool on the hour, an instinctive finish to a Cody Gakpo cross. It was perhaps as well that it was a first time effort. Previously Isak had looked rather nervous when given time to think.

Wirtz, meanwhile, was excellent, floating across the forward areas and his performance was bettered only by the excellent holding player Ryan Gravenberch.

There were some nerves towards the end. Even when West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta was sent off for abusing the referee twice within a minute – consecutive yellow cards were correctly issued – West Ham were belatedly invited to push Liverpool back.

Jarrod Bowen could have scored with two minutes to go and maybe should have. It would have been West Ham’s first shot on target. And then Gakpo did score, volleying in after Liverpool broke in added time.

So Liverpool had their win and it was deserved. This was a game they had controlled almost throughout. Steps in the right direction, at least.

They certainly were the better side in the first half and played some progressive football. Dutch midfielder Gravenberch has kept his standards higher than most during his team’s recent struggles and was influential here, breaking up play and carrying the ball forwards go get Liverpool loving. Left full-back Milos Kerkez was also impressive while Wirtz had one of his better spells in a Liverpool shirt so far.

Slot’s team couldn’t score, though, and went in at the interval with the game locked scoreless. Slot referenced this issue when he spoke after the Champions League defeat at home to PSV last Wednesday, pointing out that Liverpool’s failure to get ahead in games when they were on the front foot was hurting them.

With Salah absent, Liverpool had three players operating behind Isak up front and Wirtz was the most central of them. This allowed the German to get on the ball and make things happen.

Isak, for his part, initially continued to struggle, at least for the hour that preceded his goal. The Swede was not exactly hiding. To say so would be unfair. But nor was he making the kind of natural, hungry and instinctive runs a top striker will make when he is confident and not over thinking his every move. Certainly, he was not always available to make the most of the clever promptings that were coming from the players behind him.

Isak spooned one early chance over with his right instep from 18 yards when a clever dummy from Gakpo found him in space. Maybe he was as surprised as West Ham’s defenders by his team-mate’s clever play.

He was closer in the 21st minute, though. This time the danger came from right-back Joe Gomez who crossed on the run from that side. Gakpo rose well to nod the ball back across goal and when it bypassed Wirtz, Isak was able to control it and hook it back towards the roof of the net. That’s where it would have finished had it not been for West Ham goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, who spread his arms to save. It was good work by the Frenchman and perhaps summed up Isak’s season rather well.

West Ham were left to play on the break as Liverpool dominated the ball. The home team were not without a threat when they came forward, they just couldn’t manage to do it often enough. Liverpool’s central defenders Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate have been vulnerable recently and West Ham looked to drag them out of position in to wide areas and exploit the space left behind. For the first half, at least, Liverpool coped.

Ten minutes before the interval, meanwhile, Wirtz maybe should have scored a first Premier League goal of his own. A long pass from Van Dijk allowed Gakpo to control the ball and lay it off to the Liverpool number seven. But the shot from 14 yards lack power and Areola dropped to his left to save and hold.

West Ham were better for a spell after half-time. They were always likely to have a period when they imposed themselves and when it came Liverpool held firm on the back of stout and resilient defending. West Ham enjoyed some pressure but without creating anything. Indeed as the hour mark came and went the home team had not managed a shot on target.

Liverpool’s goal felt timely, then. Just as they were being asked some questions, they broke to score.

It was Gomez’s pass down the line that freed Liverpool from pressure and as Wirtz collected and crossed low, he saw Isak beaten to the ball by two defenders. Liverpool were able to recycle it from the throw-in that followed, though, and it was from that position that the champions fashioned and made good their breakthrough. Gakpo’s pass to Isak was sharp and the striker’s first time finish precise and hugely important.

Isak was sacrificed a few minutes later, making way for Hugo Ekitike. It was sensible management by Slot as he will doubtless wish him to start on Wednesday against Sunderland and at Leeds next Saturday night.

Now it was up to West Ham to force the pace and leave gaps behind. Perfect for Salah maybe? Not at this stage, was Slot’s apparent take on that one. In fact he wasn’t to come on at all.

As time start to run out, this felt like a huge ten minutes of Liverpool’s season.

West Ham threw Niclas Fullkrug on and the German immediately headed a cross wide of the near post. Liverpool by now seemed reluctant to commit too many men forwards and the way they failed to manage the game in the closing stages perhaps betrayed how important this felt.

Paqueta’s red card in the 84th minute was ludicrous in terms of its stupidity and should have helped Liverpool but it didn’t seem to and they started to hang on rather haphazardly.

Indeed Bowen spurned his chance to square it up with two minutes left, missing the target from the edge of the penalty area when he had time to do better.

Liverpool’s nerves were eventually spared four minutes later. West Ham goalkeeper Areola advanced injudiciously in pursuit of a cross and when Dominik Szoboszlai fed the ball back to Gomez, his cross was controlled well by Gakpo on the chest and he turned to batter it past the West Ham goalkeeper on the bounce.