Liverpool showed the art of diabolical defending is not quite lost, with Jurgen Klopp's men then taking advantage of a major mistake from the opposition goalkeeper to salvage a draw against West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday. The Reds' title challenge took another blow, with that shaky defence of theirs again causing Klopp headaches.
Having taken an early lead, in just the fifth minute of the game, when Adam Lallana swept the ball in from eight yards off a pass from Sadio Mane, Liverpool looked to be on their way to a comfortable victory at Anfield, only for some suspect goalkeeping and pathetic defending to allow West Ham a way back into the contest.
Dmitri Payet equalised for West Ham in the 27th minute, curling a freekick away from under-fire goalkeeper Loris Karius, who might have done better, with his positioning.
West Ham went into the lead 12 minutes later, when a Havard Nordtveit pass took a deflection off Jordan Henderson, caught Joel Matip off guard and allowed Michail Antonio, looking around gleefully as both Nathaniel Clyne and Karius froze, to finish without much of a fuss.
Liverpool got back into the game in the 48th minute, when Darren Randolph spilled a cross from Mane straight onto the feet of Divock Origi, who said "Thank you very much," and slotted the ball in.
The winner would not come for the home team, however, leaving Liverpool further off the pace from leaders Chelsea, who, as is their wont at the moment, won again.
"It's a negative thing that we didn't win, but it's still a point so it's kind of mixed emotions," Klopp, whose Liverpool side are now six points behind Chelsea, said. "Being one goal down in a game against West Ham with their style of play, with their situation in the table, plus the quality they have usually – it is really difficult to play against them.
"It's difficult to stay in the race with Chelsea when they win everything, which we obviously haven't. When we were first or second, I didn't think about it, which is what I said. I am pretty sure I said this is the moment to collect points as many as possible."
