- Slaven Bilic believes West Ham United can exploit Liverpool's attacking style at Anfield
- Reds conceded four goals in losing at AFC Bournemouth last weekend
- Hammers manager also says Club is active ahead of January transfer window
Slaven Bilic believes West Ham United can take advantage of Liverpool’s attacking approach at Anfield on Sunday.
The Hammers boss believes the Reds are genuine Premier League title contenders, but says their 4-3 defeat at AFC Bournemouth last weekend exposed their ‘risky’ style of football.
Bilic was full of praise for Liverpool’s attacking prowess, but feels his team can exploit spaces in their defensive areas, as they did in winning 3-0 at the same venue last season.
“They are definitely one of the contenders for the Premier League title – some of their football is great and most of their football is quite consistent this season,” the manager observed. “Obviously last week was not great, because they were winning 3-1 and lost 4-3, but they are obviously one of the title contenders.
“Of course that result gives us heart because they are conceding goals. OK, they are an attack-minded side, but first of all you have to be solid and stop them creating and scoring and even coming into those positions where they are very dangerous.
“But of course because they attack with such numbers they leave the back open and there is a lot of space that, although they have good offensive and defensive transitions, you can use.
“The Bournemouth game was a great comeback from them, to be fair, and they deserved it if you watch the second half. It’s much easier to do those kind of comebacks at home, when you have the crowd, but they showed that you can beat Liverpool in an opposite way. They went at them and caused Liverpool problems.
“In a 90-minute game you have all sorts of situations, but the way Liverpool play at Anfield, the opponent has to be solid first of all, compact behind the ball with numbers to stop them creating. Then, when you have the ball, you can hurt them.”
Because they attack with such numbers they leave the back open and there is a lot of space that you can use
Slaven Bilic
While Liverpool did concede four times to the Cherries last Sunday, Jurgen Klopp’s side had kept clean sheets in their preceding three matches – two in the Premier League against Sunderland and Southampton and one in the EFL Cup against Leeds United.
In 14 Premier League fixtures, the Reds have scored 35 times and conceded 18 – the highest number of any club in the top nine. For their part, West Have have conceded 29, a number only Swansea City have exceeded with 31.
With those statistics in mind, Bilic was asked if he has already made firm plans for the January transfer window, perhaps looking to strengthen his defence.
While he did admit the Club are active, the manager dismissed reports of a deal being reached for Vfl Wolfsburg’s Turkish teenage midfielder Murat Saglam.
“We’re going to see about that, but first we’re going to concentrate on these five games before the end of the year, then we’re going to see how active we’re going to be,” he said. “We monitoring, we are following and we are controlling the situation but no, it’s not true about Saglam.”