Steph Houghton’s ‘mind blown’ after what Virgil van Dijk was able to do in Liverpool win vs West Ham
West Ham were left to rue their defending from set pieces against Liverpool, as Steph Houghton was left in disbelief over the Hammers’ Virgil van Dijk decision.
The Irons went into the half-time break 3-0 down, with the home side scoring all three goals as a result of dead-ball situations.
Van Dijk was one of Liverpool’s beneficiaries from those aforementioned set pieces, as he was allowed to head in from close range from a corner to make it 2-0.
After that moment, it seemed Nuno Espirito Santo’s side continued to make the same mistake for that goal, leaving Houghton “mind blown” by the E20 outfit’s decision to keep the same player marking the Dutchman.
Who was marking Virgil van Dijk for West Ham?
Van Dijk is one of Liverpool’s biggest threats from set pieces, and as he got success from scoring, you would expect West Ham to try and prevent the same from happening.
However, that was not to be the case. The Irons continued to leave the same player to deal with the Dutch defender, allowing him to remain a huge threat.
Midfielder Soungoutou Magassa appeared to be the man awarded that responsibility. However, he was far too easily shrugged off by the Liverpool captain.
This left Houghton shocked that he continued in that role, saying via BBC Sport: “It blows my mind that West Ham haven’t changed who is marking Virgil van Dijk. Liverpool are fully in control of this, but West Ham will be so disappointed.”
In the end, while West Ham did attempt to mount a comeback, they would ultimately fail to do so, with Tomas Soucek’s and Taty Castellanos’ goals coming to no avail in the 5-2 defeat.
Who should have been marking Van Dijk for West Ham?
Magassa may be 6′ 2″, but the Frenchman was clearly not prepared to battle against Van Dijk at Anfield. The responsibility should have been put on a player who is much better in the air.
That man should have been Konstantinos Mavropanos, who, out of the Hammers’ taller players, boasts the best aerial duel success rate as per Sofascore.
| Player | Aerial duel success | Height |
| Konstantinos Mavropanos | 68% | 6’4″ |
| Tomas Soucek | 58% | 6’4″ |
| Axel Disasi | 40% | 6’3″ |
| Soungoutou Magassa | 38% | 6′ 2″ |
The Greek defender is the same height as van Dijk and boasts a more similar level of aerial ability to the two-time Premier League winner.
From set pieces in this match, the Hammers ultimately got their organisation completely wrong, and that will have to be something they must learn from in the future.
They will need to become more defensively solid from set pieces if they wish to avoid relegation.
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