3 things we learned from West Ham’s 3-1 win over Liverpool

A second straight league loss for Liverpool? Yes, and it's Sam Allardyce's West Ham United who inflicted it. Following the shock 1-0 reverse at Anfield, the Reds squeaked past Ludogorets in midweek and would have been looking to bounce back at Upton Park. Instead they were beaten, 3-1, by a side that had yet to claim a home point.

West Ham came flying out of the blocks, sending Simon Mignolet to pick the ball out of his own net twice before Liverpool knew what hit them. Winston Reid got the hosts started, nodding home a smart flick across goal from James Tomkins after the center half. And the Hammers kept going forward, pressing the Reds so ferociously that they quickly conceded a second. This time it was a work of art rather than a scrambled finish from a set piece -- Diafra Sakho produced a dreamy chip that floated over the goalkeeper and fluttered in to put Liverpool into a massive hole.

With West Ham still well on top by the 20th minute, Brendan Rodgers made a major change, hauling off right back Javi Manquillo and switching to a 3-5-2. The switch paid dividends: six minutes later Liverpool hauled themselves back into the match via the impressive combination of Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling. The striker did brilliantly to haul down a clipped pass, and although his snapshot was blocked Sterling, who found himself at right wingback, was on hand to fizz the ball past Adrián and make it 2-1.

But the momentum didn't stay with the visitors. They found themselves in trouble when a collision between Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren left the latter sprawled on the floor, needing medical attention for a head injury, and the resultant break seemed to suck the wind out of Liverpool's newly-spread sails.

Adam Lallana was added at halftime in an attempt to inject further creativity into the attack, and while he succeeded in helping put the Hammers under serious pressure at halftime, the hosts were more than happy to absorb pressure -- with a little help from Liverpool's weak finishing -- and hit the Reds on the counterattack. And as it turned out, the counterattack paid dividends, with substitute Morgan Amalfitano securing a big with with a smart sidefooted finish as time wound down.

West Ham United starting lineup (4-3-3): Adrián; Aaron Cresswell, James Tomkins, Winston Reid, Guy Demel (Carl Jenkinson 62'); Alex Song (Morgan Amalfitano 69'), Cheikhou Kouyaté, Mark Noble; Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia (James Collins 76'), Steward Downing.

Liverpool starting lineup (4-4-2 diamond): Simon Mignolet; Alberto Moreno, Dejan Lovren, Martin Skrtel, Javier Manquillo (Mamadou Sakho 22'); Lucas (Adam Lallana 45'), Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson; Raheem Sterling; Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini (Rickie Lambert 75').

1. Diafra Sakho is cool. First of all, he did this:
   
   
   
   And it looked enough like he meant it for us to give him credit. Then he started playing around with clever backheels and flicks in the Liverpool box, and generally played like a man unafraid to fail. Those sorts of players are a lot of fun, and assuming Sam Allardyce doesn't Sam Allardyce him, he'll be well worth watching as the season progresses.
   
   West Ham being entertaining is weird.
   
   
2. Balotelli's reputation is a weapon -- for the opposition. With Liverpool down 2-0, the last thing they needed was for Mario Balotelli to get drawn into a confrontation, but the Hammers were clearly looking for a chance to wind him up. And so when they found an opportunity, they took it. The striker, going for the ball went in late on goalkeeper Adrián, who took the opportunity to lash back out. Angry words were exchanged, and both went into the book.
   
   This is a sensible tactic. Everyone will keep kicking Balotelli until he finally snaps and does something stupid, as would any reasonable person subject to this much provocation. At that point, the referee won't give him the benefit of the doubt and the stories will all be about how he has to control his temper.
   
   
3. 4-4-2 to 3-5-2. We could talk about how bad Liverpool's defense is and was, but we'd all be hard pressed to claim we learned anything about it from this game. It's been bad for quite some time, and that they can't deal with set pieces and are vulnerable to the counterattack has been discussed to the point of cliche. Instead, let's focus on the really interesting part of the match -- Brendan Rodgers' 20-minute switch from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2.
   
   Sure, the Reds failed to win this game. But they demonstrated phenomenal flexibility in their attempts to figure out a solution to the problems West Ham were posing. There are few teams comfortable enough in different systems to switch from a 4-4-2 diamond to a 3-5-2 mid-match, and Liverpool made a further structural change at halftime when Adam Lallana came in to rove around behind the strikers.
   
   The most impressive part of those changes? They still played like the same team. The parts were moved around, but they have enough of an understanding that the whole still worked reasonably well. On a night when Rodgers will rightly face criticism for his team's performance, it's worth pointing out what he does right.