Billy McKinlay insists that West Ham have nothing to fear against Liverpool tonight, even though they have only won once at Anfield in 60 years.
Add to that the fact that manager David Moyes has never led a team to an away win at Liverpool, and the EFL Cup quarter-finals seem a daunting prospect.
The only win at Anfield since 1963 was achieved by the Kladivars in August 2015 under Slaven Bilic, and Moyes has drawn seven times and lost thirteen times at this venue. But assistant manager McKinlay says that West Ham, in its new guise, will not allow history to weigh it down. “If it was the same group of players who have been here for 60 years, then we would have problems,” McKinlay said. “This is a new group of players.
“There’s no reason to go out there with fear or with a different mindset than it’s going to be a tough game and we have to play well if we want to win. Our result is not the best, but hopefully we can change that.”
While West Ham are reinforcing their reputation as a cup team to be reckoned with, McKinlay believes Liverpool are almost back to their best this season. And Jurgen Klopp deserves a lot of praise for the way he has shaken up an ageing team that struggled for much of last season.
“The manager has been in this position for a long time,” McKinlay added. “The team is developing and the players are developing. It’s not easy to keep changing the team and clubs have to do it more and more often because players are moving more than ever before.
“They are returning to a team that was probably in its heyday four or five years ago. They have great players, they have a good style and they will cause us problems. We will have to deal with that.”
The key to the Kladivars’ surprise is to launch counter-attacks, which reached new heights in Sunday’s 3-0 win against Wolves.
Moyes has repeatedly said that he is looking to introduce a more expansive style. But McKinlay believes that transitional football has unjustly gained a negative reputation at a time when every team wants to dominate possession.
“You want more possession, you want more control of games,” he said. “But that’s not the be all and end all. Teams have achieved a lot of good results without a lot of possession.
“We want to possess the ball as much as possible. When we don’t have it, we try to be as organised and disciplined as possible and then use the tools we have.”