West Ham 's switch to a back five was supposed to deliver greater defensive solidity and close the gaps available for Liverpool to attack. It could therefore scarcely have been more alarming for Julen Lopetegui quite how routine an evening this was for Arne Slot’s men. Catching the tail-end of three straight seasons in Europe, of David Moyes’s tenure, and the start of Lopetegui’s, 2024 has been a testing year for the Hammers.
Even by those at-times-poor standards, though, West Ham’s final match of the year made for a woeful day at the office. This 5-0 defeat was an afternoon spent chasing shadows under the floodlights at the London Stadium, as Slot’s slick, quick league leaders hopped and popped it around. Aside from a smattering of boos audible at the full-time whistle, it certainly felt as though the West Ham supporters were accepting that this was five-star Liverpool doing their thing — top of the league by eight points for a reason, all-but unstoppable in current pomp — but how worryingly easy the Hammers made it for them.
Suspensions to central midfielders Tomas Soucek and Guido Rodriguez and a wariness towards affording Liverpool space (awkward...
) had prompted Lopetegui to select a back five. Coufal as the right centre-back; Jean-Clair Todibo on the bench. Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz had a field day.
Vladimir Coufal, Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos, in turn, had a day to forget. Salah managed to nudge the ball between the legs of both K.
