If anything told the tale of the contrasting starts Arne Slot and Julen Lopetegui have had in their new jobs, it was this.
Liverpool had won five of their six games under Slot coming into this third round League Cup tie while West Ham had managed just one victory since Lopetegui took charge.
After being booed off following their 3-0 defeat by Chelsea last weekend, the one thing the Hammers boss did not need was a heavy defeat.
But what had been a spirited performance quickly turned embarrassing when Edson Alvarez saw red for a second bookable offence in the 75th minute. His dismissal came just after Mohammed Salah had made it 3-1, following a brace from Diogo Jota after Jarrel Quansah’s own goal had given West Ham an early lead.
Liverpool smelled blood and Lopetegui’s 10-men crumbled. Cody Gakpo added two goals in stoppage time to put the icing on the cake for Slot and heap more pressure on Lopetegui’s shoulders.
Arne Slot had said he wanted his Liverpool side to be inspired by history in their Carabao Cup defence
Diogo Jota (pictured) scored a brace for the Reds as they beat West Ham 5-1 at Anfield
Mohamed Slaah (centre) came off the bench to score after Jarell Quansah had put through his own net
The Spaniard was unhappy that his side had two second half penalty appeals turned down, the first against Joe Gomez and the second against Kostas Tsimikas
But replays showed the officials appeared to get those decisions right. Lopetegui also felt Liverpool’s first goal was offside. It was a tight call and with VAR not in use, the benefit went to the attacking team.
‘I think that we don’t deserve this score,’ Lopetegui said. ‘I prefer not to talk about the referee, it is very clear for me today, the key decisions have been against us.
‘After the red card it was much more difficult. The last part of the match was very bad for us. The picture was not good, but we don’t deserve this.’
Liverpool have won this competition a record 10 times and Slot had referenced the special way Jurgen Klopp guided a young team to victory last season. But he had encouraged his team to start their own journey – and that is now in full swing, with a fourth-round trip to Brighton awaiting his team.
‘It’s a difficult draw,’ Slot said. ‘But I think almost all the teams that were still in are strong teams and if you want to win a trophy then you will play against difficult opponents.
‘We showed today we have many quality players.’
Slot made nine changes to his starting XI, including a debut for Federico Chiesa, while Lopetegui made seven.
Both teams had chances before Danny Ings thought he had opened the scoring in the 18th minute, only for the offside flag to go up. But West Ham had the ball in Liverpool’s net again minutes later, courtesy of a defensive mix-up.
Quansah put through his own net early following a defensive mix-up during a West Ham corner
Julen Lopetegui was left fuming by Liverpool’s equaliser, feeling Cody Gakpo had been offside in the build-up
Max Kilman headed on a corner and the ball dropped to Alvarez in front of goal. The midfielder was unable to get a shot off but was helped out by Wataru Endo, who sent a scruffy clearance against team-mate Quansah, with the ball bouncing into his own net.
But West Ham’s lead lasted just four minutes. Gakpo’s cross was volleyed into the ground by Chiesa and Jota out-jumped Kilman and Lukasz Fabianski to nod the ball into the back of the net. Jota was on the scoresheet again shortly after half-time but his goal came after West Ham had seen a penalty appeal turned down.
Carlos Soler’s flicked pass hit the hand of Gomez but referee Andy Madley waved the protests away and Liverpool quickly turned defence into attack. Curtis Jones started the move as he brought the ball out of his own half and played a one-two with Gakpo before feeding Jota, who slotted into the bottom right corner.
As West Ham pushed forward for an equaliser, another penalty appeal waved was waved away by the officials. Vladimir Coufal sent in a cross that hit Tsimikas, but the ball appeared to hit the defender’s stomach rather than his outstretched hand.
Liverpool again went down the other end to find the net as Salah finished from close range after Alexis Mac Allister’s effort had been saved by Fabianski.
Edson Alvarez made West Ham’s night worse when he was sent off on the back of a second yellow card for a foul on Salah
Gakpo then added insult to injury by netting twice late on to ensure the goal tally reached five
Slot had praised Klopp’s winning of the competition last year, but reaffirmed that this is now a new era
While a frustrated Lopetegui saw yellow for arguing with the officials, Alvarez quickly saw red for a silly challenge on Salah. The midfielder was already on a yellow card when he hacked the forward down and he could have no complaints about the decision.
Liverpool made their extra man count as Gakpo fired in two fine goals, his first a fierce effort from the edge of the area, his second a strike that deflected off Jean-Clair Todbio. It could have got worse for West Ham but Fabianski did brilliantly to push a long-range Mac Allister strike onto the post.
