Monday News (includes West Ham)
Posted: 30 Dec 2024, 10:14
BBC
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, is on the verge of signing for Real Madrid, with the England international continuing to ignore new offers to extend his current contract that expires this summer. (AS - in Spanish), external
Liverpool will move for Bayer Leverkusen's Netherlands full-back Jeremie Frimpong and Bayern Munich's Canada full-back Alphonso Davies, both 24, if Alexander-Arnold joins the Madrid outfit. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester City are eyeing Nottingham Forest's Nigerian international right-back Ola Aina, 28, as a replacement for their 34-year-old Englishman Kyle Walker. (Sun), external
Arsenal are interested in Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia, 23, but the La Liga club remain insistent the Spaniard's £25m release clause is paid. (Mirror), external
Portugal and Al-Nassr forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 39, has refused to rule out a move to Manchester City, despite having played for rivals Manchester United over two spells. (Talksport), external
Chelsea are set to rival Manchester United for the signing of France and Paris St-Germain striker Randal Kolo Muani, 26. (Foot Mercato - in French), external
Newcastle United are interested in £25m Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov, but face competition for the Uzbekistan international, 20, from Premier League rivals Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Wolves. (Chronicle), external
Crystal Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell, 25, is not keen on committing his long-term future to the London club, with La Liga side Atletico Madrid interested in the Englishman. (Caught Offside), external
Manchester City are unlikely to pursue Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi, 25, who remains unwilling to move to England from Real Sociedad. (TBR Football), external
Brighton are planning to recall 23-year-old goalkeeper Carl Rushworth from his loan spell at Hull City amid Premier League interest in the Englishman. (Football Insider), external
Southampton and Ipswich are both keen to sign Rennes and Finland midfielder Glen Kamara, 29, in January. (TBR Football), external
Real Betis are in talks with representatives of Brazilian midfielder Arthur, 28, over a loan move from Juventus. (Sport - in Spanish)
Sky Paper Talk
THE SUN
Arsenal and Manchester City could battle for Martin Zubimendi next month, according to reports.
Liverpool continue to compile a dossier on Sheffield United's teenage striker Ryan One.
Wolves have Sunderland No 1 Anthony Patterson on their radar again in case they lose one of their own keepers at Molineux.
Manchester United are reportedly struggling to negotiate new deals with Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.
Real Madrid are closing in on the signing of Trent Alexander-Arnold, according to reports in Spain.
Nottingham Forest's Ola Aina is on Manchester City's wishlist as they cast a net for Kyle Walker's long-term replacement.
Demarai Gray has told Al Ettifaq he wants to leave next month amid interest from Fulham.
DAILY MIRROR
Chelsea are hoping to offload five players in the January transfer window, with manager Enzo Maresca keen to trim his squad down further following a summer of change.
Porto boss Vitor Bruno has denied claims that Fabio Vieira is set to be recalled by Arsenal.
DAILY MAIL
Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly getting ready to capitalise on Barcelona's failure to re-register summer signing Dani Olmo with LaLiga, and plot a move for the Spanish star.
Pep Guardiola accidentally revealed that Erling Haaland has become a first-time father in the past few days.
THE ATHLETIC
Wolverhampton Wanderers will be without defender Toti for three to four weeks due to a hamstring injury.
Aston Villa are considering recalling Samuel Iling-Junior from his season-long loan at Bologna.
Nottingham Forest preserved their record of having a homegrown player in every matchday squad since 1941 by including 18-year-old Zach Abbott on the bench at Everton.
Anthony Gordon insists he has "no plans" to leave Newcastle United and "intends" to see out his long-term contract on Tyneside, believing a trophy and Champions League qualification can cement the club's status among the elite.
DAILY EXPRESS
Manchester United could give striker prodigy Chido Obi-Martin his debut before the end of the season, according to reports.
Wayne Rooney has hinted at resigning from his role as Plymouth Argyle manager after a string of poor results, with the team languishing at the bottom of the Championship.
DAILY RECORD
Jim Goodwin hopes the Aberdeen supporters who threw an empty vodka bottle and missiles at him and his Dundee United backroom team are caught and thrown out of football for life.
Out of favour Jota has been called out by Stade Rennes boss Jorge Sampaoli over his fitness levels with speculation over a January move escalating.
SCOTTISH SUN
Kasper Schmeichel has confirmed he will hold talks over his Celtic future next month.
Dunfermline are eyeing a move for Kelty Hearts gaffer Michael Tidser.
Guardian
Salah stars as Liverpool rout West Ham to move leaders eight points clear
Barney Ronay at the London Stadium
With 54 minutes gone at London Stadium, Trent Alexander-Arnold took a pass from Ryan Gravenberch with time to wait and look up, the lack of pressure from the West Ham players almost a public snub, before spanking a deflected shot past Alphonse Areola to make it 4-0 to Liverpool and kill off once again a game that was already long since dead.
In the process Alexander-Arnold did at least provide a moment of cartoon drama, performing a slightly embarrassed silencing-the-chatter celebration, one hand raised to his ear. Perhaps this was a reference to stories overnight about a move to Real Madrid, something parts of the Spanish media have suggested is all but formalised.
It was at the very least a note of rare second-half interest on an evening when Liverpool stopped at 5-0 up, Diogo Jota adding another near the end after West Ham’s entire defence and midfield had watched closely as Mohamed Salah did some dribbling.
The result means Liverpool will enter 2025 top of the Premier League by at least seven points, and with at least one game in hand on those in their slipstream. Arne Slot’s team were once again coherent, energetic and well balanced, the goals shared between that re-energised front three. The weather can change, teams can stumble, force majeure can intervene. The rest of the league is going to need help from all three to prevent the five months becoming an extended procession.
On the other hand, Liverpool won’t get to play West Ham every week, which is probably best for everyone concerned. It would be wrong to say West Ham collapsed in the first half here. This would imply some kind of initial resistance. Instead Julen Lopetegui’s team walked out prepped and ready to dissolve like an over‑dunked digestive biscuit.
London Stadium had been a dank, dark end-of-days kind of place at kick-off, ringed with dying Olympic towers and legacy megaliths, looming up into the east London fog like crashed imperial command cruisers.
There was a fuzzy, hungover start, both teams warily pacing out their patterns. With five minutes gone West Ham had the first sniff of a break. Bad idea. Almost immediately Liverpool woke up and should have scored, Cody Gakpo gliding inside and nudging a lovely diagonal pass to Salah close to goal, only for Areola to make a fine diving block.
Already it all looked alarmingly easy for Liverpool. Curtis Jones had started in his advanced pass‑and‑press attacking role, with Gakpo on the left and Luis Díaz roving mischievously from the centre. West Ham never got to grips with their movement. This isn’t so much a poor West Ham team right now as a totally disconnected one, a collection of shirts vaguely bunched together, like washing on a line.
Liverpool counterpressed well in that period, albeit stealing the ball comes easier when your opponent seems horrified to find it at his feet in the first place. Díaz skated inside and drew another fine save, the precarious force field around the West Ham six-yard box continuing to spit and fizzle.
The goal finally arrived with 29 minutes gone. Díaz dropped deep and took a short pass from Alexander-Arnold, then tried to feed a cute little pass in to Jones. At which point West Ham produced their most incisive one-touch combination of the half, Konstantinos Mavropanos blocking the ball against Vladimir Coufal, who deflected it straight back into the path of Díaz, who ran on to finish calmly.
Joe Gomez went off injured – a hamstring problem which will see the player “out for quite a bit”, Slot later said – replaced by Jarell Quansah. Almost immediately Quansah was a little slow to close down Mohammed Kudus, who shot low and hard and clipped the outside of the post.
No matter. Within two minutes it was 2-0. This time it came from a Díaz break, a pass inside to Salah, and an improvised turn that saw him heel-clip the ball through the legs of Mavropanos, then skitter past to retrieve it as the defender stumbled like a diplodocus being menaced by a velociraptor. The ball was passed to Gakpo who scored.
Did Salah mean it? Probably not quite like that. But he was definitely smart and balanced and physically creative enough to adapt it into a lovely little bespoke moment of skill. And before half-time it was three. Of course it was. This time Carlos Soler gave the ball away. Jones fed it to Salah and he shot with embarrassing ease into the corner.
This game was basically over at the halfway point, as had seemed inevitable from the first low‑throttle exchanges. And so the new age rolls on without, as yet, the slightest friction. Liverpool Football Club has fallen hard for Slot in the past four months. There has been a dreamy quality to that journey from August sunlight to the chill of December, an unexpected sense of drowning in honey.
It seems only logical that the world will intrude at some point. It will be necessary to look down, to feel a little vertigo. Success always comes with snags and difficult moments. But it feels a distant hope for the rest of the field. This was slick, ruthless champion form, victory with strength in reserve.
The Athletic
West Ham end 2024 with their calling card – conceding a heap of goals
By Roshane Thomas
It was intended as a harmless joke when a West Ham United supporter in the upper tier of the West Stand chorused: “How s**t must you be? It’s only 5-0.” Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
Sunday’s chastening 5-0 loss to Liverpool could have been worse. There were numerous parts of the game when Mohamed Salah single-handedly terrorised West Ham’s defence. When Liverpool were serenely comfortable, they showed mercy to Julen Lopetegui’s side but knew they had the capability to sustain their attacking efficiency. As for West Ham, it was their eighth league defeat and there is a recurring theme about the manner of their losses.
They have conceded three or more goals eight times this season. A picture of their defence may appear if you were to look up the definition of porous. It is a title they have shrugged to shake off, similar to their inability to withstand pressure.
In their two games against Liverpool this season, they have conceded a total of 10 goals (they were beaten 5-1 by them in the Carabao Cup in September). Post-match, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was magnanimous in not revealing how he exploited weaknesses in West Ham’s defence, but for Lopetegui’s side, it is clear that no lessons were learned from heavy defeats to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Arsenal this season.
This year, West Ham have conceded 79 goals, the most by any Premier League club, while it is also their most league goals conceded in a calendar year since 1967 (85).
A few well-delivered words can help lift the mood in times like this, but Lopetegui’s plea for improvement post-Liverpool is no different to what he said after defeats to Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, or Leicester City.
“For sure, we are worried about this (our defensive record),” said Lopetegui post-match. “We are not the first opponent that they were able to overcome like this. I think they have played 15 matches away and have won 15 or 14, but we can and have to do better. We have to accept that today has been a very tough day for all of us.
“Above all, for our fans, too. We didn’t deserve more. Today has been a hard loss at home. We have to accept it. We have to learn. We have to look forward and to know that we have a lot of things to learn in these types of matches.”
Lopetegui wants his team to play a high defensive line, but his preferred back four of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Maximilian Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Emerson Palmieri have struggled. Vladimir Coufal started against Liverpool, but the outcome was no different.
The graphic below, with the inclusion of Jean-Clair Todibo, who was introduced at half-time, shows Salah being sent through on goal following a pass threaded by Alexis Mac Allister. Alphonse Areola, deputising for the injured Lukasz Fabianski, denied the forward from close range.
The loss to Leicester City in early December is another example of West Ham’s defence struggling to sustain a high defensive line. Jamie Vardy timed his run to perfection to score inside the opening two minutes.
Just before the hour mark, Coufal and Mavropanos played Patson Daka and Kasey McAteer onside. This attacking move culminated in Leicester scoring a second via Bilal El Khannous.
In the same game, Kilman, the £40million summer signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers, is the last man when Daka drives past the defender to seal victory for his side. This was not the first time Kilman has been left exposed.
In West Ham’s previous game, a 5-2 humbling at the hands of Arsenal, forward Leandro Trossard quickly plays a long ball to Kai Havertz, leaving Kilman as the last man.
The defender misses the ball and Havertz duly converts. These are just a few examples in a long list of the team struggling to adjust to Lopetegui’s preferred style of play.
Confidence in the Spaniard’s ability continues to ebb. A good portion of the campaign has seen West Ham play vapid football. It is no surprise supporters felt compelled to boo at full time.
Perhaps, in hindsight, West Ham’s hierarchy will ponder whether it was wise appointing Lopetegui as David Moyes’ successor. When the camera panned to majority shareholder David Sullivan, he was deep in conversation with his eldest son, Dave. Vice-chair Karren Brady, however, was motionless. Lopetegui can be grateful the duo no longer operate with the cut-throat tendencies they showed in their earlier years.
But the speed of West Ham’s regression remains a concern. At this stage in 2023-24, they were sixth in the table, having just sealed an away win against Arsenal. Their decline mirrors that feeling you get when you are watching an underwhelming film but have already committed to seeing it through. You hope it improves, but it does not and you are left to rue the hours you wasted. That is how this season feels under Lopetegui.
West Ham’s four-game unbeaten run against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton earlier this month was fortuitous. That quartet of opponents were profligate with their opportunities, but West Ham finally came spectacularly unstuck against a better opposition in Liverpool.
To compound matters, they face Manchester City next and could be without captain Jarrod Bowen. The forward sustained an injury against Liverpool following a mistimed challenge from Mac Allister.
Life without Bowen is unimaginable, but the same cannot be said about Lopetegui.
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, is on the verge of signing for Real Madrid, with the England international continuing to ignore new offers to extend his current contract that expires this summer. (AS - in Spanish), external
Liverpool will move for Bayer Leverkusen's Netherlands full-back Jeremie Frimpong and Bayern Munich's Canada full-back Alphonso Davies, both 24, if Alexander-Arnold joins the Madrid outfit. (Teamtalk), external
Manchester City are eyeing Nottingham Forest's Nigerian international right-back Ola Aina, 28, as a replacement for their 34-year-old Englishman Kyle Walker. (Sun), external
Arsenal are interested in Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia, 23, but the La Liga club remain insistent the Spaniard's £25m release clause is paid. (Mirror), external
Portugal and Al-Nassr forward Cristiano Ronaldo, 39, has refused to rule out a move to Manchester City, despite having played for rivals Manchester United over two spells. (Talksport), external
Chelsea are set to rival Manchester United for the signing of France and Paris St-Germain striker Randal Kolo Muani, 26. (Foot Mercato - in French), external
Newcastle United are interested in £25m Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov, but face competition for the Uzbekistan international, 20, from Premier League rivals Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Wolves. (Chronicle), external
Crystal Palace left-back Tyrick Mitchell, 25, is not keen on committing his long-term future to the London club, with La Liga side Atletico Madrid interested in the Englishman. (Caught Offside), external
Manchester City are unlikely to pursue Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi, 25, who remains unwilling to move to England from Real Sociedad. (TBR Football), external
Brighton are planning to recall 23-year-old goalkeeper Carl Rushworth from his loan spell at Hull City amid Premier League interest in the Englishman. (Football Insider), external
Southampton and Ipswich are both keen to sign Rennes and Finland midfielder Glen Kamara, 29, in January. (TBR Football), external
Real Betis are in talks with representatives of Brazilian midfielder Arthur, 28, over a loan move from Juventus. (Sport - in Spanish)
Sky Paper Talk
THE SUN
Arsenal and Manchester City could battle for Martin Zubimendi next month, according to reports.
Liverpool continue to compile a dossier on Sheffield United's teenage striker Ryan One.
Wolves have Sunderland No 1 Anthony Patterson on their radar again in case they lose one of their own keepers at Molineux.
Manchester United are reportedly struggling to negotiate new deals with Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.
Real Madrid are closing in on the signing of Trent Alexander-Arnold, according to reports in Spain.
Nottingham Forest's Ola Aina is on Manchester City's wishlist as they cast a net for Kyle Walker's long-term replacement.
Demarai Gray has told Al Ettifaq he wants to leave next month amid interest from Fulham.
DAILY MIRROR
Chelsea are hoping to offload five players in the January transfer window, with manager Enzo Maresca keen to trim his squad down further following a summer of change.
Porto boss Vitor Bruno has denied claims that Fabio Vieira is set to be recalled by Arsenal.
DAILY MAIL
Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly getting ready to capitalise on Barcelona's failure to re-register summer signing Dani Olmo with LaLiga, and plot a move for the Spanish star.
Pep Guardiola accidentally revealed that Erling Haaland has become a first-time father in the past few days.
THE ATHLETIC
Wolverhampton Wanderers will be without defender Toti for three to four weeks due to a hamstring injury.
Aston Villa are considering recalling Samuel Iling-Junior from his season-long loan at Bologna.
Nottingham Forest preserved their record of having a homegrown player in every matchday squad since 1941 by including 18-year-old Zach Abbott on the bench at Everton.
Anthony Gordon insists he has "no plans" to leave Newcastle United and "intends" to see out his long-term contract on Tyneside, believing a trophy and Champions League qualification can cement the club's status among the elite.
DAILY EXPRESS
Manchester United could give striker prodigy Chido Obi-Martin his debut before the end of the season, according to reports.
Wayne Rooney has hinted at resigning from his role as Plymouth Argyle manager after a string of poor results, with the team languishing at the bottom of the Championship.
DAILY RECORD
Jim Goodwin hopes the Aberdeen supporters who threw an empty vodka bottle and missiles at him and his Dundee United backroom team are caught and thrown out of football for life.
Out of favour Jota has been called out by Stade Rennes boss Jorge Sampaoli over his fitness levels with speculation over a January move escalating.
SCOTTISH SUN
Kasper Schmeichel has confirmed he will hold talks over his Celtic future next month.
Dunfermline are eyeing a move for Kelty Hearts gaffer Michael Tidser.
Guardian
Salah stars as Liverpool rout West Ham to move leaders eight points clear
Barney Ronay at the London Stadium
With 54 minutes gone at London Stadium, Trent Alexander-Arnold took a pass from Ryan Gravenberch with time to wait and look up, the lack of pressure from the West Ham players almost a public snub, before spanking a deflected shot past Alphonse Areola to make it 4-0 to Liverpool and kill off once again a game that was already long since dead.
In the process Alexander-Arnold did at least provide a moment of cartoon drama, performing a slightly embarrassed silencing-the-chatter celebration, one hand raised to his ear. Perhaps this was a reference to stories overnight about a move to Real Madrid, something parts of the Spanish media have suggested is all but formalised.
It was at the very least a note of rare second-half interest on an evening when Liverpool stopped at 5-0 up, Diogo Jota adding another near the end after West Ham’s entire defence and midfield had watched closely as Mohamed Salah did some dribbling.
The result means Liverpool will enter 2025 top of the Premier League by at least seven points, and with at least one game in hand on those in their slipstream. Arne Slot’s team were once again coherent, energetic and well balanced, the goals shared between that re-energised front three. The weather can change, teams can stumble, force majeure can intervene. The rest of the league is going to need help from all three to prevent the five months becoming an extended procession.
On the other hand, Liverpool won’t get to play West Ham every week, which is probably best for everyone concerned. It would be wrong to say West Ham collapsed in the first half here. This would imply some kind of initial resistance. Instead Julen Lopetegui’s team walked out prepped and ready to dissolve like an over‑dunked digestive biscuit.
London Stadium had been a dank, dark end-of-days kind of place at kick-off, ringed with dying Olympic towers and legacy megaliths, looming up into the east London fog like crashed imperial command cruisers.
There was a fuzzy, hungover start, both teams warily pacing out their patterns. With five minutes gone West Ham had the first sniff of a break. Bad idea. Almost immediately Liverpool woke up and should have scored, Cody Gakpo gliding inside and nudging a lovely diagonal pass to Salah close to goal, only for Areola to make a fine diving block.
Already it all looked alarmingly easy for Liverpool. Curtis Jones had started in his advanced pass‑and‑press attacking role, with Gakpo on the left and Luis Díaz roving mischievously from the centre. West Ham never got to grips with their movement. This isn’t so much a poor West Ham team right now as a totally disconnected one, a collection of shirts vaguely bunched together, like washing on a line.
Liverpool counterpressed well in that period, albeit stealing the ball comes easier when your opponent seems horrified to find it at his feet in the first place. Díaz skated inside and drew another fine save, the precarious force field around the West Ham six-yard box continuing to spit and fizzle.
The goal finally arrived with 29 minutes gone. Díaz dropped deep and took a short pass from Alexander-Arnold, then tried to feed a cute little pass in to Jones. At which point West Ham produced their most incisive one-touch combination of the half, Konstantinos Mavropanos blocking the ball against Vladimir Coufal, who deflected it straight back into the path of Díaz, who ran on to finish calmly.
Joe Gomez went off injured – a hamstring problem which will see the player “out for quite a bit”, Slot later said – replaced by Jarell Quansah. Almost immediately Quansah was a little slow to close down Mohammed Kudus, who shot low and hard and clipped the outside of the post.
No matter. Within two minutes it was 2-0. This time it came from a Díaz break, a pass inside to Salah, and an improvised turn that saw him heel-clip the ball through the legs of Mavropanos, then skitter past to retrieve it as the defender stumbled like a diplodocus being menaced by a velociraptor. The ball was passed to Gakpo who scored.
Did Salah mean it? Probably not quite like that. But he was definitely smart and balanced and physically creative enough to adapt it into a lovely little bespoke moment of skill. And before half-time it was three. Of course it was. This time Carlos Soler gave the ball away. Jones fed it to Salah and he shot with embarrassing ease into the corner.
This game was basically over at the halfway point, as had seemed inevitable from the first low‑throttle exchanges. And so the new age rolls on without, as yet, the slightest friction. Liverpool Football Club has fallen hard for Slot in the past four months. There has been a dreamy quality to that journey from August sunlight to the chill of December, an unexpected sense of drowning in honey.
It seems only logical that the world will intrude at some point. It will be necessary to look down, to feel a little vertigo. Success always comes with snags and difficult moments. But it feels a distant hope for the rest of the field. This was slick, ruthless champion form, victory with strength in reserve.
The Athletic
West Ham end 2024 with their calling card – conceding a heap of goals
By Roshane Thomas
It was intended as a harmless joke when a West Ham United supporter in the upper tier of the West Stand chorused: “How s**t must you be? It’s only 5-0.” Yet there was a mirthless response from those around him; a realisation there was an element of truth to his chant.
Sunday’s chastening 5-0 loss to Liverpool could have been worse. There were numerous parts of the game when Mohamed Salah single-handedly terrorised West Ham’s defence. When Liverpool were serenely comfortable, they showed mercy to Julen Lopetegui’s side but knew they had the capability to sustain their attacking efficiency. As for West Ham, it was their eighth league defeat and there is a recurring theme about the manner of their losses.
They have conceded three or more goals eight times this season. A picture of their defence may appear if you were to look up the definition of porous. It is a title they have shrugged to shake off, similar to their inability to withstand pressure.
In their two games against Liverpool this season, they have conceded a total of 10 goals (they were beaten 5-1 by them in the Carabao Cup in September). Post-match, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was magnanimous in not revealing how he exploited weaknesses in West Ham’s defence, but for Lopetegui’s side, it is clear that no lessons were learned from heavy defeats to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Arsenal this season.
This year, West Ham have conceded 79 goals, the most by any Premier League club, while it is also their most league goals conceded in a calendar year since 1967 (85).
A few well-delivered words can help lift the mood in times like this, but Lopetegui’s plea for improvement post-Liverpool is no different to what he said after defeats to Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, or Leicester City.
“For sure, we are worried about this (our defensive record),” said Lopetegui post-match. “We are not the first opponent that they were able to overcome like this. I think they have played 15 matches away and have won 15 or 14, but we can and have to do better. We have to accept that today has been a very tough day for all of us.
“Above all, for our fans, too. We didn’t deserve more. Today has been a hard loss at home. We have to accept it. We have to learn. We have to look forward and to know that we have a lot of things to learn in these types of matches.”
Lopetegui wants his team to play a high defensive line, but his preferred back four of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Maximilian Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Emerson Palmieri have struggled. Vladimir Coufal started against Liverpool, but the outcome was no different.
The graphic below, with the inclusion of Jean-Clair Todibo, who was introduced at half-time, shows Salah being sent through on goal following a pass threaded by Alexis Mac Allister. Alphonse Areola, deputising for the injured Lukasz Fabianski, denied the forward from close range.
The loss to Leicester City in early December is another example of West Ham’s defence struggling to sustain a high defensive line. Jamie Vardy timed his run to perfection to score inside the opening two minutes.
Just before the hour mark, Coufal and Mavropanos played Patson Daka and Kasey McAteer onside. This attacking move culminated in Leicester scoring a second via Bilal El Khannous.
In the same game, Kilman, the £40million summer signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers, is the last man when Daka drives past the defender to seal victory for his side. This was not the first time Kilman has been left exposed.
In West Ham’s previous game, a 5-2 humbling at the hands of Arsenal, forward Leandro Trossard quickly plays a long ball to Kai Havertz, leaving Kilman as the last man.
The defender misses the ball and Havertz duly converts. These are just a few examples in a long list of the team struggling to adjust to Lopetegui’s preferred style of play.
Confidence in the Spaniard’s ability continues to ebb. A good portion of the campaign has seen West Ham play vapid football. It is no surprise supporters felt compelled to boo at full time.
Perhaps, in hindsight, West Ham’s hierarchy will ponder whether it was wise appointing Lopetegui as David Moyes’ successor. When the camera panned to majority shareholder David Sullivan, he was deep in conversation with his eldest son, Dave. Vice-chair Karren Brady, however, was motionless. Lopetegui can be grateful the duo no longer operate with the cut-throat tendencies they showed in their earlier years.
But the speed of West Ham’s regression remains a concern. At this stage in 2023-24, they were sixth in the table, having just sealed an away win against Arsenal. Their decline mirrors that feeling you get when you are watching an underwhelming film but have already committed to seeing it through. You hope it improves, but it does not and you are left to rue the hours you wasted. That is how this season feels under Lopetegui.
West Ham’s four-game unbeaten run against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton earlier this month was fortuitous. That quartet of opponents were profligate with their opportunities, but West Ham finally came spectacularly unstuck against a better opposition in Liverpool.
To compound matters, they face Manchester City next and could be without captain Jarrod Bowen. The forward sustained an injury against Liverpool following a mistimed challenge from Mac Allister.
Life without Bowen is unimaginable, but the same cannot be said about Lopetegui.