After the stalemate, the slaughter. Liverpool channelled the frustration of being held by Manchester United into an emphatic destruction of 😄 West Ham to book their place in the League Cup semi-finals for a record 19th time. David Moyes’s team were 😄 abysmal, and the 6,000-strong travelling support let them know it, but the truth is West Ham were pounded into submission.
Dominik 😄 Szoboszlai’s spectacular opener was in keeping with a superb Liverpool performance in which Curtis Jones excelled with two goals, Mohamed 😄 Salah came off the bench to take his usual place on the scoresheet and Cody Gakpo also breached Alphonse Areola’s 😄 nonexistent defence.
Moyes has now visited Anfield 21 times as a manager without a victory. At no point in a punishing 😄 quarter-final was that sorry statistic unlikely to continue.
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The West Ham manager pleaded for perspective having rotated to deal with “the quickest turnaround of 😄 any team in the Premier League” – they host Manchester United at 12.30pm on Saturday – and a demanding schedule. 😄 But he and West Ham’s fans had every right to expect more fight and commitment at Anfield.
“Only Liverpool and Manchester 😄 City have played more games than us over the last three years,” Moyes argued. “We’d won seven of our last 😄 nine. We’ve had an unbelievable run. What would West Ham’s expectations be? Would you expect us to win a European 😄 trophy? Would you expect us to be challenging for the Champions League? That’s the facts. We’re doing well for what 😄 we’re doing.”
Klopp’s only complaints were a lack of atmosphere in the Main Stand and criticism of Darwin Núñez’s recent form. 😄 Otherwise, as he noted: “Tonight was one of those that you can enjoy from start to finish.”
Liverpool were intent on 😄 making the night a horrible experience for West Ham from the kick-off. There was illness in the visiting camp, depriving 😄 Moyes of several options, but the West Ham players fit to start must have felt queasy from the constant blur 😄 of red shirts that swarmed around them.
West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola is unable to stop a thumping strike by Dominik 😄 Szoboszlai which opens the scoring. Photograph: Paul Currie/Shutterstock
The intensity of Liverpool’s counter-press was remarkable. Klopp’s side had started with similar 😄 energy against Manchester United but were unable to make it count because of a poor final ball or decision. Despite 😄 fielding six changes to the goalless draw on Sunday, there was more composure and patience to Liverpool’s attacking play against 😄 the Hammers and no way out for Moyes’s team.
The inevitable breakthrough arrived in style when the highly impressive Jarell Quansah 😄 took the ball off Saïd Benrahma and found Szoboszlai in space on the right. The Hungary captain swept an unstoppable 😄 long-range shot into Areola’s far corner.
Liverpool’s immense efforts merited greater backing from their fans, according to Klopp, who gestured to 😄 the crowd sat behind him to increase the volume. “It is a really tough period and I was happy we 😄 could show a performance like we did,” said the manager, whose team will play Fulham in the semi-finals.
“I was not 😄 overly happy with the atmosphere behind me. I was like: ‘What do you want?’ We changed the team a lot 😄 and we dominated West Ham. If I had been in the crowd I would have been on my toes. Was 😄 everyone down because we didn’t smash Manchester United? It was not negativity, it was just not the excitement that I 😄 felt. There were so many performances and challenges to celebrate.”
Klopp stressed the need for home fans to turn up the 😄 noise against Arsenal this weekend. “We need Anfield on Saturday. Arsenal didn’t play this week. They’ve prepared for this game 😄 … so we need Anfield on their toes from the first second. If it is too much football in December, 😄 if you are not in the right shape, give your ticket to somebody else.”
Some West Ham fans booed when the 😄 half-time whistle sounded. If they were complaining about the total absence of attacking endeavour from their team then fair enough, 😄 but Liverpool’s dominant display was the main reason West Ham were nullified.
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The 😄 “killer” second goal, according to Moyes, arrived early in the second half. Jones started and finished the move, turning well 😄 in midfield and finding Núñez before darting into the area. The Uruguay forward, an influential menace all night, found the 😄 midfielder’s run perfectly. Angelo Ogbonna was the covering defender but halted his run to block off an anticipated cross from 😄 Jones. He stared aghast at Areola, and for quite some time, when Jones simply threaded a shot through the goalkeeper’s 😄 legs and into the far corner.
It took 71 minutes for Moyes’s team to have their first shot at Caoimhín Kelleher’s 😄 goal. Mohammed Kudus’s tame effort that drifted over the Liverpool keeper’s crossbar was not worth the wait.
Liverpool’s third encapsulated the 😄 lack of desire and aggression in West Ham’s second‑half performance. Ibrahima Konaté, on as a substitute, drifted upfield and barely 😄 met a challenge worthy of the name as he advanced into the visitors’ half and found Gakpo. The Netherlands international 😄 drove into the bottom corner from 20 yards out as defenders backed off.
Jarrod Bowen pulled one back when racing on 😄 to Johnson’s ball over the top and beating Kelleher with a fine finish having cut inside Quansah. But that was 😄 simply the cue for Liverpool to crank up their display to humiliation mode.
Two substitutes, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah, combined brilliantly 😄 for the fourth. Alexander-Arnold released the forward with a sublime first‑time pass out of defence and Salah sent a cool 😄 finish past Areola.
Jones applied the coup de grâce in the final moments when running beyond a procession of half‑hearted tackles 😄 and finding the far corner.
