West Ham United will have found themselves walking down the tunnel 3-0 behind at Anfield, wondering what on earth has gone wrong against Arne Slot’s Liverpool.

The answer to that question, of course, is some poor set-piece defending, some Liverpool luck, and a fair few near misses.

Nuno selected the same Hammers XI as the one which wasted chance after chance against AFC Bournemouth last week. This at times felt like a similar performance; plenty of nice moves, some lovely stuff from Mateus Fernandes, Malick Diouf and Crysencio Summerville, but a lack of ruthlessness and an absence of good fortune, coupled with a defensive disaster.

The type of which West Ham United haven’t seen for a while.

A disaster of a first-half at Anfield! 🤬

What did you make off the offside call for Van Dijk’s goal?

The visitors fell behind after only five minutes when Hugo Ekitike – David Moyes vetoed a deal for the Liverpool forward a few years back, just to rub salt into the wounds – fired a deflected effort past Mads Hermansen.

Liverpool’s second, a header from Virgil van Dijk, felt contentious on first viewing. But Leon Osman, speaking on the World Feed, felt that the officials made the right decision both allowing Van Dijk’s goal and also by turning down a penalty appeal by a desperate Taty Castellanos before Alexis Mac Allister rifled in a third.

Liverpool benefit from referee calls as West Ham United fall to pieces at Anfield

Joe Gomez was certainly in an offside position right in the eye line of Hermansen as Van Dijk rose to meet another Liverpool corner.

Osman, though, feels that the England international was not really interfering with the Hammers keeper given that a ball bound for the bottom corner was never within Hermansen’s grasp.

“West Ham will be furious. Nuno in particular,” former Everton midfielder Osman said. “Yes, [Gomez] was in an offside position, but he certainly wasn’t affecting [Hermansen].

“For the last 20 minutes or so, West Ham will have been pretty pleased with how they performed. But if you are going to concede soft goals and from set pieces, you give yourself a mountain to climb. It doesn’t matter how well you play in the game.

“Whether we think Gomez is interfering – you can see the contact on the goalkeeper – but all of that comes before Van Dijk touches the ball. In that moment, I don’t think the keeper could do anything about it anyway, as it was well-placed by Van Dijk.

“There was an understanding [from the West Ham players who never really complained]. It wasn’t really affecting how he could dive for the ball.”

How badly have we missed Pablo Felipe? 👀

Nuno wants him back ASAP 👇

Taty Castellanos fails in an attempt to win a penalty

Castellanos went tumbling, soon after, following an apparent shrug from Ibrahima Konate as Aaron Wan-Bissaka slung in a cross from the right.

“I do think Konate made a move to put hands on Castellanos but I don’t know if it affected the West Ham striker,” adds Osman, feeling that the Argentine exaggerated the contact amid a cross which flew well over his head.

“In my opinion, I don’t think that’s enough to be a penalty kick.

“[Liverpool] have been ruthless when the chances have come. Physically, winning battles when it counts. It doesn’t matter how you score them.

“At 3-0, it looks like too much for West Ham to claw back.”