West Ham were their own worst enemy as they waved the white flag in the relegation battle by losing 5-2 at Liverpool with captain Jarrod Bowen poor once again.

Every time West Ham have a chance to pile pressure on the teams above them in the relegation battle, they flop.

That was the case again as the Hammers were laughably fragile at the back to ship five goals at Anfield and in the process hand the impetus to Nottingham Forest and Spurs to potentially leave them stranded in the bottom three again.

After fighting so hard to close the gap over the last six weeks, this kind of meek surrender is galling.

West Ham failed to beat Bournemouth at home last weekend but got away with it when Forest and Spurs lost.

Bowen one of West Ham’s poorest performers at worst possible time

Anfield has never been a happy hunting ground for the Hammers – but this is a Liverpool side that is there to be got at.

West Ham played relatively well in open play but their Achilles heel for so long has been their defending from set pieces.

Who was West Ham’s STAND OUT player at Anfield? 🌟

Was anyone better than Fernandes?

And that weakness reared its ugly head yet again as the Hammers went in at the break 3-0 down.

West Ham got a goal back through Tomas Soucek in the second half but the defence backed off Cody Gakpo to Roger Johnson levels, allowing the Dutchman a shot at goal from seven yards out without having to break a sweat.

Taty Castellanos reacted to head home from a Jarrod Bowen corner to make it 4-2 – but it was a mere consolation.

Because yet more woeful defending allowed Liverpool to make it 5-2 through sub Jeremie Frimpong.

The Dutchman scored a remarkably similar goal to the one he put in against the Hammers for Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter-finals.

Taty’s consolation and Bowen’s assist for it were the duo’s only notable contributions in the game, with the skipper seriously struggling for any semblance of form right now.

Bowen bombed again as West Ham waved the white flag in the relegation battle.

Taty offers little as Hammers wave the white flag in relegation battle

The Prague hero has carried the club on his back for the last two years.

It looks to have taken its toll for spells this season too.

Bowen has looked exhausted for some time – and was even given an extended break by Nuno Espirito Santo ahead of the Bournemouth game last weekend.

It did not pay off, though, as Bowen was one of West Ham’s worst performers in a disappointing 0-0 draw.

At Liverpool, the skipper was well off the pace again, wasting a host of presentable attacks and looking uncharacteristically off the boil as he surrendered possession time and again.

West Ham fans probably never thought they would see the day Bowen was consistently one of the team’s worst performers. But that has, unfortunately, been the case of late just when the Hammers need him at his brilliant best.

Bowen wasn’t alone in failing to turn up with Castellanos a waste of space, offering next to nothing beyond his instinctive consolation goal.

The Argentine has become a hit due to his work rate.

But playing against Taty will be the easiest game Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate have had for some time.

We all love Jarrod Bowen – but is anyone actually undroppable? 🤔

Let us know where YOU stand on what is becoming the great debate – and why!

Castellanos brings little else to the team beyond running around – at times like a headless chicken – and it was brutally exposed at Anfield.

Callum Wilson will surely be expecting to start at Fulham in midweek.

The effort was there from the players and there will be some positives for Nuno to take.

But West Ham are far too soft and if they are relegated this season then their deficiencies from set-pieces will be to blame.

And that was never more evident than this utterly frustrating surrender to Liverpool, which could leave the Hammers effectively six points adrift of safety come Sunday night.

Nuno must also take his share of the blame. He was reportedly considering switching to a back five for Liverpool and it was clear early on that he should have done that given the way the Hammers failed to deal with set plays.

The Portuguese was slow to react and made no subs at half-time despite the team being 3-0 down.

He also brought on Adama Traore after West Ham conceded the fifth, leaving most scratching their heads and feeling changes should have come 15 minutes earlier.

West Ham’s board called on Nuno and the team to pull off one or two unexpected wins to make up for the draw with Bournemouth.

That was never on the cards against Liverpool and the chances to do that are fast running out with just 10 games to go.

West Ham player ratings vs Liverpool:

Hermansen: 5/10, Wan-Bissaka: 6/10, Mavropanos: 4/10, Disasi: 5/10, Diouf: 7/10, Soucek: 7/10, Fernandes: 7.5/10, Summerville: 7.5/10, Bowen: 5/10, Taty: 4/10.