fbpx
Connect with us

English Premier League

Julen Lopetegui on crutches after injuring himself in frustration as West Ham lose 5-1 to Liverpool

Julen Lopetegui reportedly left Anfield on crutches after injuring himself in frustration as West Ham lose 5-1 to Liverpool.

The West Ham head coach witnessed his side’s heaviest defeat since taking on the job in the summer with Arne Slot’s Liverpool too strong to handle in this Carabao Cup Third Round clash.

Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo scored doubles either side of a Mohamed Salah goal, West Ham had Edson Alvarez sent off in the second half, and wasted a number of chances, summing up their miserable start to the season so far.

Lopetegui hurt himself after watching Crysencio Summerville miss a chance in front of goal when West Ham were trailing. He then sat himself down in the technical area as the rest of the game played out.

The 58-year-old boss jumped up into the air, only to pick up a problem with his calf when landing back in the dugout. He was seen limping down into the tunnel after the final whistle, required some treatment, then limped again when making his way into his post-match press conference.

He said post-match: ‘I have one little injury in my calf.

‘I don’t think that we deserve this score. I think that we have been in the match, in a lot of moments, even better than them.

‘I prefer not to talk about the referee. It is very clear for me the decisions have been against us and the key decisions.

‘But in the end when we had chances to score we didn’t do. To win these kind of matches you have to stay close.

‘After the third goal and the red card it was much more difficult. The last part of the match was very bad for us.’

Lopetegui to Sky Sports: We don’t deserve this score because we did a lot of good things. We made a very good first half. They scored an offside goal. We suffered the first goal.

“After we had 10 players they scored more goals. The last 20 minutes we didn’t manage well. The players made a big effort. We were in the match until this moment despite the referee decision and a very clear chance we had.

“I’m sorry for our fans.”

On Edson Alvarez’s red card: “Second yellow card, it can happen. He can’t play the next game. I’m very proud of the players who played until 60 minutes.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot speaking to Sky Sports: “If you’re facing a team like West Ham, who have a lot of quality, they can press you. Second half they were also threatening on set-pieces.

“Since I’ve been here it’s never been easy, although sometimes the result looks different, but probably that’s the Premier League. Every team has quality players.

“I do feel like in most parts of the game we had control. We had a large part of ball possession, particularly in the first half.”

On Cody Gakpo: “He deserved that, like others deserved it as well. It was good to see Cody have such a fantastic shot.”

On the competition in the squad: “I’ve never worked with a group of players who don’t want to play. Everywhere is the same, players like to play, especially to be part of a winning group.”

Liverpool goalscorer Diogo Jota speaking to Sky Sports: “The result said [it was comfortable] but the game was completely different.

“I think they made it hard for us, it was a good game in general and we’re just happy to go through.

“It’s important when you’re down to get that [equaliser] as quick as possible and to score at Anfield, it’s always special so happy to help the team.

“We have just one defeat. We are still progressing, still developing our ideas – but only by winning games you become better so we are happy.

“It’s hard but we want to win again obviously, we are the reigning champions and we want to forget.”

Kevin Nolan on Sky Sports: “Alvarez getting sent off, it swung it back into Liverpool’s favour, made it so much easier.

“To see it go to 5-1, this is what happens at Liverpool, you can’t give them any sniff.

“When you do lose that home game against Forest, you think ‘OK, let’s see what they’ve got’ but it’s how they’ve bounced back, I think, has been the most impressive.

“Slot came out, he spoke really well I thought after the game as well, there was no sense of panic or urgency to try and change things. He stuck to his beliefs and you can see that they’re all playing for him.

“It looks really good, very bright for Liverpool going forward.

“West Ham were in the game and then it goes to 3-1 and then Alvarez gets sets off with a rash challenge.

“You know when you’re on a yellow card, you can’t afford to go down, go on the floor. That then puts it all in Liverpool’s favour and then just a bit of poor defending, Liverpool were able to have plenty of shots at goal.

“You always remember the last 20 minutes whereas for 60, 70 minutes of that game, West Ham were certainly in it.

“There are no easy games in the Premier League. That’s why you’re in the Premier League.

“Lopetegui knows what job he was taking on, he’s got six big games coming up. Brentford is the one he has to focus on.

“He can’t look about Ipswich, they’ve got to go to Brentford and show something.”

Matthew Upson on BBC Radio 5 Live: “They crumbled. The red card was a complete hammer blow.

“Salah’s goal was hard enough for West Ham to take, because it was in a moment where they were actually on top in the game but the substitutions completely changed it.

“I thought Antonio had a massive impact when he came on, Paqueta, and it had the feel of ‘ooh, West Ham are going to get back into this, this could be a really tight game’.

“You can’t excuse the decision making of Alvarez. Both yellow cards were just ridiculous tackles in areas of the pitch where he doesn’t need to go in and make it and he’s really cost his team and he’s put a lot pressure on the manager.”

Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports: “Gakpo was fantastic today, getting his two goals, there are lots of positives.

“There’s six good forwards at Liverpool that can change the game at any minute and that’s what you got.

“It ended up being a mauling, you can’t capitulate like that.

“Obviously the Forest game was a disappointment, but since then they’ve bounced back beautifully and today they’ve rested a few players and got a great result.

“It’s very early but when you bring in a new manager in, that’s followed someone like Jurgen Klopp, it’s hard to say it could have gone much better. They’ve been excellent.

“You could see a little bit of what life is like when Virgil Van Dijk’s not there as well.

“Gomez and Quansah probably haven’t played probably a lot of football together, it was a bit chaotic at times.

“They were managing to keep the ball out the goal, Antonio was making a bit of a difference, making a handful of himself.

“Once the sending off comes, it just changes everything.

“There are so many positives. Gakpo has given Slot a lovely problem, Virgil has had 90 minutes rest, it’s been ideal for them.

“But there was a 20-minute spell where it could go have gone either way.

“Even when it went 2-1, there were chances. With the handball, the momentum was starting to change.”

Here’s how fans reacted as a Julen Lopetegui, on crutches after injuring himself in frustration as West Ham lose 5-1 to Liverpool, apologises to fans…

@JustPayTheMoney: I speak for all West Ham fans when I say bring back David Moyes!

@baracca47: Odds always stacked against us. If you don’t get the offside decision, the goal kick, any penalty claim, & then you commit a daft foul when on a yellow then expect the worse. Scoreline flatters. Still, a better performance than last seasons fixture & the one from the weekend.

@AndrewKane221: Some of the defending this season is among the laziest and worst I’ve seen from a West Ham side.

@whuchr: Not bad, some good stuff. Small chance of winning you do have is eliminated by the officials. They gave up after the red card. We keep going. 1st and 5th goal offside. 3rd goal is our corner. 2 potential penalties. I can go on

@fplwithmatt: Never a 5-1 worthy performance, but we’re so far off being a top 8 club it’s frightening

@LiamHar83835116: Was decent for a lot of the game, went 3-1 down and went for it. Had their first goal been called for offside it would’ve been a completely different game.

@_PaulMorgan: Even with this squad, we have to be relegation candidates.

@Mattwhu: At least we’re consistent 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

@MarkHarrison23: A very harsh result that does not tell the true story of the game. Thought it was a good performance undone by Roberto possessing Fabianski, a stupid red card by Alvarez and a referee who wanted nothing to do with us. Got to feel Lopetegui’s luck will change at some point.

@IrishIron32: Going to write off today. We played OK at times in both half’s and didn’t deserve to lose like that. However, we did… against a worse Liverpool side… at an earlier stage of the tournament… without Europe. Nothing but PL to focus on now until January. ZERO excuses.

@donsimon78: I really, really hope we’re going to get better. And quickly. 2nd best in every area tonight.

Check out more of the latest football news at fanbanter.co.uk

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in English Premier League