West Ham takes apart lacklustre Liverpool

The Liverpool gaffer has not had a good start to the season

The late game on Saturday saw West Ham take apart a Liverpool side who are really missing both the departed Luis Suarez and the injured Daniel Sturridge. 

West Ham condemned Liverpool to a second straight Premier League defeat as they recorded a 3-1 victory at Upton Park.

The Hammers put in a fantastic all-round display to secure their first home points of season thanks to goals from Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Morgan Amalfitano. It was yet another under-par display from Liverpool and comes on the heels of a shock defeat to Aston Villa last weekend and a narrow win over Ludogorets in midweek.

West Ham made a fantastic start to the game and took the lead with only two minutes on the clock. Stewart Downing whipped in a deep free-kick from the right and James Tomkins rose unchallenged to head it back across the face of goal. Winston Reid was in the right place at the right time to bundle the ball over the goal-line from close range and punish some very sloppy Liverpool defending.

It got even better for Sam Allardyce's troops as it took them only four minutes to double that advantage. They played really attacking football in the opening moments and their positivity was rewarded when Sakho got the second. The striker picked up the ball out right and he lobbed Simon Mignolet. Whether it was a deliberate shot or a cross towards Enner Valencia is debatable, but either way the ball flew over the goalkeeper and landed in the back of the net.

The shocking defensive start from Liverpool continued as the duo of Valencia and Sakho terrorised the back four. This prompted Rodgers to make a tactical switch, bringing on Mamadou Sakho for Javier Manquillo and going to three at the back in an attempt to deal better with West Ham's attacking threat.

Liverpool got one back on 27 minutes through Raheem Sterling as he picked up a loose ball after Mario Balotelli's shot in the box was blocked. It was a fantastic first-time hit and it flew past Adrian into the bottom corner. Liverpool looked energised after that goal but were still a bit blunt up front and it was West Ham creating the chances, as Valencia had two further shots saved by Mignolet before half-time.

The visitors came out strongly at the start of the second half. Balotelli curled a shot straight into the hands of Adrian before Borini, making a rare start in a Liverpool shirt, missed a great chance when he had space in the box and shot narrowly over the crossbar. The latter saw Adrian spill his long-range effort and then just beat the forward to the rebound before Balotelli stung the palms of the West Ham keeper with a swerving powerful strike from a tight angle.

As the game went on Liverpool got on top and West Ham started to sit deeper and deeper. However, Allardyce's side always looked well-organised at the back and Liverpool struggled to penetrate the defence and create any real clear-cut chances.

In the 87th minute West Ham wrapped up all three points when second-half substitute Amalfitano restored their two-goal lead. It was a poor clearing header from Sakho that gave the ball straight to Downing, and he brought the ball forward and played Amalfitano into the Liverpool box. The Frenchman did really well to poke the ball under the advancing Mignolet and wheel away in celebration as it rolled into the net.

It was a great and deserved victory for West Ham and they move up to eighth in the Premier League table. For Liverpool it means a third defeat in five games and Rodgers is left with a lot of problems that need to be solved if the Reds are to remain in the title race.