Is this final nail in Bilic’s coffin?
SOMETIMES it is not the defeat that marks the end of an era — the manner of the loss is far more damaging than the scoreline.
West Ham were abject against Liverpool at the London Stadium. A crowd of almost 60,000 had withered and thinned to about 15,000 hardy souls who saw it out to the bitter end to half-heartedly boo the team off. Most remaining were jubilant Liverpool fans.
This was not how it was meant to be when West Ham launched a brave new world in Stratford last year. Then, Slaven Bilic was riding high, having overseen an excellent first season, full of passion and excitement. European adventures beckoned, new horizons were coming into view. West Ham might even have hoped to become one of the big six.
That seems fanciful for now. Of course, they will play better than this and they could yet recover some respectability. Yet when you concede so easily, defend so poorly and appear so utterly bewildered by a Liverpool team which, good though they are, always offer hope, it is hard to see how a quick improvement will come.
Owners David Gold and David Sullivan must ponder whether to see out a season treading water at best and then head out for deeper waters in the summer, or take the plunge now. Right now, West Ham have a League Cup quarter-final to sustain them but little else.
Under-pressure Bilic insists he can still turn it around, though.
‘I will always believe in myself or I wouldn’t be here,’ he said.
‘I have to talk to the chairman. Of course we are going to discuss this defeat because it is not the first one, it is the second one in a row at home. It is a very difficult situation for me to talk about.’
Conceding goals to Liverpool on the counter-attack is not necessarily a disgrace, however. But the way they allowed the first goal to be scored after 22 minutes was especially abject. There were 13 seconds between Manuel Lanzini taking West Ham’s corner at one end and Mohamed Salah scoring at the other.
Liverpool headed the corner clear and Sadio Mane and Salah, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joining them, found themselves deep inside their own half yet with just Aaron Cresswell confronting them. It was evidently a hopeless task with Salah’s finishing from close range.
Just after the restart another scrappy goal made it 2-0 with Joel Matip netting from close range.
West Ham changed to a more effective 4-4-2 at half-time and, in the 55th minute, Ayew’s cross headed in Lanzini’s direction and he crisply struck home.
Just 55 seconds later it was 3-1 with Oxlade-Chamberlain getting his first Premier League goal since his summer move from Arsenal.
And Salah completed the scoring with a stylish finish.
The double hero said: ‘We scored at the start and that helped us to make the game easy. It is a good result and we have to keep going.
‘I was happy to come here, I had two great seasons at Roma and then I had the confidence to come to England again and that was the plan and keep looking forward. We have a great team.’
England international OxladeChamberlain added: ‘It definitely wasn’t an easy game.
‘It was very intense. When they made it 2-1 it was crucial that we responded and we did that.
‘I feel like I’m getting there and it is important that every time I get an opportunity I have to show what I can do.’