Nayef Aguerd has a nightmare as Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta shine – West Ham United player ratings vs Liverpool
West Ham wasted a strong opening period to lose their second Premier League game running with a 3-1 defeat at Liverpool.
The Hammers could have been two up by the time Nayef Aguerd made another error to trip Mohamed Salah in the box after a quarter of an hour, with the Reds star smashing the the penalty down the middle for the opener, before Jarrod Bowen dragged his side level with a lovely diving header before the half.
Darwin Nunez put the hosts ahead again on the hour as he was left uncovered by the Irons defence to hook a volley past Alphonse Areola, and Diogo Jota added a late third.
Here, West Ham Zone rates the Irons players out of 10 for their performances at Anfield.
Alphonse Areola – 6
Couldn’t do much about losing his clean sheet to a needless penalty but made an excellent save from Nunez in first-half stoppage time. Again mostly powerless for the Uruguayan’s strike as his centre-back pairing left him exposed and the third should have been dealt with by others, although he could arguably have displayed more command of his area.
Vladimir Coufal – 6
Decent going forward as he gave Andy Robertson plenty of problems. Not so much going back towards his own goal. Too easy for Liverpool to get in behind him at times but delivered a nice ball in for Bowen to equalise.
Kurt Zouma – 4
Well off the pace. Not a great day at the office for the West Ham captain as he seemed to be nowhere near Liverpool forwards when they had opportunities centrally on a number of occasions. Booked late on for a poor tackle that was also late.
Nayef Aguerd – 3
Poor game. Inconsistency continues to be a major issue and errors are putting his place under serious threat [The Athletic, 20 September]. Took down Salah for an obvious penalty which undid all the good early work, as the Egyptian got up to put his side ahead against the run of play. Ball lofted straight over his head again for the second as both centre-backs struggled.
Emerson – 6
Not a bad performance, and bailed out his floundering central teammates more than once. Got a couple of important covering headers and tackles in and energetic down the left, but difficult to have a major impact when the opposition took control.
Tomas Soucek (off for Fornals ’74) – 7
Pretty good game in difficult circumstances. So close to an early opener when his header low into the corner was kept out by Alisson and then produced a perfect cross that Antonio somehow directed way off target. Went close again late in the half.
Edson Alvarez – 5
A difficult game for the new arrival. Broke up a few attacks and made some decent clearing headers but bypassed too easily in the midfielder on the whole.
James Ward-Prowse – 5
Certainly one of his quietest performances from what has been a fantastic start to life at West Ham. Never really got on the ball to create anything or threaten another goal.
Lucas Paqueta (off for Ings ’86) – 8
Impressive display offensively and defensively. Looked a threat when he managed to get on the ball, even if some of it may be have been more style over substance, but was tireless in chasing back to disrupt Liverpool attacks repeatedly.
Jarrod Bowen – 8 – Man of the Match
Little surprise that he was the prime West Ham threat throughout, driving forward with whatever opportunities he could before his wonderfully taken goal. Showed great quality on the ball from start to finish, although his influence did fade, and won’t have done anything to temper potential transfer interest from Jurgen Klopp in future.
Michail Antonio (off for Kudus ’74) – 5
Terrible early miss was his most telling contribution. Did what he could on the ball to give the home defence something to think about by surging forward on occasion but wasted that incredible opportunity to score the opener inside the first 10 minutes, heading a Soucek cross badly wide.
Substitutions
Mohammed Kudus (on for Antonio ’74) – 5
Great in midweek but didn’t have much of a chance to do anything here.
Pablo Fornals (on for Soucek ’74) – 5
Unable to affect proceedings by the time he came on.
Danny Ings (on for Paqueta ’86) – N/A
In other West Ham news, a senior player who has started numerous games for Moyes is expected to leave after reacting badly to his manager.