Gabby Agbonlahor cannot believe West Ham player after loss v Liverpool
West Ham United were “woeful” in their 5-0 loss to Liverpool with Konstantinos Mavropanos especially puzzling, Gabby Agbonlahor has said.
Speaking on talkSPORT (30 December, 6:41am), Agbonlahor lambasted how easily Liverpool were able to create chances on 29 December, given how the Hammers had set their side up.
Julen Lopetegui started a back five in defence with Edson Alvarez and Carlos Soler ahead of them, but several in-game tweaks did little to prevent Liverpool from running up a cricket score in East London.
Agbonlahor said: “Liverpool were very good, but West Ham were woeful.
“If you’re going to play five at the back, and a couple of defensive midfielders in front, you should be making it harder for Liverpool to score goals and create chances – I just can’t get my head around it.
“I just don’t know who’s coaching these defenders – Mavropanos? Deary, deary, deary me. Oof.”
Mavropanos worst of a bad bunch for West Ham v Liverpool
Other than perhaps Mohammed Kudus, who twice hit the woodwork, and Jarrod Bowen, who ran himself into the ground as usual – to the point of injury – no Hammer has much credit in the bank at the moment.
Agbonlahor singling out Mavropanos does seem somewhat harsh given just how bad the rest of his teammates were, it’s true that the Greece defender was all at sea amid many waves of Liverpool attack.
Despite Max Kilman passing a late fitness test to feature alongside Mavropanos in what was essentially a back six at the London Stadium, the defensive coaching of Lopetegui is clearly miles off the pace.
Few gave the Irons much hope of coming away with a result against the Premier League leaders, but given they’ve already been thumped 5-1 in the EFL Cup by Liverpool, few lessons have been learned.
Lopetegui certainly needs to learn his lessons after seeing his side ship at least three goals for the eighth time already this season, and the last-chance saloon can’t be too far around the corner.
In other West Ham news, the Irons and the agent of a free-scoring Championship striker are already in talks over a January move.
For more West Ham news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp channelfor instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.