Cody Gakpo’s two late goals for Liverpool sealed what was an impressive victory in the end for Arne Slot’s men.
However, it might not have been quite so comprehensive without a helping hand from West Ham’s Edson Alvarez. The Mexican received his marching orders following an awful challenge on Mo Salah (ESPN via CaughtOffside) whilst the visitors were already 3-1 down in the Carabao Cup tie.
The scoreline was also, perhaps, not the fairest reflection of the threat Julen Lopetegui’s men posed prior to the game-changing event.
The visitors certainly made sure to capitalise on the absence of Virgil van Dijk (rested alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold) on Wednesday night.
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Liverpool drew Brighton & Hove Albion for their fourth-round clash in the League Cup and will travel to the Amex Stadium on the week of October 28, according to BBC Sport.
Jamie Redknapp says Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk was missed against West Ham
It would be a little unfair to suggest our backline looked directionless without our colossal No.4 barking orders and organising.
However, there’s no question that things looked a little ropey at times without the former Southampton man stationed in the heart of the back four.
The Van Dijk-shaped hole in Liverpool’s defence certainly didn’t escape the notice of Jamie Redknapp.
“You could see a little bit of what life is like when Virgil Van Dijk’s not there as well,” the former Red spoke on Sky Sports (via BBC Sport).
“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 [of] the goal, Antonio was making a bit of a difference, making a handful of himself. Once the sending off comes, it just changes everything.”
Obviously, if fitness wasn’t an issue, we’d have our ‘phenomenal’ (in the words of Danny Murphy on MOTD via liverpoolfc.com) centre-half starting every game.
Nonetheless, it makes perfect sense to afford the 33-year-old time to recuperate amidst a ludicrously busy fixture calendar.
Despite the presence of the October international break after our meeting with Crystal Palace (October 5), we’ll still end up playing six games. That includes a brutal post-international break period of seven fixtures in 21 days (a game every three days) between October 20 – November 9.
There’s no rest for the wicked – but we must take advantage of every moment we can spare.
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