Liverpool lost two successive Premier League games for only the second time under Brendan Rodgers on Saturday evening, when they fell to a dispiriting 3-1 away defeat at West Ham United via voals from Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Morgan Amalfitano - despite Raheem Sterling halfing the deficit before the half-hour.
The Reds travelled to Upton Park having opened their Champions League account in midweek, looking to come back from a 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa last weekend - but a dispirited defensive display in a terrible first half for Brendan Rodgers' side meant they paid the price, and succumbed to a second defeat in a week.
The home side started off the better team and within two minutes they were ahead. Stewart Downing's tempting cross into the danger area was met by James Tomkins, who headed back into the unopposed Winston Reid just three yards from goal and he flicked past the stranded Simon Mignolet to open the scoring and send the home crowd into raptures.
It was a phenomenal start, and before the ten minute mark - West Ham's fierce intensity paid dividends, and meant they were 2-0 up. After Steven Gerrard lost possession to former teammate Downing, the winger raced ahead to and tried a cross into the box which found no-one, but fell to Diafra Sakho. The powerful forward, who caused problems to the Liverpool defence all evening, fired a cross-cum-shot towards Enner Valencia at the far post but the audacious chip had enough on it to loop over Mignolet, who was completely caught out of position, and it doubled the lead.
A shellshocked Liverpool side took some time to recover, and they uncharacteristically were absent going forward but suffered from the same defensive woes that had haunted them early this season and also in 2013-14. In fact, it was Sam Allardyce's side who looked more likely to score again with the impressive Aaron Cresswell stinging the palms of Mignolet from outside of the box.
After twenty minutes, Javier Manquillo, who had been getting bullied by the taller, tougher West Ham forwards was spared further embarrassment as Mamadou Sakho was brought on as Rodgers switched to a back three of Sakho, Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren. In truth, it didn't make too much difference defensively and they still looked incredibly susceptible to errors at the back.
However, on the 26th minute - some hard work from Mario Balotelli was rewarded as the Reds got a goal on the scoresheet, which meant they set a new club-record of scoring in 17 successive away fixtures. Balotelli did magnificently to bring down a Jordan Henderson ball inside the area before spinning and firing an effort on goal. Cresswell blocked it well, but the effort fell invitingly for Raheem Sterling, who struck a beautiful half-volley into the bottom left corner.
That didn't worry the Hammers, who again came close through impressive Ecuadorian striker Enner Valencia. He hit a 30-yard costless-kick which forced Mignolet down to his near post to tip it out for a corner with his fingertips. After that, Liverpool were causing themselves defensive troubles as Sakho and Lovren clashed, leaving the Croatian battered and bruised. After some time down and out on the pitch, he walked over to continue his dazed state on the sidelines but he was bandaged up and sent back out onto the pitch nevertheless.
After a poor first half, in which the Reds miraculously managed to keep themselves in the game - they came out the better side in the second period. Adam Lallana's substitution for Lucas Leiva added some more fluency, but they still lacked some cutting edge, albeit they were much improved.
Fabio Borini found himself with a good chance to set a teammate up when Balotelli did well to turn and fire a ball into the Italian's path but rather than put a pass in towards his fellow Italian or Alberto Moreno in the centre, he opted for a shot from the angle and Adrian got down to it with ease.
The 24-year-old, who three weeks ago was told he had no future at the club, struggled to make an impact on the game and wasted another good opportunity on the hour mark. After Lallana was felled on the edge of the box, the ball broke to the hard-working striker and he tried to bend one into the top corner but couldn't master the technique and his shot sailed over Adrian's crossbar.
With the clock ticking down, Sterling did his best to change the scoreline - jinking towards the by-line with pace and power and clipping a cross back into the box, but there were always too many claret and blue shirts at the back to quell the threat.
Balotelli did come close to adding another to his Liverpool tally, chasing down a Mamadou Sakho long ball and cutting in on his right foot. He powered towards the box, and tried his luck from 20-yards which dipped towards the left post but Adrian got down to palm it away.
Ultimately, Rodgers paid for his side's lack of potency up front - despite the fact he had initially switched to the favoured diamond formation, playing two up front. Things quickly became drastic, with Martin Skrtel having a pop from 30-yards which flew well wide and it was soon worse for the Reds.
A long ball fell towards Mamadou Sakho down the left and he headed infield, but with no midfielders in sight, Downing picked up possession and charged forward before finding substitute Morgan Amalfitano who marked his home debut with a goal. He cut into the box and fired a neat left-footed effort past Mignolet off his line to seal a disappointing 3-1 defeat.
West Ham's first home points of the season were well deserved but for Liverpool, three defeats from five in the Premier League so far - two which they would have been expected to win and they've been no way near the heights they reached last season, as Brendan Rodgers touched on after the game.
"Lots of elements in our game have been very good and everyone has seen that over the last couple of seasons, but it is just not quite happening for us at the moment. We have a lot of work to do and today was very disappointing in terms of performance." said Rodgers, in his post-match press conference.
"They had better intensity than us. Our performance level wasn't anywhere near what I would expect. We made too many long passes; normally our passing is shorter, crisper and faster in the game. Today we didn't show enough composure on the ball."
It was an honest assessment of a below-par Liverpool performance, but he insisted "We will, over the course of the season, get better and better" and fans of the club will be hoping results pick up, and fast, before it's too late.
| West Ham United (3) | Liverpool (1) | ||
 |  |  |  |
| Adrian | 6 | Mignolet | 5 |
| Cresswell | 6 | Manquillo | 4 |
| Demel | 6 | Skrtel | 4 |
| Reid | 7 | Lovren | 5 |
| Tomkins | 6 | Moreno | 5 |
| Song | 6 | Gerrard | 4 |
| Noble | 6 | Henderson | 5 |
| Kouyate | 7 | Lucas | 4 |
| Sakho | 7 | Sterling | 6 |
| Valencia | 7 | Borini | 4 |
| Downing | 6 | Balotelli | 6 |
| Remplaçants | |||
| Collins | 5 | Sakho | 5 |
| Jenkinson | 5 | Lallana | 6 |
| Amalfitano | 7 | Lambert | 4 |