West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui revealed he had injured himself in frustration as his side crashed to a painful 5-1 Carabao Cup defeat at Liverpool.
The Hammers, having surrendered a lead, capitulated alarmingly in the last 16 minutes of Wednesday’s third-round tie at Anfield with Edson Alvarez sent off moments after Mohamed Salah put the hosts 3-1 ahead.
Prior to that, Lopetegui felt his team had been the better side and was angered that two penalty appeals were turned down as the visitors asked questions of the Reds.
West Ham then spiralled to a heavy loss – Lopetegui’s fourth defeat in seven games since taking charge – with Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo finishing with two goals apiece.
Amid the late slide, Lopetegui stamped the ground in annoyance and hurt himself in the process, then opting to sit down for the remainder of the game.
“I have one little injury in my calf,” he admitted after limping into the room for his post-match press conference.
“I don’t think that we deserve this score. I think that we have been in the match, in a lot of moments, even better than them.
“I prefer not to talk about the referee. It is very clear for me the decisions have been against us and the key decisions.
“But in the end when we had chances to score we didn’t do. To win these kind of matches you have to stay close.
“After the third goal and the red card it was much more difficult. The last part of the match was very bad for us.”
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, by contrast, could reflect on another satisfactory night with his side ultimately running out convincing winners after a Jarell Quansah own goal gave the Hammers the lead.
Were it not for some good saves by Lukasz Fabianski and a goal-line clearance from Aaron Cresswell, the score could have been even more emphatic.
Slot, who made nine changes for the game, said: “What we’ve shown in the last weeks and today, again, is that we have many quality players.
“What pleased me most is that, even if a lot of new players come in, they don’t come in and try to have a good individual performance. They tried to work really hard for the team.
“I think Diogo deserved it because he has played a lot of good games for us and he’s been important for us in every single game.
“But a striker also wants to score goals, so I’m pleased for him that he scored two.
“And Cody – the way he hits the ball in and around the 18-yard box is with incredible speed, so I’m not surprised him scoring like this.”
