While Liverpool have enjoyed an immense first half of the season under Arne Slot, the same cannot be said of Julen Lopetegui and West Ham United. The two sides faced off at the London Stadium on Sunday in their final match of 2024.

The Reds ran out emphatic 5-0 winners to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to, temporarily at least, eight points. Meanwhile, they have lost just one of their 27 matches since Slot succeeded Jurgen Klopp last summer.

In contrast, West Ham find themselves sitting 13th in the table. And while a four-game unbeaten run had eased the pressure on the under-fire Lopetegui prior to facing Liverpool, a 5-0 thrashing was not how they wanted to end the year.

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Understandably, the Hammers dressing room was not a happy place after the final whistle at the London Stadium. And two of their players have spoken publicly about their horror show against the Reds, apologising to supporters after admitting their performance simply wasn’t good enough.

“It was a really disappointing performance from us,” Dinos Mavropanos said. “It’s not the display we wished for, and we want to say sorry to our fans.

“To play against these teams you must be at a high level and play towards your best, but today we didn’t do that. There were silly mistakes throughout, and it wasn’t good enough.

“We need to move on quickly and focus on the next game now, and make sure we come back stronger. I hope that we will be able to come back stronger.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Soler told the club website: “It was a very poor performance of our team. They won the match 5-0, but they could have scored more goals.

“We are not this team. We showed before that we are more competitive, more aggressive, and we have to change in this type of match because it's not the first [time it has happened]. We have to change this because we have shown before that we are able to do much better.

“It's difficult to talk today. I just say sorry to the fans because this is not West Ham. This is not the team that they deserve.

“It's not the best way to end the year, but let's try to start the next year, 2025, much better. I trust that we can do much better.

“But today, we’re just sorry for this match to our fans, because they were amazing, like always, but we didn't show our best face today.”