5 takeaways for West Ham’s loss to Liverpool

Liverpool are good at home

In terms of judging the clubs progress, coming up against the Champions League runners up was not going to be the best barometer. Here we were facing a largely settled team with a couple of new, expensive additions. We were also facing them at Anfield, where they are notoriously strong.

But we need to learn that certain games are going to be too much for us. Whilst upsets will happen and it would be nice to close in on the top teams in the league, I think City and Liverpool are going to be a cut above the rest and we can’t judge our progress against these teams yet. If by the end of the season we’re still being blown away that’s not great, and next season I would be hoping to be closer again, but right now our roadmarker is not Liverpool at Anfield.

I mean this should be obvious. However I’ve seen a lot of people complaining that the signings were pointless and not at all worth the stress and bother. After a single game, against one of the strongest teams in Europe at their notoriously tricky home ground? Nope. That’s not a judgement that is fair or healthy to make. Onto Bournemouth, where a better performance is needed and more can be learned.