There was a lot of excitement among West Ham supporters when Julen Lopetegui was appointed as their head coach this summer.
The Spaniard was expected to bring an attacking brand of football and revive the club’s fortunes.
The highly successful summer transfer window, when they signed the likes of Niclas Fullkrug, Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, also created big expectations for the 2024-25 season.
However, the reality has turned out to be completely different now. The Irons have won only one of their five Premier League matches to be 14th in the standings, and they have also been eliminated from the Carabao Cup.
Wednesday’s game at Anfield saw West Ham falling to a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Liverpool after goals from Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.
Most of their players produced an underwhelming display in Merseyside, but Edson Alvarez was probably their worst performer yesterday.
Alvarez, who joined the club from Ajax last year in a deal worth around £35 million, was on the pitch for 76 minutes but failed to make any impact.
He lost possession on 10 occasions and won just 3 of his 13 aerial/ ground duels (23 percent).
Despite being already on a booking, the 26-year-old committed a silly foul on Salah to pick up a red card, reducing his side to 10 men.
Sofascore gave him a 5.8 rating for his horrendous all-round performance, which is completely fair.
