Liverpool and Curtis Jones cut loose to thrash West Ham 5-1 in quarter-final

After the stalemate came the slaughter. Liverpool, the model of frustration having been held by Manchester United on Sunday, cruised into the semi-finals of the League Cup for a record 19th time with an emphatic destruction of West Ham at Anfield. David Moyes’ visitors were abysmal, their defending a disgrace in the second half, but they were driven to submission by a superb Liverpool display.

Dominik Szoboszlai’s spectacular opener set the tone for a rampant home victory in which Curtis Jones also excelled with two goals, Mohamed Salah came off the bench to take his usual place on the scoresheet and Cody Gakpo also breached Alphonse Areola’s non-existent defence. Moyes’ wait for a first win at Anfield extends to 21 games, and he never had any hope of arresting that sorry sequence.

Liverpool were determined to make the night a horrible experience for West Ham. There was illness in the visiting camp, depriving Moyes of several options, but the West Ham players fit to start would have felt queasy from the constant blur of red shirts that swarmed around them whenever they had possession. The intensity of Liverpool’s counter-press was remarkable.

Klopp’s side had started with similar energy against Manchester United but were unable to make it count due to a poor final ball or decision. Despite six changes to the team for Sunday’s goalless draw, there was more composure and patience to Liverpool’s attacking play against the Hammers and no way out for Moyes’ team.

Harvey Elliott twice went close from the edge of the area in the early stages, flashing his first shot wide of Alphonse Areola’s left-hand post and his second inches wide of the top corner following an excellent run by Curtis Jones.

Jarrod Bowen was a virtual by-stander as West Ham’s lone forward. On the few occasions the visitors did beat Liverpool’s press, and there were precious few in the first half, Virgil van Dijk and the highly impressive Jarell Quansah proved an impregnable block. Quansah’s passing was as smart as his reading of the game, a point underlined when Liverpool took an inevitable lead courtesy of Szoboszlai’s latest emphatic strike.

West Ham attempted to clear their lines and found Saïd Benrahma in a promising position against the 20-year-old centre-half. Instead of releasing Bowen behind the Liverpool defence, Benrahma stumbled and was instantly dispossessed by Quansah before he had time to recover. The defender picked out Szoboszlai, left in space on the right of the West Ham area, and the Hungary captain needed no invitation to sweep an unstoppable long-range shot into Areola’s far corner.

Liverpool’s intense efforts deserved greater backing from their own fans, according to Klopp, who gestured to the crowd behind him in the Main Stand to increase the volume. Cody Gakpo almost gave them the deserved comfort of a second goal just before half-time but his deft header from Elliott’s cross drifted agonisingly wide with Areola rooted to the spot.

Some West Ham fans booed when the half-time whistle sounded. If they were complaining about the total absence of attacking endeavour from their team, having travelled to Merseyside in huge numbers for scant reward, then fair enough. But Liverpool’s performance was the main reason West Ham were nullified in the first half, not overly defensive tactics on their part. The visitors were simply swamped and given no respite whatsoever.

The second half promised better when Ben Johnson sent Bowen sprinting clear for the first time and Kostas Tsimikas produced a fine interception to prevent his low cross reaching Pablo Fornals at the back post. But it was a false dawn for West Ham, who were soon two goals behind. It was another excellent Liverpool goal. Jones started and finished the move, turning well in midfield and finding Darwin Núñez on the left before darting into the visitors’ area.

Núñez, an influential menace all night, found the midfielder’s run perfectly. Angelo Ogbonna was the covering defender but halted his run to block off an anticipated cross from Jones. He stared aghast at Areola, and for quite some time, when Jones simply threaded a shot through the goalkeeper’s legs and into the far corner instead.

It took 71 minutes for Moyes’ side to have their first shot at Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal. Mohammed Kudus’ tame effort that drifted over the Liverpool keeper’s crossbar was not worth the wait.

Liverpool were three ahead seconds later, and with a goal that spoke volumes about the lack of desire and aggression in West Ham’s second-half performance. Ibrahima Konaté, on as a substitute, drifted upfield and barely met a challenge worthy of the name as he advanced into the visitors’ half.

West Ham players stood off and admired the defender as he reached the final third and found Gakpo, who they gave the same treatment. The Netherlands international drove into the bottom corner from 20 yards out.

Bowen pulled one back when racing on to Johnson’s ball over the top and beating Kelleher with a fine finish having cut inside Quansah. But that was simply the cue for Liverpool to crank up their display to humiliation mode.

Two substitutes, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, combined brilliantly for the fourth.

Alexander-Arnold released the forward with a sublime first time pass out of defence and Salah sent a cool finish past Areola, seconds after missing an open goal after Núñez’s shot struck a post and rebounded straight at him.

Jones applied the coup de grace in the final moments when running beyond a procession of half-hearted tackles and guiding a superb shot into the far corner.