MO SALAH delivered the goods for Arne Slot in yet another Liverpool performance that would leave the new manager thinking his glass was only half full.
The scoreline may reflect that West Ham was outmatched by the ten-time champions.
But, until Salah scored his fourth goal of the season in the 74th minute, Slot must have felt uneasy.
Edson Alvarez was immediately sent off, and Cody Gakpo scored again to seal the victory.
The Hammers took the lead in the 21st minute before Diogo Jota scored twice to put his side ahead, but there were plenty of worried faces on the Kop for quite some time.
Slot made nine changes from the team that defeated Bournemouth 3–0 over the weekend, but the start still showed a concerning trend for him.
Once again, there was a slow start, and his back line appeared vulnerable.
The Hammers, with only three players remaining from the lineup that was thrashed 3-0 by Chelsea, caused a series of early scares.
In the 18th minute, former Red Danny Ings scored, but his goal was deemed offside.
Slot went into his first Carabao Cup match as Liverpool manager, saying that, despite conceding only two goals in his first six games in charge, he was not convinced.
Julen Lopetegui’s side is not in the top half, but three minutes after Ings’ disappointment, they went up amidst chaos in front of Kelleher.
Aaron Cresswell’s corner sparked chaos in the home box, culminating in a hack from left-back Kostas Tsimikas that flew in off Jarrell Quansah’s leg.
Slot would have been concerned, even if Jota had equalised in the 25th minute.
Gakpo swung in a cross from the left, which was met by Federico Chiesa, who made his full debut after signing from Juventus for £10 million in the summer.
The Italian attempted an acrobatic strike, which was off target but met by the rising Jota, who buried his header.
In the 49th minute, the Portuguese scored his third goal of the season with a low right footer.
Jones deserves a lot of credit for the stylish finish, despite the fact that it was created right inside the box.
The midfielder, who claims he’s “never been happier” at Anfield, took up the ball on the brink of his own box.
After a driving 50-yard run, he played the prettiest one-two with Gakpo, setting up Jota with a lovely touch.
Slot replaced the Portuguese and Chiesa with Mo Salah and Alexis MacAllister, but it was one of Lopetegui’s substitutions that rattled the Kop cage.
In the 66th minute, he surged forward and fired a shot that Kelleher saved wonderfully.
However, if Max Kilman had maintained his composure and managed his feet, he could have levelled from close range.
Lopetegui was then cautioned for being overly lippy after his desperation penalty appeals were dismissed.
With no VAR, referee Andy Madeley dismissed the claim that Tsimikas used his arms to parry a cross from Vladimir Coufal.
And just when West Ham thought they could surprise everyone, Salah came along to settle the matter.
Bradley sent the ball back to MacAllister, whose shot was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
However, the ball dropped directly at Salah’s feet, and his volley left the custodian for dead.
Alvarez was sent to the tunnel a few minutes later when a bad challenge on Salah resulted in a second yellow card, and Gakpo added to the Hammers’ misery with a late double.
Two football players on a pitch, one wearing a jersey that says Betway.
Edson Alvarez was sent off for two yellow cards.
Two football players on the pitch, one wearing number 17.
Cody Gakpo scored two late in the match.