Who do Liverpool need to sign to retain the title? Keep up with all the Reds news with our free daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

What happened at Anfield against West Ham on Saturday was a massive, massive shock.

The way Liverpool have been defending, looking really solid, I just didn’t see it coming, writes Lawro in his Liverpool Echo column.

Even when they scored the early goal, you think there’s lots of time to get back into the game.

But overall we did as many poor things yesterday as the collective good things we did in the opening three games.

West Ham are going to finish down towards the bottom of the league, they’re not a particularly good team.

(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

The simple fact is we just didn’t play well enough, collectively we came up short in every single department.

And that’s the really worrying thing. I can’t even think of a chance we really created.

With the international break, there’s time now for the coaching staff to really have a look at it, and reassess.

Not just on this one game but on the opening block of four as a whole. Chelsea got done at home as well and overall some funny things have been happening in the league.

In pictures - Liverpool 0-3 West Ham:

Nearly every team has had a strange result.

Apart from Man City, United have looked okay but everybody else has looked a bit sluggish at times.

At Liverpool, it’s not about having a complete rethink, just about evaluating everything again. Where are certain players going to fit in. Where is Roberto Firmino at?

We’re going to have Daniel Sturridge coming back into the squad as well so we need to see where he’ll be accommodated and who with.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

Points wise you could argue we might have thought about a draw at Stoke and not getting anything at Arsenal so even after the West Ham defeat, you’re no worse off.

But the disappointing thing is we should be going into the break with 10 – and let’s face it, after that first half at Arsenal we should have had nine even before West Ham. It’s a bad result and we can use this international break as a natural breather before Old Trafford.

Of course we’ll miss Philippe Coutinho over there now with his sending-off but we’ve signed all sorts of other players.

Let’s see what they can do.

(Image: AFP/Getty)

Liverpool need to tough it out

One thing that I really hope isn’t sneaking into our game again is coming up short when teams make it difficult for us. I think back to last season and Hull away (1-0 defeat), Palace at home (3-1 defeat), Stoke away (6-1 defeat).

Those teams made it difficult and we struggled against it.

That’s the worry for me.

When the going gets a little bit tough, are we going to have enough to make sure we get something from the game?

(Image: Reuters / Eddie Keogh)

We’ve gone from Monday night in front of a huge national TV audience where people were thinking "woah, look at Liverpool, looking better than Arsenal” to what we’ve seen yesterday and it’s “hold on a moment”.

Man United away is a big game, it’s a good game to come back for.

Let’s hope there’s a reaction. If we can go there and get something from the game we can look back on West Ham and view it as just a blip.

Again the disappointing thing is we should be going there with at least 10 points.