[West Ham’s](https://www.claretandhugh.info/liverpool-5-2-west-ham-united-hammers-ship-five-but-have-heads-held-high/) inability to defend set pieces returned this afternoon as Liverpool took better advantage of their first half corners than the Hammers. Unable to defend second balls, wicked deflections, whatever you see as the cause, the impact was the same.
West Ham were playing catch- up for virtually the whole game and as the Liverpool goals racked up, so the hapless Mads Hermansen ran out of luck as every deflection seemingly whizzed past him.
For one, possibly two goals, the Dane was blameless but as the goals went in, the comments started appearing on social media that _‘Hermansen was at fault’, ‘should have done better’, ‘Areola would have saved that’.._. the Dane is rapidly turning into West Ham’s very own marmite keeper.
Mads Hermansen does not escape without taking the blame for two goals – wrestling with opponents stationed just in front of him instead of following the ball looks to be a suspiciously bad habit that he’s developed to cope with his ahem – ‘modest’ stature- and opposition targeting him accordingly.
No doubt he will point to a string of wicked deflections for at least three of the goals – but the suspicion remains (even among us _pro-Hermansen_ observers) that he doesn’t command his box or repel attacks in the way his opposite number Allisson Becker did. Mind you, he didn’t pass the ball straight to an opponent as Alisson did to Bowen, either.
Fonz Areola probably would have fared no better, but Hermansen is likely to take more than his fair share of the blame for a bad day at the office. Indeed, Areola may be the sole beneficiary from todays Anfield drubbing.