‘So easy’… Jamie Carragher stunned by 24-year-old Liverpool star v West Ham

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Liverpool cruised into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup thanks to a 5-1 win over West Ham at Anfield.

The Reds enjoyed an easy night against a Hammers outfit that barely seemed to get out of second gear.

Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a ferocious effort from 30 yards out, a goal that had been coming.

There were no further goals in the first half, but the floodgates ended up opening for Liverpool after the interval, though West Ham did manage a consolation at least.

In the 56th minute, Darwin Nunez threaded the ball through to Curtis Jones, who had no option to cut back to and ended up just slotting through Alphonse Areola’s legs from a tight angle.

Then, on 71 minutes, Ibrahima Konate was the unlikely architect for Cody Gakpo’s goal. The 24-year-old bundled through a couple of challenges and made it into the final third.

Konate passed to Gakpo on his left, who took a touch, sized up a shot and then fired into the bottom corner of the West Ham keeper’s net.

Jamie Carragher couldn’t believe how easy it was for the substitute centre-back to go so deep into Hammers territory.

“I said before the game that this was a big evening for him and now Gakpo has his goal,” he said on Sky Sports.

“But it was so easy for Konate. It’s been so poor from West Ham.”

Liverpool run riot against West Ham to reach Carabao Cup semi-finals

Then came the Hammers’ consolation, Jarrod Bowen bundling the ball past Jarell Quansah and curling an effort into the far corner in the 77th minute.

However, Liverpool restored their three-goal advantage five minutes later through a clinical Mohamed Salah finish on the counter.

Then, Jones added the cherry on top with his second of the night on 84 minutes. He ran and ran at the Hammers defence, with nothing in the way of challenges, and just steered the ball past Areola.

Konate had come on in the 60th minute as a replacement for Virgil van Dijk, and he gave a good account of himself.

Besides running all of 60 yards to set up Jones – the kind of ‘adventure’ Joel Matip would’ve been proud of – Konate also defended solidly.