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Brendan Rodgers admitted his Liverpool team are not living up to the standards they set last season.
The Reds have lost three games already this season, twice to clubs who finished in the bottom half of the Premier League last year.
"We're a team who are associated with coming out very quickly and for some reason we didn't get going today," he said.
"Be fair to West Ham, they pressed the ball very well and we were unable to play around that. We were 2-0 down very early and from that point it was very difficult for us to come back.
West Ham v Liverpool - player ratings
"We got back into the game at 2-1 and from that, probably up until they got the third goal, we had decent control of the game but the standard of our play was nowhere near what we'd expect."
The game came at the end of a week in which Liverpool made their return to the Champions League but Rodgers would not use the excuse of a European hangover.
"That's something we've got to get used to, we've got a lot more Champions League games," he said.
"The group has come such a long way and the level expected now has grown, but we have to be able to cope with that and at the moment we're not."
