Is this the way it will end for Rafael Benítez, with a bang and a whimper? The bang was Jamie Carragher’s crass connection with Fredrik Ljungberg that gave Mark Noble an opportunity to score the winning penalty that he embraced with aplomb. The whimper was Liverpool’s performance.

“Let’s talk about football,” Benítez had said before last night’s match. It proved a dangerous statement, given a result and display as bad as this. Poring over the club’s balance sheets would have been less painful.

The defeat, as the Liverpool manager noted, was down to a mistake by one of the club’s most reliable players as West Ham United broke on the counter-attack. But the foul was a direct consequence of Liverpool leaving too few players back, which was caused by their desperation to find a goal that should have been scored long before.

There was an iota of possibility that Liverpool might win when Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres finally tuned into the same wavelength late in the second half, but despite Benítez picking arguably his strongest available line-up, this was a team lacking cohesion, confidence and sustained threat; insipid not inventive. After their poor recent form, Liverpool needed tempo. They produced tedium.

Benítez’s team were neither effective nor entertaining — a serious problem, given the change of climate at the club. With surgery on the finances apparently successful, the focus switches from the owners’ tactics to the manager’s. The key calculation is not the repayment of the club’s debts but how many points it will take to secure Champions League qualification.

Liverpool’s most recent victory in the league was on December 26, a sorry streak confirming that they are challengers not to Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea at the top, but to Everton and Aston Villa for that least attractive of prizes, fourth place.

True, West Ham are difficult opponents. Despite Alan Curbishley, the manager, pledging ambition, he opted for a formation that implied cautious prodding rather than concerted pressing. Curbishley calls it 4-3-3, which is putting a positive spin on it. Whatever, they are hard to break down.

The tactics showcased Carlton Cole’s ability to play as a lone striker as Franco Baldini, Fabio Capello’s assistant, watched from the stands. Cole has garnered some buzz in the run-up to the England squad announcement today, a remarkable achievement for a player derided as feckless by a large tranche of his club’s support a couple of months ago.

Hardly prolific, but an energetic physical presence in the Emile Heskey mould, Cole is one for the pragmatist more than the purist. Much like West Ham as a whole. It may be a welcome relief after the stress of last season, but they look certain to finish in mid-table safety. So they are a side that a team with Liverpool’s pretensions ought to overcome and needed to overcome.

The horror of defeat seemed such a distant possibility: injuries mean that West Ham are damned by faint predators. “We’re getting the most out of what we’ve got,” Curbishley said. “The run-in starts now — let’s see what we can do.”

Still, West Ham are as nervous in front of goal as an MP filling out an expenses claim. Their starting XI had mustered only 12 league goals between them. Cristiano Ronaldo had scored as many by Boxing Day. Liverpool? Even worse. All toil, no threat, they demonstrated as much killer instinct as a posse of pacifist vegans.

With West Ham going long and Liverpool going nowhere, the ball was not in danger of collecting many grass stains. But the contest gradually became more open. Harry Kewell kicked air from a menacing cross by Dirk Kuyt and Luís Boa Morte fluffed a decent opportunity 11 minutes after the break, shanking a shot pitifully wide when the ball dropped kindly on the edge of the six-yard box.

At least the pace of the contest picked up and Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres found more room. Lucas Leiva, a substitute, had a shot deflected wide, then put another effort past the post.

Inside the final 15 minutes, Lucas Neill thumped a shot wide, then Liverpool claimed a penalty after the ball appeared to strike the defender on the arm. With nine minutes left, Curbishley introduced Jonathan Spector, a defender, in place of Cole: the cue for a trickle of West Ham fans to flow towards home. But to everyone’s surprise, there would be an outcome that seems to edge Benítez closer to the exit.

West Ham United (4-1-4-1): R Green – L Neill, A Ferdinand, M Upson, G McCartney – H Mullins – F Ljungberg, L Bowyer (sub: D Ashton, 57min), M Noble, L Boa Morte (sub: M Etherington, 57) – C Cole (sub: J Spector, 81). Substitutes not used: R Wright, N Solano.

Liverpool (4-4-2): J M Reina – S Finnan, J Carragher, S Hyypia, F Aurélio – Y Benayoun (sub: R Babel, 72), S Gerrard, X Alonso, H Kewell (sub: Lucas Leiva, 61) – D Kuyt, F Torres. Substitutes not used: C Itandje, P Crouch, M Skrtel. Booked: Aurélio, Torres, Alonso. Referee: A Wiley.