Pressure mounts on Avram Grant as Reds maul Hammers - Part 2
At the interval, Avram Grant must have tried to talk his players into putting up a better performance defensively and focus on limiting the damage as much as possible. On the other hand, Hodgson was likely to have asked his players to continue in the same
vein and try to pile on the misery for West Ham. The first bit of action from the second half saw Kuyt play in David N’Gog who was unable to find a way past Green, as had been the case during the opening few minutes of the first half. Torres next had a shot
that was well wide of the target. Torres has not been able to reach the same level of form since his injury, prior to the World Cup, and Liverpool supporters could only hope that as he got more and more playing time under his belt, he would find his touch.
On a day when Liverpool had scored three goals within the first forty-five minutes, many would be forgiven for thinking that Torres had scored at least one of them if not two.
After the Torres mishit, Maxi Rodriguez had another chance to win over Liverpool fans when he got the ball inside the penalty area. Maxi collected a pass and decided to go for the goal from a tight angle. His shot from the left side was one that he surely
would have been embarrassed of as it was neither shot nor a cross for any of his onrushing players and went far and wide of the mark. The stadium consisted largely of the home team supporters after many West Ham supporters, dejected with their team's meek
first half showing, could bear no more to watch their team get battered. The West Ham supporters, who had stayed to watch their team after the first half, were also beginning to get frustrated and had seen little betterment in their team since the interval.
They began to rudely and sardonically burst into applause each time their team managed to get on the ball. Few could blame them though as it was a deserved treatment for the players, who had been well below par and could possibly have lost the game by a much
larger margin.
They would have been four goals adrift if not for another masterful save by their goalkeeper on the seventy minute mark. Torres struck a fierce shot towards goal that was destined for the back of the net before it came back of the post. The Hammers' defence
again let down their side by failing to deal with the ball and midfielder Poulson smashed the ball towards goal but was denied by a fingertip save by Green.
After that save, Reds seemed satisfied with their efforts and West Ham seemed relieved that they had not conceded a goal after the interval. With both sides happy to play out the remainder of the game, the final score remained 3-0. This victory was sure
to give Liverpool players renewed hope as they saw their side climb further up the table. For the West Ham supporters, this game further proved the lack of tact of Avram Grant as his side wilted with the absence of Scott Parker. His side remains rock bottom
and will have to improve quickly if he wants to keep his job. Grant’s job has already been offered to DiCanio according to many rumours and supporters would welcome this change after seeing their team stuck in the relegation zone with few signs of improvement.
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