Were Liverpool too good for West Ham or West Ham too poor for Liverpool?
Saturday evening saw two under fire managers go head to head at Anfield. Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool have been in disarray since the first day of this season and Roy Hodgson has failed miserably to get Liverpool’s season back on track. 4 wins from 13 Premier
League matches show how far the club has fallen back under Hodgson.
In contrast, West Ham were never expected to be in top 4, but Avram Grant, who was once a kick away from Champions League glory, has seen his team stuck to the bottom of the table so far this campaign.
West Ham came to Liverpool on the back of three draws. Avram Grant has been adamant that his team will get it right soon. However, if what was witnessed at Anfield is to go by anything than there is hardly a chance that West Ham will get it right any time
this season.
West Ham arguably produced the worst performance by any team this season. If anything, the 3-0 score line does no justice to the performance by West ham. An in-form opposition would have put 10 past Robert Green with ease.
They were lucky that their opponents on the night were an underperforming Liverpool team, without their skipper Steven Gerrard. Liverpool could not believe their luck, as their players strolled around the park at will. To say that Christian Poulsen had a
great game goes a long way to tell you what the display was like by West Ham.
After two horror showings away at Wigan and Stoke, Roy Hodgson was again under serious pressure to get all three points against West Ham. It seems that the fixture list is favouring the beleaguered Liverpool boss. At this point in time, if he wanted to play
a team, it had to be West Ham and that too at Anfield.
Liverpool were without their regular midfield pairing of Steven Gerrard (out through a hamstring injury) and Lucas Leiva (suspended). Meireles and Poulsen were given the duty to pull the strings in their absence, and they couldn’t have found it easier.
West Ham players were happy to sit back and allow Liverpool to come at them. They never pressed the ball and Liverpool players were allowed time and space around the West Ham’s 18 yard box.
West Ham had no passion whatsoever. They lacked imagination and were not even willing to work hard. Liverpool attacked from the onset with Glen Johnson, making his comeback into the starting 11, at the heart of Liverpool attacks.
Everyone in a red shirt looked sharp mainly due to the inability of West Ham players to put them under any sort of pressure. The game was over after half an hour of football as Liverpool went 3-0 up.
The attitude of West Ham players was dire to say the least and Liverpool players cannot judge their performance against such an opposition. Liverpool got the desperately needed 3 points but if they can take anything away from this game, then it’s just these
three points.
In reality, Liverpool played just OK in the first half, but the time and space they were allowed will hardly be given to them by any other opposition this season. It was way too easy for the men in red. It could have been more; Robert Green made two finger
tip saves from shots of Fernando Torres and Christian Poulsen.
Pepe Riena had one of the easiest nights of his career and Liverpool defence was hardly ever under any sort of pressure. This was a game for West Ham to learn from and Liverpool to just forget about. Liverpool will take confidence from the win but they surely
won't be allowed to perform and dominate a game like this next weekend at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool have a lot of work to do themselves and should not be disillusioned by their 3-0 score line. However, Avram Grant has got his work cut out, there is a lot of work required and time might just be running out for the former Chelsea boss. After handing
over 3 points to Liverpool, they need to show some fight if they want to play their trade in the Premier League next season.
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