By Tim Rich at Anfield
Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 06/03/2008
Liverpool (1) 4 West Ham United (0) 0
Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 06/03/2008
Liverpool (1) 4 West Ham United (0) 0
Steven Gerrard does not have to justify himself at Anfield but if he needed to defend his excoriating interview that tore into Liverpool's domestic form, he should simply point to the results.
Sir Alex Ferguson used to quietly approve of Roy Keane's attack on Manchester United's own footballers on the basis that it would sting them into a response. This was Liverpool's third straight win since their captain reminded them that finishing fourth was no achievement and, to measure how comfortable it was, it seemed at times as if they were playing in the Champions League.
In that now-celebrated interview with Liverpool's own magazine, Gerrard argued that he would not swap Fernando Torres for any striker on the planet and here was an eloquent demonstration of why. A minute before he was substituted to an ovation from both sets of supporters, he drove home from an achingly tight angle to complete his third hat-trick of the season. But for the post, he would have had four.
Gerrard, the only player who could possibly challenge Torres as Liverpool's player of the season, drove home a shot that ensured Liverpool would carry a decisive advantage in goal difference in the race for fourth place - a contest in which Torres and Yakubu, the falcon and the bull, will play a crucial role for each side. Everton and Liverpool, who clash on March 30, may be locked together on 53 points but it would be hard to see David Moyes' side clawing back an eight-goal disadvantage in the 10 fixtures that remain. This was Liverpool's long-awaited game in hand and, as a card up a sleeve, it turned out to be an ace.
Unlike the last time Liverpool failed to finish in the top four, when their away form collapsed, it has been their results at Anfield that have damned another challenge for the title. West Ham would, however, have drawn scant comfort from those statistics. Not since September 1963, just before You'll Never Walk Alone reached No 1, had they come to Anfield and won. It was an early win in a season both clubs would remember with fondness; Liverpool because it finished with their first Championship under Bill Shankly, West Ham for the FA Cup final. The fact that they finished fourth would have meant nothing to the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur.
If they are to re-qualify for the Champions League without winning it, the latest formation from Rafael Benitez looks far likelier to achieve their aims than much of what has gone before. Using Dirk Kuyt as a sometimes unconvincing right winger and with John Arne Riise and Ryan Babel forcing their way down the left flank, Liverpool possessed crucial width allied to the confidence to attack from the start, something they have done all too rarely this season.
When he gathered his thoughts in the dressing room during the interval, Benitez might have wondered how only Torres' goal separated these sides. He could have questioned whether Steve Bennett should have awarded Liverpool a penalty for a Lucas Neill handball or whether Carlton Cole should have been shown a red rather than a yellow card for an elbow into Xabi Alonso's face that already sported a sticking plaster across his forehead.
There might certainly have been more than one goal. The one that Torres clipped past Robert Green was superbly-taken even by the standards the young Spaniard has set this season. Few of his goals in this campaign have been tap-ins and here he beat Anton Ferdinand to a superb ball from Kuyt that left Green helpless.
On the hour the same combination ensured that this match was, to all intents, finished. Kuyt's cross looped into the box and this time Torres picked the top corner of the net under the Kop.
West Ham's keeper was not always this helpless. Midway through the first half, Babel turned in the box and delivered a low cross that Gerrard emerged from a pack of players to strike first. It should, by every logical measure, have finished in the bottom corner until Green's gloves deflected it on to the post.
Then, Gerrard and Babel exchanged passes; the Liverpool captain had a chance to shoot, produced an even better pass that Babel shot straight at the keeper. It says something for the hosts' dominance that nobody asked if they might pay for this profligacy.
Torres completed his hat-trick when he took a knockdown from Riise to sidestep his way into the six-yard box before rolling the ball past Green.
Then Gerrard capped the win, with a blistering drive from outside the box.
Sir Alex Ferguson used to quietly approve of Roy Keane's attack on Manchester United's own footballers on the basis that it would sting them into a response. This was Liverpool's third straight win since their captain reminded them that finishing fourth was no achievement and, to measure how comfortable it was, it seemed at times as if they were playing in the Champions League.
In that now-celebrated interview with Liverpool's own magazine, Gerrard argued that he would not swap Fernando Torres for any striker on the planet and here was an eloquent demonstration of why. A minute before he was substituted to an ovation from both sets of supporters, he drove home from an achingly tight angle to complete his third hat-trick of the season. But for the post, he would have had four.
Gerrard, the only player who could possibly challenge Torres as Liverpool's player of the season, drove home a shot that ensured Liverpool would carry a decisive advantage in goal difference in the race for fourth place - a contest in which Torres and Yakubu, the falcon and the bull, will play a crucial role for each side. Everton and Liverpool, who clash on March 30, may be locked together on 53 points but it would be hard to see David Moyes' side clawing back an eight-goal disadvantage in the 10 fixtures that remain. This was Liverpool's long-awaited game in hand and, as a card up a sleeve, it turned out to be an ace.
Unlike the last time Liverpool failed to finish in the top four, when their away form collapsed, it has been their results at Anfield that have damned another challenge for the title. West Ham would, however, have drawn scant comfort from those statistics. Not since September 1963, just before You'll Never Walk Alone reached No 1, had they come to Anfield and won. It was an early win in a season both clubs would remember with fondness; Liverpool because it finished with their first Championship under Bill Shankly, West Ham for the FA Cup final. The fact that they finished fourth would have meant nothing to the supporters of Tottenham Hotspur.
If they are to re-qualify for the Champions League without winning it, the latest formation from Rafael Benitez looks far likelier to achieve their aims than much of what has gone before. Using Dirk Kuyt as a sometimes unconvincing right winger and with John Arne Riise and Ryan Babel forcing their way down the left flank, Liverpool possessed crucial width allied to the confidence to attack from the start, something they have done all too rarely this season.
When he gathered his thoughts in the dressing room during the interval, Benitez might have wondered how only Torres' goal separated these sides. He could have questioned whether Steve Bennett should have awarded Liverpool a penalty for a Lucas Neill handball or whether Carlton Cole should have been shown a red rather than a yellow card for an elbow into Xabi Alonso's face that already sported a sticking plaster across his forehead.
There might certainly have been more than one goal. The one that Torres clipped past Robert Green was superbly-taken even by the standards the young Spaniard has set this season. Few of his goals in this campaign have been tap-ins and here he beat Anton Ferdinand to a superb ball from Kuyt that left Green helpless.
On the hour the same combination ensured that this match was, to all intents, finished. Kuyt's cross looped into the box and this time Torres picked the top corner of the net under the Kop.
West Ham's keeper was not always this helpless. Midway through the first half, Babel turned in the box and delivered a low cross that Gerrard emerged from a pack of players to strike first. It should, by every logical measure, have finished in the bottom corner until Green's gloves deflected it on to the post.
Then, Gerrard and Babel exchanged passes; the Liverpool captain had a chance to shoot, produced an even better pass that Babel shot straight at the keeper. It says something for the hosts' dominance that nobody asked if they might pay for this profligacy.
Torres completed his hat-trick when he took a knockdown from Riise to sidestep his way into the six-yard box before rolling the ball past Green.
Then Gerrard capped the win, with a blistering drive from outside the box.
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