By the time the final whistle was blown, there were nothing but smiles around Anfield — well, that is, if you weren’t part of the contingent of travelling West Ham United supporters.
Three league wins on the hop, another clean sheet and a pair of goals for the Kop to celebrate all topped off with Daniel Sturridge making his first appearance for the better part of five months. After a blustery opening period where Liverpool created but failed to deliver, Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling combined well to send the youngster free for his eighth goal of the campaign. If that didn’t quite amount to sweet relief after a frustrating week, than seeing Sturridge find the net with what looked to be a routine finish a mere twelve minutes after replacing Lazar Markovic was more than enough to get those endorphins rushing along.
To be honest, the most pleasing part of the win today — for me anyway — was that we really didn’t do anything different to pick up the points. Over both legs of the League Cup semi-final and even in the goalless draw with Bolton Wanderers at the weekend, I said that if we had a proper striker, or even a bit of luck, we’d boss it. Today, we had both.
We were absolutely unrecognizable to the side that capitulated so easily to the Hammers earlier in the season, but during the first half we still looked like the team that’s been wracking up chances with no end product. Jordan Henderson and Coutinho both let gilt edged opportunities go begging with the Captain in waiting curling a shot right at Hammers ‘keeper Adrian before the Spaniard got down low to deny the Brazilian at a tight angle not long after.
A lazy pass from fullback Joey O’Brien set up Markovic for what would be the chance of the half after the Serbian did well to both read and intercept, but the youngsters finish left much to be desired as he shot wide when he really should have scored. No matter — there were goals to come.
If Liverpool looked like a changed side, it has to be said that West Ham did as well with Sam Allardyce’s boys lacking the swaggering confidence so apparent in their early season outings with on-loan Barcelona midfield destroyer Alex Song looking particularly off-key. The visitors rarely threatened and they paid in spades for their lack of ingenuity going forward when Sterling chested down Alberto Moreno’s cross into the path of Coutinho before spinning off towards net.
If we know anything for sure, it’s that the Brazilian knows what to do with the ball at his feet and he left no doubt of that when he threaded the perfect one-touch pass through to the pacey attacker. Before you could say “have a shot, son” the 20-year old had already begun to celebrate as your brain — just a touch slower than his — was still trying to work out how that happened.
Coutinho and Henderson would again be guilty of wasting chances as the Reds looked to add a cushion to their lead before Winston Reid wasted the Hammers best chance of the match when he headed just wide from a corner; that, of course, would prove costly.
The buzz all week was that Sturridge would be fit for the weekend, and with just over 20-minutes left to play, he joined the action for the first time since August and in typical fashion he had the Kop roaring shortly after. With Andy Carroll withdrawn in place of Carlton Cole after the former Liverpool man picked up a knock to his ever troublesome ankle, the visitors looked dead and buried and Sturridge was more than happy to provide the last shovelful of dirt.
The Reds Number 10 may need to spend a little bit longer practicing his shooting, but Coutinho’s passing was once again spot on when he found the striker making one of those forward runs that we missed so much. One would expect a considerable amount of rust from the 25-year old after such a long spell in the cooler, but there was none to be seen as Sturridge took the cheeky approach and finished hard and low past Adrian at his near post.
Just another day at the office.
Three-points sees Liverpool leapfrog their visitors into seventh place and keep up the considerable pressure on those ahead of them. With Arsenal and Southampton yet to play this weekend, the race remains very much on with the Reds lying only four points out of a Champions League spot. That could very well change by tomorrow evening, but that’s out of our hands — we did our part by winning today.
We’re hitting form at a crucial time in the season, taking 17 out of the last 21 points on offer with an important run of matches ahead. The FA Cup replay with Bolton midweek leads into a trip to Goodison Park on Saturday before meetings with Tottenham Hotspur and the Saints make things a little more than interesting. A month ago that’d be a major concern, but coming off this win right here there’s no better time to go looking for greatness.
–Steven
