Saturday, August 29

We want four! Hammers end Anfield hoodoo in style

Liverpool 0 West Ham 3 (three!)

Crisis what crisis! Never in doubt we'd end our 52-year Anfield hoodoo by winning 3-0 at Anfield. Listened to the game on Radio London and could hear some great chants of "Diafra Sakho he scores when he wants!" as Sakho scored the third in added time. What a bizarre season so far, winning at the Emirates and Anfield and slumping at home to Leicester and Bournemouth.

That 2-0 half-time score had me thinking of the FA Cup Final, but this time we don't f**k it up. Perfect start when Lanzini scored after three minutes and then some poor play by Lovren let in Lanzini to cross for Noble's second. A bit hairy when Noble was sent off (Countino had also been red-carded in the second-half) but what a fantastic result when you consider West Ham were without Jenkinson, Adrian, Valencia, Zarate, Carroll, Collins and O'Brien and had a bunch of teenagers on the bench. Last time we won at Anfield on September 14 1963 I was in very short trousers, Doctor Who was yet to be broadcast and the Beatles had just released their first LP. Time to Twist and Shout!

Watching Match of the Day it was good to see Slaven Bilic mastering his English gaffer metaphors, saying, "we parked the bus but we left the hand-brake off." Leaving Liverpool looking like the bus at the end of The Italian Job. MOTD singled out Lanzini for special praise and he did a great job harassing the Liverpool defence and tracking back on the right. It seems a 4-3-3 formation worked much better, with Lanzini and Payet supporting Sakho and Noble, Obiang and Kouyate shielding the defence. Both red cards were harsh; Coutinho was bamboozled by a piece of Payet skill and Mark Noble was fouled and then played the ball — hopefully his sending off will be rescinded.

Liverpool only had three chances with Firmino hitting the post, Milner blasting wide and Lovren hoofing over. We also saw Cresswell force a save and Reid head over and ended the game with a flurry of corners. And what a great finish by Sakho for the third in the 92nd minute.

Tough on my pal Big Joe who has been going to Anfield for years but missed this one because his in-laws were on holiday, but what a result. Irons!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

While i am obviously delighted for the hammers win today it makes the bournemouth and leicester results even more mystifying and painful

Anonymous said...

Well done West Ham, fully deserved, battled well, good team spirit, nothing too special but a good all round team effort, Liverpool were absolutely awful, it's the end for Rodgers has to be.

Good luck for the season.

DC Iron said...

I looked up the records. The last time west ham won at anfield we were playing in the FA cup. The last top-flight win was in 1962.

Nevertheless, it is been a very strange season. We lose when we should win and we win when we should lose.

Pete May said...

Yes, we could be top if we'd won those two home games! Assume we'll win at Chelsea and Man United and lose at home to Watford now… Football, eh?

Pete May said...

And thanks for the good wishes Anonymous, presumably a Liverpool fan. Some decent signings on paper for Liverpool this summer but after last season this is surely Rodgers' last chance. Now looks like it was Schneiderlin who made Lovren look good at Southampton…