West Ham 2 - 3 Liverpool: Post Match Phew

One of the most frustrating games to watch this season, simply because after we went one up and Upson went off injured, you just expected us to batter them and not let them have a sniff. But the defence was shocking, don't know what was going on with Carra and Skrtel, both had a mare, Carra even more so than Skrtel. Heard tthe commentators say, every goal we have conceded this season has been from a set piece, which is a shocking statistic and nothing like the Liverpool we know.

But it showed great character to come back after watching them draw level twice in the match, and we're showing the same spirit that we showed last season in never giving up and always believing we can take the match. Attacking wise we looked fantastic, Yossi showed once again that he has to now be regarded not only as first choice, but a key player, made some fantastic dribbles and was always a threat. And despite his goals (which were both brilliant) Nando was again off form IMO, although an improvement on what we've seen in the last few games. But the man (Torres) you just got to love him, defenders must be bricking it for when he does hit form!! Love this photo of him to!

Legends come and go at Liverpool, we respect their contribution but they are not above criticsm when deserved.This season imo Carra has not performed to his usual high standards and if Dagger was fit I'm sure he would be "rested". But he does not deserve to be made the scapegoat for some woeful defending at set pieces, that's Rafa and his team's responsibility to sort out, still 3 points at the Hammers is not to be sniffed at, well in Reds.

I certainly dont think Carra's career is past him. I just think that maybe his days of an "Every" game starter, are past and that he may not be able to continue playing 90 min. every game.

I know players, all players have bad games. Gerrard and Torres have had bad games. Every player does. I'm just speculating that maybe Carra would be best suited to play 60 min instead of 90. Just a thought. 

I also think Rafa needs to do something about these set pieces. I noticed in every match this season that players are left free and unmarked in the box. They need to man up on every set piece. At times they seem almost confused on Defense. This is a team known for stubborn D and they have so far, played like sh*t.

Today Carra really looked somehow confused like a youngster that had suddenly got the chance to play for the 1st team but that only shows he is just a human being like anyone else and therefore also has right to be excused for a weaker performance once in a while. Mistakes are normal part of every work so we shouldn't take his hodiernal display to heart.

We grabbed three more points and that's only what counts

Was as exciting game to watch, albeit very nerve-wracking, but we got the three points. Torres played awesome, and I think the reason is he got on the ball a lot more than usual. I think he can score a lot more goals if he gets more service but we tend to pass the ball around in defence for half an hour before eventually playing it out onto the wings where we either loose it or play a bad cross.

For me generally Gerrard in that position behind torres is a real waste because he hardly ever touches the ball. When he does he has his few flashes of brilliance but its not often enough. I think what him and lucas were doing today in the first half, where they were swopping positions now and then really worked, and when aquilani is fit it could be the best way to play because teams normally have 1 guy man mark gerrard for the whole match. We saw it against bolton, and chelsea did it with essien in the champions league, when Gerrard is man marked he cannot play.

Our defence was terrible today. Really dissapointed with Carra. The more you watch his early mistake the worse it looks. He had so much time its ridiculous. And for some reason, we are absolutely terrible at set pieces. I dont understand why were so bad. It happens every week. Most of the goals we concede are from set piece. What is rafa teaching them in training sessions? We had the same problem last year and its still carrying on this year. It cost us against villa and bolton already. Carlton cole had carra, skyrtel and torres on him but he still managed to head it in. Ridiculous!

4 on the bounce now. What F***ing crisis?

It was a tough one there today. I apologise for watching it in my Mum's.

It was a tough one there today. I apologise for watching it in my Mum's.

What couldn't swear!

No mate. We always struggle when I watch the game at my Mum's. My Mum's is cursed for LFC games!

The skipper joked: "It was going in anyway. Dirk scores enough goals, so I want it."      

Well we are getting the results and not playing particularly well. We defended badly for their goals and the pace of the lad hines caused us some concern. Great goal by Torres to begin with. As I said after the game mid week. The 3 points is the most important thing.

Squeaked it.

The optimist in me would say that there were plenty of positives to take from the game. Yossi continued his excellent start to the season, Torres looked more lively and back to his best. We actually scored from a corner! We struggled defensively, but our match-winners stepped up to the mark and took the chances that won us the game. Four wins on the trot, and looking in far better shape in the Premiership.

The pessimist would say that defensively we were shambolic at best. Individual errors proved costly yet again this season, and could easily have left us with just one or no points from this game. Every set piece we look more and more vulnerable. Surely we can't put up a proper title challenge whilst leaking a couple of goals against every team who has an average or better attacking line-up? Our luck will run out.

Trying to be reasonable then, obviously the three points were the most important factor, we're climbing the table and closing the gap at the top.

However, surely we need to consider putting a player on each post when defending set pieces? This isn't a knee-jerk reaction, just an opinion based on the many occasions not just this season but for the last few where it could have been the difference between a goal or a clearance off the line. I hardly think it would make us less effective in our zonal defending - three men were surrounding Cole when he scored the header just before half time, and jumped with him, but he beat them all to it.

Some shocking stuff at the back. Discounting the individual error from Carra as a one-off that will hopefully never be repeated (since when did Carra start day dreaming during a match? ), we were poorly organised. I don't know if I buy the idea that changing the defensive line-up has destabilised Carra either. He's played with Skrtel long enough to form a proven partnership with him, and Insua has plenty of first-team games under his belt, too. Maybe the defence is more exposed since we have started playing with more attacking full backs like Johnson, and teams are using this to exploit Carra's lack of pace?

I am hopeful that once the team has enough matches under their belts, they will fully adapt one another and the defence will settle. I just hope this will happen sooner rather than later, 5 goal thrillers are great to watch, though I prefer the kind we dealt out to Villa at Anfield last season.

That lad Hines could probably run 100m sub 11 sec so he's going to cause a lot of defenders problems,the main thing is we scored more than them and we are cutting the draws out which was our achilles heel last season,Johnson gives us that bit more going forward,and as a result we will win more games,but we have to accept were going to leak a few goals as well

One thing is, we've been playing okay (not at our peak but not super horrible either). It's just that our defending has been letting us down at times.

For starters, I can't believe I got the Prediction right.

Knew this was going to be tough but even at 2-2 I knew we still had plenty of time to knock in a winner and once again up stepped Nando.

2 Brilliant goals from Nando, some wonderful runs by Yossi and Dirk being in the right spot at the right time.

We just need to really sort out our defending. Any set piece we have to defend is like torture. WTF is happening in training? Surely Rafa would know all goals that we have conceded this year have been from set pieces (bar the penalty). I'm with Ayrton and a few others on here, just stick a bloke on each post. How's Reina supposed to get his 4th Golden Glove in 5 seasons with shambolic defending like we've seen so far this season?

Get it sorted Rafa and quick, por favor.

Yeah, one thing about Zonal Marking is we do not have players on the posts but on the plus side, when the ball is quickly put back into the box after being nod out, the opposition players will be caught offside. The commentator mentioned it when Tompkins rose for a header from a corner and he headed it towards Reina's right post and I think Hines was there but he was flagged offside.

It was a good game but the goals we shipped were really poor. Why Carra thought he had to push him there was beyond me and the second goal was yet another reason to drop zonal marking. Torres was very good though he was strong held the ball up well and looked dangerous all game. Babel for me was a diffrent player to when i last saw him he had determination and once he came on was involved in everything. If he is looking to show his talents to other clubs or if Rafa has had a word isn't really important if he can do that week in week out hell be in the starting eleven soon.

Was one of the hardest games i have watched us play.Was in the local and found myself a quiet spot.
With a mixture of us and scum fans in the place you can imagine the jeers.
Its amazing that there seems to be more interest in our fixtures  than the mancs own games,or maybe its just me being paranoid.But in the words of Mr Partridge,Needless to say i had the last laugh!!!!!!!! A  HAAAA.
Anyway it shows we still have that fighting spirit from last season.However a message to Rafa and the lads,please dont do that to often this season i dont think my heart can take it.     YNWA.

Unimportant comment but just wondering why we played in the white kit rather than our usual away one?

Unimportant comment but just wondering why we played in the white kit rather than our usual away one?

Probably some FIFA ruling about clashing with the corner flags!

Also where did those black shorts come from?

Biggest positive, the result. Bolton and West Ham are games we would of drawn last season but we managed to win.

Nice to see the REAL Babel turn up today.Masher and Lucas dominated the midfield.I thought Stevie done ok but not yet on top of his game.Nando's contribution dispells alot of negative s**t that has been written lately.And finally well done Yossi (again).