FOOTBALL Live

Wednesday March 5, 2008 Finished Anfield

Logo 4 - Logo 0

Liverpool

  • Torres 8’, 60’, 81’
  • Gerrard 83’

West Ham

  1. Torres hat-trick in Liverpool rout

    Torres hat-trick in Liverpool rout

    Fernando Torres scored another hat-trick as Liverpool thrashed West Ham 4-0 at Anfield to move back above Everton into fourth in the Premier League. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Liverpool
    • West Ham
    • - Liverpool are fourth again on goal difference from city rivals Everton. This season has been one of highs and lows for the Reds. They don't do things by halves. Thanks for joining us here tonight!!
    • 90+2' There it is - Gerrard grabs the match ball for Torres, who is on the bench now. The Spain hero, who has grabbed his second hat-trick of 2008 after his exploits against Middlesbrough recently, accepts it with a smile.
    • 90' A nice and easy approach to full-time for Liverpool.
    • 87' Carragher at the back post heads down, Green standing tall to make the block. Mark Noble, absent throughout the 90 minutes, is booked late on.
    • 84' Before that goal Torres left the field to a standing ovation. Peter Crouch came on.
    • 83' The skipper ran with purpose towards goal and struck an unstoppable shot in to the near-post top corner. Great goal.
    • 83' GERRARD SCORES A FOURTH!!!
    • 81' Riise jumped to head down and Torres nicked the ball past a standing Neill and opened his body to place in to the far corner!!!
    • 81' TORRES AWAY FROM NEILL TO HIT HIS HAT-TRICK!!!
    • 78' Reina is down hurt after a collision... he is okay to continue.
    • 76' Liverpool change: Babel replaced by Jermaine Pennant.
    • 75' Babel marauds from left to right, feeds Gerrard, who looks for a one-two with Torres... it almost comes off.
    • 72' Liverpool keeping the ball well to prevent West Ham from finding a way back.
    • 69' Double change for the Hammers: Cole and Nobby Solano replaced by Dean Ashton and Bobby Zamora. Curbishley chasing the game, bringing in two strikers for one.
    • 67' TORRES HITS THE POST!!! Gerrard dipped a superb ball between the backline and goalkeeper and the diving header came off the upright and across the line behind Green, who then claimed it.
    • 65' I should have touched wood for the West Ham fans out there. Sorry. 'El Nino' settles the crowd, who now expect nothing less than the three points and perhaps more goals.
    • 63' West Ham change: Jonathan Spector for Upson.
    • 63' Liverpool sub: Yossi Benayoun for Kuyt.
    • 60' Kuyt came on to his right foot and curled the ball straight to the head of Torres 10 yards out, who directed it into the corner to leave Green stranded. 2-0.
    • 60' GOAL NUMBER TWO FOR TORRES!!!
    • 60' With the exception of the goal, Torres has been quiet by his standards; falling over here but winning a corner. Lucky.
    • 58' The Happy Hammers a little happier at present, passing the ball about and closing down well. The Anfield crowd are getting restless.
    • 56' Mullins loses possession in midfield, giving it to... guess who? Gerrard gives it to Babel, who looks for Torres in the box... he cannot make anything of it. West Ham captain Neill booked.
    • 53' Babel on the left has space to come inside and shoot, straight at Green. The 'England number six' - the legend stitched into his gloves - did well to get down to it though.
    • 51' Gerrard with another Hollywood ball, but one this time that comes off. It is sublime for Babel in the corner, but the Dutchman's low ball across is poor and cut out.
    • 49' Gerrard breaks over halfway, stealing the ball and Torres is after it... Ferdinand slides and gets it back to Green. Was that with his arm?
    • 47' An intriguing second half in prospect then. West Ham are not out of this game yet.
    • 46' The second half underway, Liverpool kicking to the right now.
    • - No changes at the break.
    • 45+2' The whistle sounds. Liverpool go in a goal up.
    • 45' Into injury-time at the end of the opening 45 minutes...
    • 43' Mascherano lets fly first-time and takes out some poor sod in the crowd behind the goal. That was vicious, but lacking accuracy.
    • 39' Yellow card for Carlton Cole as he jumps into an aerial challenge with Alonso and catches him with a leading elbow. Naughty... he's a bit lucky to only see yellow.
    • 38' A deep cross will be nodded away by Neill... is that handball? He leapt and misjudged and the ball struck him on the upper arm! Nothing doing, says ref Steve Bennett - to the disgust of the Liverpool fans.
    • 37' Babel looks to shoot then thinks better of it. Instead he goes down the line of the penalty area and squares well for Gerrard to get a foot on it... Green tips it wide in the bottom corner!!
    • 36' Gerrard is involved in everything. He battles again to get in position, using a lovely feint, but then opts for the 'Hollywood' ball that beats everyone in tyhe air.
    • 34' Green dives out to get a hand on the resulting Stevie corner and divert it for another... then Carragher is not aware on the far side when Alonso's kick reaches him. Poor control.
    • 32' Gerrard spending a lot of his time on the left, coming inside on to his right foot and delivering to the back post... great defending by George McCartney to dive and head away.
    • 31' Gerrard sends in a free-kick that is headed clear. Ball after ball are being dealt with by the lads normally seen in claret and blue.
    • 29' An excellent corner to the front post by Gerrard is diverted over the top by the head of Skrtel. Very close to number two.
    • 27' Reina has a rush of blood and comes tearing out of his area to the right touchline to kick clear under pressure. He gets away with it.
    • 27' Liverpool are capable of scoring a second goal and certainly looking for it, but West Ham could hit them on the break.
    • 25' Arbeloa felled by Nolberto Solano in the final third. Gerrard whips the kick to the back stick, just too far for the arriving men.
    • 23' A period of attacking play from Alan Curbishley's West Ham side. They win a corner and almost find a way through Liverpool's defence again. Benitez must be wondering what his best back four is, although he is missing Steve Finnan tonight.
    • 21' Babel cuts in and unleashes a strike that flies well over the bar.
    • 20' Boa Morte releases Carlton Cole on the left, he's sprung the offside trap - but Skrtel is lightning-quick and recovers to get the block and win a controversial goal-kick.
    • 19' A pair of corners for Liverpool. Ferdinand heads the first away... and the second is cleared too.
    • 17' Arbeloa linking with Kuyt again on the right, to feed Gerrard on the pull-back... he executes a Cruyff-turn before his shot from eight yards is blocked.
    • 16' Torres seemed to fall awkwardly a couple of minutes ago, but he's fine and back defending a Neill cross.
    • 13' SO CLOSE FOR WEST HAM!! Boa Morte rounded Reina on the left side of the box - the 'keeper pulled out of the challenge - and his shot from the angle was brilliantly knocked over the bar by the retreating Arbeloa. An excellent ball down the channel from Hayden Mullins too.
    • 11' Babel is penalised for bundling over visiting captain Lucas Neill.
    • 10' Alonso has a stab at goal, deflected wide. West Ham on the rack.
    • 8' Kuyt on the right touchline played a low bouncing ball that Matthew Upson flapped at - my old manager as a kid used to say 'like a fairy prancing about on a Christmas tree' - and the Spaniard came across his marker to volley across Green and into the top corner.
    • 8' TORRES FINISHES FOR LIVERPOOL!!!! GREAT GOAL!!!
    • 7' A cracking delivery from John-Arne Riise is headed across goal by Kuyt, where Fernando Torres lurks... his header is just wide!!
    • 6' A moment of uncertainty between Carragher and Skrtel almost allows West Ham in as Pepe Reina makes the stop.
    • 5' Gerrard pops up on the left, chesting down and looking to cross. His ball is cut out; but the home fans will be happy to see him roaming the pitch at will in these early stages.
    • 3' The kick is headed away and Liverpool come back at the Hammers. No joy though in front of Robert Green's goal.
    • 2' Alvaro Arbeloa sent down the right... he puts in a cracking cross from the corner flag that Anton Ferdinand heads behind for a corner.
    • 2' Gerrard, as suspected, begins on the right to allow space for the passing of Alonso and work of Mascherano in the middle.
    • 1' We begin, Liverpool taking the kick-off and attacking the goal to our left. West Ham in all white. Perhaps the home players will think they ARE Bolton.
    • - The teams emerge to the Liverpool anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The Reds disposed of Bolton away at the weekend while the Hammers were thumped by Chelsea.
    • - West Ham have a typical line-up, minus Julien Faubert, who misses out after that bad tackle from Claude Makelele at the weekend. Freddy Ljungberg, Luis Boa Morte and Carlton Cole will attack with Dean Ashton a spectator from the bench.
    • - The teams are in at Anfield. Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez goes with Martin Skrtel at centre-half alongside Jamie Carragher, while Steven Gerrard is joined in midfield by Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso and Ryan Babel, with Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres in attack.

  • Team Stats

    Liverpool Stats West Ham
    53% Possession 46%
    24 Shots 4
    8 Shots on target 2
    2 Saves 4
    16 Corners 3
    15 Fouls 9
    1 Offsides 1
    0 Yellow cards 3
    0 Red cards 0
    30 Tackles 23
    309 Accurate passes 259
    68 Bad passes 35

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Liverpool
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      25 Jose Reina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 3 0
      37 Martin Skrtel 0 2 1 0 2 0 0 28 3 0
      6 John Arne Riise 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 23 15 2
      17 Alvaro Arbeloa 0 0 0 3 1 1 0 30 0 6
      23 Jamie Carragher 0 3 1 2 1 0 0 34 1 3
      8 Steven Gerrard 1 3 2 0 3 0 0 29 12 2
      20 Javier Mascherano 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 40 6 4
      14 Xabi Alonso 0 3 0 0 2 0 1 52 11 6
      19 Ryan Babel 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 18 6 1
      9 Fernando Torres 3 6 3 1 1 0 0 10 6 2
      18 Dirk Kuyt 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 17 2 3
      15 Peter Crouch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0
      11 Yossi Benayoun 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 2 0
      4 Sami Hyypia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      30 Charles Itandje 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      16 Jermaine Pennant 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 1
    • West Ham
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Robert Green 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 0
      5 Anton Ferdinand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 0 1
      3 George McCartney 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 26 7 3
      2 Lucas Neill 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 27 1 4
      6 Matthew Upson 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 20 4 1
      15 Nolberto Solano 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 18 1 2
      17 Hayden Mullins 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 34 4 0
      16 Mark Noble 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 39 5 2
      7 Fredrik Ljungberg 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 1 3
      12 Carlton Cole 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 9 2 1
      34 Luis Boa Morte 0 1 1 4 4 0 0 15 7 5
      18 Jonathan Spector 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0 0
      14 John Paintsil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Dean Ashton 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 0
      25 Bobby Zamora 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 1
      21 Richard Wright 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

  • Summary

    • - Liverpool are fourth again on goal difference from city rivals Everton. This season has been one of highs and lows for the Reds. They don't do things by halves. Thanks for joining us here tonight!!
    • 83' The skipper ran with purpose towards goal and struck an unstoppable shot in to the near-post top corner. Great goal.
    • 83' GERRARD SCORES A FOURTH!!!
    • 81' Riise jumped to head down and Torres nicked the ball past a standing Neill and opened his body to place in to the far corner!!!
    • 81' TORRES AWAY FROM NEILL TO HIT HIS HAT-TRICK!!!
    • 67' TORRES HITS THE POST!!! Gerrard dipped a superb ball between the backline and goalkeeper and the diving header came off the upright and across the line behind Green, who then claimed it.
    • 60' Kuyt came on to his right foot and curled the ball straight to the head of Torres 10 yards out, who directed it into the corner to leave Green stranded. 2-0.
    • 60' GOAL NUMBER TWO FOR TORRES!!!
    • 38' A deep cross will be nodded away by Neill... is that handball? He leapt and misjudged and the ball struck him on the upper arm! Nothing doing, says ref Steve Bennett - to the disgust of the Liverpool fans.
    • 37' Babel looks to shoot then thinks better of it. Instead he goes down the line of the penalty area and squares well for Gerrard to get a foot on it... Green tips it wide in the bottom corner!!
    • 32' Gerrard spending a lot of his time on the left, coming inside on to his right foot and delivering to the back post... great defending by George McCartney to dive and head away.
    • 29' An excellent corner to the front post by Gerrard is diverted over the top by the head of Skrtel. Very close to number two.
    • 20' Boa Morte releases Carlton Cole on the left, he's sprung the offside trap - but Skrtel is lightning-quick and recovers to get the block and win a controversial goal-kick.
    • 13' SO CLOSE FOR WEST HAM!! Boa Morte rounded Reina on the left side of the box - the 'keeper pulled out of the challenge - and his shot from the angle was brilliantly knocked over the bar by the retreating Arbeloa. An excellent ball down the channel from Hayden Mullins too.
    • 8' Kuyt on the right touchline played a low bouncing ball that Matthew Upson flapped at - my old manager as a kid used to say 'like a fairy prancing about on a Christmas tree' - and the Spaniard came across his marker to volley across Green and into the top corner.
    • 8' TORRES FINISHES FOR LIVERPOOL!!!! GREAT GOAL!!!
    • 7' A cracking delivery from John-Arne Riise is headed across goal by Kuyt, where Fernando Torres lurks... his header is just wide!!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Stephen Graham Bennett

  • Liverpool

    Manager: Rafa Benitez

    Captain: Steven Gerrard

    On the Field

    • Reina
    • Arbeloa
    • Skrtel
    • Carragher
    • Riise
    • Gerrard Goal
    • Alonso
    • Mascherano
    • Babel Substitution Out (76′)
    • Torres Goals×3 Substitution Out (82′)
    • Kuijt Substitution Out (63′)

    Subs

    • Pennant Substitution In (76′)
    • Hyypia
    • Crouch Substitution In (82′)
    • Benayoun Substitution In (63′)
    • Itandje

    Injured

    • Finnan
    • Voronin
    • Agger

    Suspended

    None

  • West Ham

    Manager: Alan Curbishley

    Captain: Lucas Neill

    On the Field

    • Green
    • Neill Yellow Card
    • Upson Substitution Out (63′)
    • Ferdinand
    • McCartney
    • Solano Substitution Out (69′)
    • Noble Yellow Card
    • Mullins
    • Ljungberg
    • Boa Morte
    • Cole Yellow Card Substitution Out (69′)

    Subs

    • Wright
    • Zamora Substitution In (69′)
    • Ashton Substitution In (69′)
    • Spector Substitution In (63′)
    • Pantsil

    Injured

    • Bowyer
    • Etherington
    • Dyer
    • Bellamy
    • Quashie
    • Collins

    Suspended

    None