In a curious twist of fate at Upton Park this afternoon, three former West Ham players helped Liverpool secure a much-needed Premier League away victory against West Ham, the odds for which must have been a million-to-one prior to the game. Glen Johnson, Joe Cole and Jonjo Shelvey grabbed the goals as the Reds won 3-2, a win that leaves the club only four points off 4th place.
Liverpool's victory means the club have now won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time in a year (!).
Cole came on for Jose Enrique after 25 minutes of the first half, and he scored the equalising goal that gave Liverpool back the momentum. After the game, he said:
"It's an important win for us because West Ham were only three points above us. It's always nice to come back to your old club and it was a good win for us.
"I've scored a few goals against West Ham and I've never celebrated, but the most important thing was getting the win"
There was a hint of an own goal about Shelvey's strike, but the 20-year old is determined to claim it:
"I'm going to claim it. But the main thing is getting three points. Now we've got a few home games so we can kick on"
Shelvey also praised Rodgers:
"The new manager has come in and installed a different style. It's very exciting to be involved in. The longer the season goes on, the stronger we will become."
Luis Suarez was delighted with the victory, and tweeted:
"Great Liverpool! Congratulations to all my teammates for this great win! YNWA Grande Liverpool!"
Lucas Leiva added:
"Great win again. Game by game we are getting closer. Well done boys. My second game back and [I'm] slowly getting the Rhythm again"
Re Jose Enrique: Like Mohamed Diame, he suffered a hamstring injury, which probably means he'll be out over the Christmas period. It's a shame as the Spaniard is in top form at the moment.
Jaimie Kanwar
Liverpool's victory means the club have now won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time in a year (!).
Cole came on for Jose Enrique after 25 minutes of the first half, and he scored the equalising goal that gave Liverpool back the momentum. After the game, he said:
"It's an important win for us because West Ham were only three points above us. It's always nice to come back to your old club and it was a good win for us.
"I've scored a few goals against West Ham and I've never celebrated, but the most important thing was getting the win"
There was a hint of an own goal about Shelvey's strike, but the 20-year old is determined to claim it:
"I'm going to claim it. But the main thing is getting three points. Now we've got a few home games so we can kick on"
Shelvey also praised Rodgers:
"The new manager has come in and installed a different style. It's very exciting to be involved in. The longer the season goes on, the stronger we will become."
Luis Suarez was delighted with the victory, and tweeted:
"Great Liverpool! Congratulations to all my teammates for this great win! YNWA Grande Liverpool!"
Lucas Leiva added:
"Great win again. Game by game we are getting closer. Well done boys. My second game back and [I'm] slowly getting the Rhythm again"
Re Jose Enrique: Like Mohamed Diame, he suffered a hamstring injury, which probably means he'll be out over the Christmas period. It's a shame as the Spaniard is in top form at the moment.
Jaimie Kanwar
Couldn't see us even getting a point at one stage, let alone win.
ReplyDeleteIt's a funny old game!
Not going to lie Jamie, when we were 2-1 down I thought that was it. Especially when Cole came on. But today I was proved wrong. Today highlighted the fact that we are in need of strikers!
ReplyDeleteBring on the next two home games and some signings!
Agree. I thought it was game over. The form of the so-called top clubs this season is so inconsistent that 4th place is definitely up for grabs.
ReplyDeleteNerve wracking win. Outstanding performance by Johnson. Skrtle. Still a lot of hard work ahead. 3 points is what matters most.
ReplyDeleteNever seen our midfield so outmuscle before until today. It was only when Diame left the field, did we impose ourselves and play the normal game we were capable of.
ReplyDeleteWhy did we stop playing after 15mins???, at least the one man team??? eventually won.................LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteWhy did we allow Diame to run all over our midfield, get a grip Gerrard!!!
ReplyDeleteWe r only 4 pts behind 4th position so we r still there!!!!
ReplyDeleteOnce Joe Cole came on we lost our foot-hold on the game, I know he scored (overall not impressed). His first touch is average (can't kill a pass dead) and doesn't poses physicality to compensate, allowing him to have a better second touch. We were lucky to come away with all the spoils, If Diame(MOMT) stays on we would have left London with 'bleeding rectums', he's like LIDL version of Yaya T(bit disappointed didn't pick him up). Hendo wasn't to bad in his short spell, wana see Mike Ngoo given a chance on bench. I Sound really bitter, we won end of the day!!!
ReplyDeleteN.B. where's Ozzy Assaidi?
Totally agree that we can get 4th place easily if we concentrate instead of stopping to play!!!
ReplyDeleteGood question where is Assaidi???
ReplyDeleteWith a quality striker in January we can get 4th place!!!
ReplyDeleteJamie, maybe that Europa jinx you wrote about some days ago is coming for us :)
ReplyDeleteHe is sat at home wondering how he cannot get a game ahead of Downing and probably why he signed for us
ReplyDeleteA hint of an own goal??? there were members of the crowd closer to it then Shelvey lol.. Who was again little more then average
ReplyDeletehe was contemplating how bad stewart downing has to become before he can get a start.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer we dropped the 4-3-3, it doesnt suit the players we have. Sterling showed he has a lot to learn, i thought he had a poor game. Allen should be rested! Got bullied today. unlucky with the handball though.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Allen? all he did was run around trying to give away free kicks, Lucas was hardly outstanding either though obviously he has to be given a little slack as only just returned from injury, there is more then 1 man in our midfield!
ReplyDeleteYes but Stevie needed to get them sorted but didn't!!!
ReplyDeleteboys showed good spirit. big loss with enriqua, typical.
ReplyDeletethe ref was the usual standard as in most Liverpool games today.
you earn respect, and most these refs deserve none.
great win and a big bonus to beat 12 men, which has proved all so difficult this season ;0)
Maybe he tried but they werent upto it
ReplyDeleteA quote by rodgers: "You see young Jonjo at 20 years of age playing the number nine role in a different way - dropping into midfield and combining with the midfield players to make the fourth man, being a threat when he is in around the box, showing great feet and I thought he was outstanding today the kid"
ReplyDeleteAnybody know who he is on about? as the only Jonjo i know of at anfield is shelvey and that quote could not be further from the truth.
In a way, I think its great that we won the game like that. Great spirit from the lads. Might have been sloppy, wishy washy, etc, but we salvaged a win.
ReplyDeleteI agree mate a win is a win and i am happy we won, but i think wins like these are papering over the cracks as they say, i have supported LFC for 31 years and cannot remember a time were i have had as little confidence in the team as i do now, i never look at a match and think i am expecting us to win regardless of who we are playing and its a strange feeling to have and i dont like it, i want us back were we belong
ReplyDeleteAye, I said in another post earlier today that implied that I don't have such high standards/ambitions of us anymore. It is a strange feeling but its been coming, its been coming for a while now as we have fallen big time. We might just have to put up with it for quite a while, this sort of mediocrity. At least we know it, rather than being in denial and thinking its just round the corner, the success.
ReplyDeleteGuess were getting to know what it feels like to be a blue nose
ReplyDeleteProbably how Everton use to feel before Moyles came... I agree with you about game by game anxiety, hard to predict which games are dead cert victories(granted there are blips here and there).
ReplyDeleteDiame beast!
ReplyDeleteIf we are to sign any midfielders, it should be him... but strikers NB!
Kept going even while playing poorly. This is a big difference in approach to last season and the dreadful Hodgson period. This is the kind of resilience Man Utd show and it makes them winners. As tricky as it was this victory should not be under-estimated as a show of character!!
ReplyDelete4th IS up for grabs, but Liverpool wont be getting anywhere near it!
ReplyDeleteReading these posts you'd think we got hammered *ahem*. West Ham in London is never easy or pretty and it is certainly never relaxing. So 3 points and 3 goals sans Suarez, Stevie not playing his best (time to start looking at subbing the boy, 90 mins every game is becoming a bit much), a bunch of kids and the usual drawbacks of Cole, Downing and Henderson, that is a good win. Remember, WHU beat Chelsea last week. Top half of the table, 4 off 4th, winnable games running up to Christmas, Lucas on the comeback, Suarez's ban out of the road, the transfer window just around the corner to correct the mistakes of the last one and young Morgan on the bench (which means another striker creeping the right direction to the first team).
ReplyDeleteWe won a tough game today and you can't win anything with kids...
Agree totally.
ReplyDeleteHe did the same against Chelsea last week which won them the game.
And to think we passed on him as cover for Lucas last summer. :-/
I'm happy for our goal scorers and the 3 points, but had Diame not gone off injured, no way we would have got anything from that game.
Felt sorry for him personally, he deserved a better ending after that performance.
First off great win lads, like everyone else I thought it was over at 2-1 they say we never score in the last 15mins! TBH we are still lightweight especially in the middle. Any team with brutes in the middle like Dembele, Diame, Toure make me nervous I don't think we can stop such tanks but only hope to play round them. When we had Sissoko, Masch, Alonso, it was a perfect balance brawn, tenacity with elegance. At present we are missing that brawn element.
ReplyDeleteWe played better against Spurs and lost so i'll take the 3 points. We were in complete control till Cole came on.
ReplyDeleteShould of been 4-2 in the end but we aint ever getting that penalty.
Im starting to develop schizophrenic paranoia with standard of officiating that is going on. How on earth that was a deliberate handball from point blank-reflex range, only god knows. It was going to hit the top tier of the stands anyways if there was no contact. More and more by the day, the EPL is looking like an entertainment business. Challenges were getting thrown left right and center in the City/ United game, not a single red card. Referees were guarding that game, since it was a giant EPL attraction. Yet when the same sort of temperamental aura surrounds a Liverpool/ United game, Shelvey gets sent of for going "over-the-top".
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong to think that Liverpool are being punished by refs.
wow so much negative comments i will admit when i saw the starting eleven and saw downing instead of assaidi, enrique of for cole and henderson on for allen i thought the worse another loss but we stuck in there and won no matter what happened against a side that outmuscled ours always looking for a free kick and spewing crosses from all angles we did very well today to come back in it and win the game so hats off for all of the players and BR also if henderson continues the way he's been goin i'm willing to give him my support again
ReplyDeleteTo add the the above, I thought Lucas had a hard time imposing himself in that game.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is its gonna take him months to get anywhere near top form, which is why we still needed to bring in cover for him.
Kenny and us fans found out the hard way last year after we lost Lucas how important that position is to our play.
Rumor is the club had Diame lined up during last summers transfer window, but then Rodgers took over and scuttled the deal.
Now we all sit around and twiddle our thumbs while Rodgers learns the same lessons all over again.
All rather farcical.
We should be 2 points off 4th, can anyone tell me why?
ReplyDeleteChelsea got derailed off form, can anyone tell me how it came about?
ReplyDeleteThe point is though, we won despite playing average. If you want to be a top team, you still need to be able to nick those points when it's not even your best day in the office. How many times have we seen Utd do it? If it weren't for their ability to do that, they would have won far less titles.
ReplyDeleteWhat's farcical is you having a pop at the manager based on a rumor..
ReplyDeleteWho exactly had him lined up ?? KD was gone.. somebody in the office just lining up players at a managerless club ? That makes a whole lot of sense.
If your going to criticise the manager at least stick to facts.. it's only fair.. or is that an outdated concept these days ??
I thought Joe Cole was a threat and played Ok, considering he has had little game time. He was in some good positions and adding to the attack. In theory, i think the 433 style suits him, so i would like to see more of him. Also, i think it was a very classy celebration after his goal. Well done JC!
ReplyDeleteAgree about Sterling...overhyped for now, maybe will get better.
ReplyDeleteI loved the win good to see Cole get his name on the score sheet finally also liked the efforts of Henderson and Shelvey.
ReplyDeleteBy the way things are going for Sterling i think the kid needs a rest and a chance to hone his finishing skills which are not quite there yet but what a player he is going to be.
Thought BR may have picked Assaidi he must be disheartened by seeing rubbish like Downing starting ahead of him, all in all a good effort despite the ref yet again.
Personally if Assaidi isnt getting game time i would prefer to see Cole start before Downing. He maybe getting a bit slow but he is technically superior to downing, his movement is a lot smarter. he made couple of good runs to the box , and one resulted in a goal (which was well taken). Downing hugs touchline, only time he comes in is when he - tries - to take on a player, and he usually fails. we cannot score goals from corner flag. 4-3-3 . your wingers need to get to the positions where they can chip in with goals, cole did just that.
ReplyDeleteWhy was Downing brought in in the first place? wasnt it to support ammunition to Carroll? well Carroll has one foot out of the door already? Throw the downing in the same package, please.
Is it not time to change your profile picture David?
ReplyDeleteOur best player was suspended, West Ham have been brilliant at Upton Park all season and smashed Chelsea 3-1 the game before.
We came a way with the win. Diame blah, blah blah.
Get over yourself please. Some fans will never be happy unless Rafa comes back. Shame, you and other are going to be heartbroken for a very, very long time as Rafa will never, never return.
I on the other hand am very chuffed with the new direction the club is going in. Might take time but sooner or later we will rise again.
MOVE ON.
What actually happened was that Diame was scouted during last season, we were going to go for him in the summer window but fell without a manager. By the time Rodgers came in and had a chance to evaluate what was already at the club for him to work with, Diame's mind was already made up.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with my picture.
ReplyDeleteKindly point out to me where I reference him for you to warrant your attack?
Lots of people have pictures of their favorite players/coaches both past and present.
Why have you singled him out?
Your irrational hatred for him is not my problem as my post has nothing to do with Rafa.
You've misinterpreted the point.
ReplyDeleteIs there no communication within our club?
In short, how could a club disregard an obvious weakness in the team, irrespective of who the manager is, from one season to the next.
That need isn't going to disappear just because a new manager comes in.
The truth hurts doesn't it? Your fixation on Rafa is something you will never let go of. Do you now want to come and deny that?
ReplyDeleteRodgers also clearly is not your cup of tea.
The longer you hope for Rafa to come back the longer you will lead a miserable life as a LFC fan.
P.S. I do not hate Rafa but at the end of 08/09 I was willing to concede that his time was up. In Rafa we trust... Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and now it is history. He had his chance and never will again.
Are you aware of the fact that Rafa will never manage this club again and that you now have to fully support BR in what he is doing?
Far from being a brilliant performance but it earned us 3 valuable points. Thought we started off very well, especially Glen Johnson but after that very dubious penalty decision we seemed to loose our way. Thought three or four players underwhelmed again. Very disappointed with the performance of Sterling.
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the season I made my Christmas Wish list out for Santa. First was that we started playing entertaining and attractive football. I think Santa has delivered on that one. Number two was that we were still in the Europa League. Thank you Santa. Number three was that we were still in the Capital One Cup - Oops. And last, but not least, was that we would be in 6 - 8 place by the end of the year. No reason to suggest that Santa is going to let me down on that one ! Considering the squad that Brendan inherited I think he has done very well. The doom and gloom merchants must be having a really miseable time with the positive results from LFC at the moment !!
I don't think I have mate..apologies if I have.. but it seemed like a clear dig at rodgers to me. To be fair they're were plenty of obvious weaknesses in the team when Rodgers took over.. not least the midfield.
ReplyDeleteI think the communication was quiet clear from FSG and that was first and foremost cut the wages bill and trim the squad which is what he did.
We have been linked to half the registered footballers in world football for heavens sake.. 99% of which are fabricated..
Rebuilding is going to be a slow process and we just have to accept that.
I can accept legitimate criticism of the manager, have done so myself.. but not criticism for not acting on one of the thousands baseless transfer rumors is all I'm saying
I thought it was our worst midfield display for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteGerrard, Allen and Downing were terrible. Sterling lost the ball very often as well.
I don't know why people slate Shelvey, as he had no support from these three, and I thought he did allright with what came his way, playing out of position.
Johnson was simply brilliant, and to be honest, I expected much worse from Cole. He did alright, got a good goal, and maybe he can finally build on this performance.
The others did ok. Charlton Cole abused our defence, but never got through thanks to Agger, and our 2 conceded goals were unfortunate.
I also hope we can see more of Hendo since he's looking better than before - maybe on the expense of Allen or Gerrard.
Can still not understand where Assaidi and Suso were during this match though.
That said, an important win, only 4 points off 4th. YNWA.
Totally agree with you re UTD. I watched the City/UTD match and City were the better team but UTD walked away with the points. UTD's football this season has not been the prettiest but they know how to walk away with 3 points.
ReplyDeleteI've said this before but December is a MASSIVE month for us this season because we do not play one team that we shouldn't beat. The good thing about playing the tough games early is we get a run of games that are all winable.After grinding through West Ham we have Villa, Fulham, Stoke, QPR, then we kick off the year at home to Sunderland. Those should be 15 pts in the bag and LFC climbing up the table. Then on the 13th is Man U and hopefully by then we will have a lot more confidence and a new striker to show those manics this dog still has some fight in him. But first things first, Villa at Anfield and hopefully 3 pts and a 3rd consecutive win.YNWA!
ReplyDeleteHey Jaimie, there is no update about Enriques injury in BPL football fantasy...
ReplyDeleteThe difference between this and other games we have lost or drawn to me has been due to bad luck. We have outplayed most of the teams since last year and created a lot of chances. We were LUCKY Villa failed to convert their chances especially in the first half and we were LUCKIER to convert our chances in the second half.
ReplyDeleteHowever this will count for nothing if we do not collect maximum points all this month from all the scheduled games. THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM.
SUAREZ RETURN
Most analyst will say never change a winning team, so I propose starting Suarez on the bench in the coming games. He misses a lot of chances and we could lose nothing playing him only the last 40 minutes. Plus the player selected will try as much as possible to grab goals in his window of opportunity and it would instill fear in opposing defenses (Remember the game against Arsenal at the Emirates last year?)