Rafael Benitez disappointed with result

West Ham 1, Liverpool 0

BEFORE this game, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez called for his players to start a winning run that would ensure all the talk at the club was about football rather than off-the-field issues.

But this morning everybody is discussing the team again and they’re not uttering the words the Spaniard wants to hear.

The top-four spot that Liverpool should take for granted slipped further away last night as Mark Noble’s stoppage-time penalty inflicted a 1-0 defeat at Upton Park.

Benitez’s side, whose form in the Premier League had seen them drawing more than the club’s overworked architects who have been forced to pencil-in a third draft for the new Anfield stadium, were denied a fifth straight point when Jamie Carragher felled Freddie Ljungberg in the third minute of injury time and Noble slotted home from 12 yards out.

Despite winning their last six top-flight meetings against West Ham, Benitez’s side looked unlikely to extend that sequence to a lucky seven.

Instead, Liverpool, without a Premier League victory since Boxing Day, increased their winless run to five and this defeat following shares of the spoils against Manchester City, Wigan Athletic, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa.

Benitez made eight changes from the side that started against Havant Waterlooville on Saturday with Jose Reina, Fabio Aurelio, Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Harry Kewell, Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres coming in for Charles Itandje, John Arne Riise, Martin Skrtel, Lucas, Javier Mascherano, Jermaine Pennant, Ryan Babel and Peter Crouch.

Hat-trick hero against the non-Leaguers Yossi Benayoun kept his place for his first return to Upton Park since his summer switch to Anfield.

Before the game, the Israeli midfielder had said that he was looking forward to going back to his former employers but was unsure as to what kind of reception he would receive from the home fans.

Needless to say, he was mercilessly booed throughout by the Hammers’ supporters who are notoriously damning to old boys in opposition.

In contrast, Lucas Neill, captaining the hosts, was treated with great indifference by Liverpool’s travelling fans despite seemingly putting his bank balance before ambition a year ago by favouring a move to the East End ahead of Anfield.

Curiously, more than halfway through the season, this was Liverpool’s first trip to London of the campaign and in similar fashion to the FA Cup fourth round tie at the weekend, Benitez’s side started in jittery fashion.

Liverpool did threaten early on and Fernando Torres looked the most likely candidate to fire the visitors into the lead with a sprinkling of magic but, often asked to take on the home rearguard virtually single-handed, he struck a low 20-yard drive just wide of Robert Green’s right-hand post early on after a slick turn.

Benayoun also wasted an opportunity to silence his barrackers behind the goal in the Bobby Moore Stand when he went for precision rather than power but failed to get his radar correct with a flicked shot over the bar from a Kuyt pass after both Green and Matthew Upson had sliced attempted clearances up in the air.

It was a rare piece of influence from the low on confidence Dutchman who had another quiet evening while Crouch endured a frustrating 27th birthday picking up splinters on the bench.

From then on, the Hammers gradually started to gain a foothold on proceedings and Lee Bowyer should have done better with a Freddie Ljungberg right-wing cross which was whipped low into the area but the midfielder failed to make proper contact with a back heel.

Luis Boa Morte blasted over the bar from point blank range after the visitors were unable to deal with a long George McCartney throw-in from the left as set pieces became increasingly nervous times for Liverpool.

West Ham’s latest homegrown hero Noble curled in an inswinging free-kick from the left wing which Steve Finnan could only head back onto his own crossbar and with Reina forced to punch clear under pressure in an aerial duel with Carlton Cole after McCartney had lofted another long ball into the area, Benitez’s men were relieved to hear Alan Wiley’s half-time whistle.

However, the Hammers kept threatening to nail Liverpool from a dead-ball situation after the interval.

The visitors were again all at sea from a Noble free-kick from the right but among the chaos the ball dropped to Boa Morte at the near post but he proceeded to scuff his shot wide. Within minutes of the miss, Boa Morte’s number was up as Alan Curbishley made a double substitution and switched from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 as Bowyer also made way with Dean Ashton and Matthew Etherington entering the fray.

But if Benayoun had thought he was getting a verbal bashing from the West Ham supporters, it wasn’t anything like the abuse being dished out to a man still sporting a claret and blue jersey as Portuguese midfielder Boa Morte became number one target of the boo boys as he departed the field.

Three minutes later, Benitez shuffled his pack too, introducing Lucas for Kewell and the Brazilian youngster – fresh from his first Liverpool goal on Saturday – almost made an instant impact but his instinctive shot from a Torres right-wing cross was deflected wide for a corner-kick and soon after he was off target from just outside the area when making contact with a Gerrard cross when the skipper broke free down the left flank.

Increasingly frustrated by the physical attention he was receiving from West Ham’s defenders, Torres was booked for bouncing the ball in anger and his concentration levels also deserted him when he was denied from close range by a Green block after another Benitez switch almost bore fruit early courtesy of a Babel delivery from the right after the Dutchman had replaced Benayoun – a move that proved the home support weren’t all ‘booed out’ for the evening.

At the other end, West Ham continued to ask questions when Noble was able to pick his spot and when his right-wing corner-kick fell to the feet of an unmarked Neill at the back post, the Australian wasted his chance with what could only be described as a ‘defender’s finish’.

Just as the contest looked to be petering out to what would have been the most tepid of five-straight Premier League draws for Liverpool, the visitors threw away a point in the third and final minute of stoppage time. Allowing the Hammers to break from a corner for the visitors, Benitez’s side were soon back on the defensive and there were no complaints when Carragher felled Ljungberg in the area.

After a delay to re-spot the ball, Noble held his nerve against expert penalty saver Reina, striking his winner low to the Spaniard’s left with the keeper going the right way.

With the kind of high finances Liverpool enjoy compared to their rivals for the final Champions League spot fourth place should not even be a contest but any more results like this and Benitez might just have to go and win Europe’s premier competition again to ensure his side are back there next season.

WEST HAM: Green, Neill, McCartney, Ferdinand, Upson, Ljungberg, Noble, Bowyer (Ashton 58), Mullins, Boa Morte (Etherington 58), Cole (Spector 80). Subs: Wright, Solano.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Aurelio, Hyypia, Carragher, Benayoun, Gerrard, Alonso, Kewell (Lucas 61), Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Itandje, Crouch, Babel, Skrtel.
BOOKINGS: Aurelio, Torres, Alonso

REFEREE: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)

ATT: 34,977

NEXT MATCH: Liverpool v Sunderland, Barclays Premier League, Saturday 5.15pm.