Babel: Lashes wide late on
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Reds booed off after Hammers draw
Liverpool moved to the summit of the Premier League but only by one point after West Ham held on for a creditable 0-0 draw at Anfield.
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Following Chelsea's shock defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, Rafael Benitez's men had the chance to move three points clear of the Blues, but a lacklustre display coupled with a dogged performance from Gianfranco Zola's men meant that the Reds left the field with only a solitary point, with a chorus of boos from the Anfield crowd ringing in their ears.
Just as Stoke and Fulham had done before them this season, the Hammers set out to frustrate Liverpool, who without Fernando Torres, lacked the required cutting edge.
The east Londoners actually came closest to breaking the deadlock when Craig Bellamy rattled the post in the first half but Zola will be more than happy to see his side keep their third consecutive clean sheet and win first Premier League point at Anfield in almost 10 years.
Albert Riera's side-footed attempt following Robert Green's poor punch was cleared off the line by Matthew Upson after only 12 minutes, before Carlton Cole came to his keeper's rescue 10 minutes later, hacking away Sami Hyypia's close-range header from underneath the crossbar with Green well beaten.
Steven Gerrard shot into the side-netting when he cleverly cut inside from the right, beating two defenders on his way, before Liverpool old-boy Craig Bellamy nearly grabbed a shock lead for the visitors eight minutes before the break, unleashing a 25-yard drive that crashed off the inside of Jose Reina's post.
The second period began in a similar fashion to how the first ended, with the hosts enjoying plenty of possession but unable to break the visitors' resistance.
Yossi Benayoun was brilliantly denied by Green, the Israeli seeing his goal-bound volley from 12 yards wonderfully tipped over the bar by the Hammers stopper.
Robbie Keane appeared disgusted to be hauled off again at Anfield when he was replaced by David N'Gog with 25 minutes left as Rafael Benitez watched his men toil, and the Spaniard nearly saw West Ham grab the lead when Carlton Cole's header from Bellamy's corner flashed narrowly wide.
Ryan Babel was then introduced, perhaps belatedly, with 10 minutes to go with the deadlock appearing no nearer to being broken, despite Hyypia's header flashing across the face of goal, just beyond the reach of Dirk Kuyt in the 82nd minute.
Kuyt's weak shot was blocked by Green in the 88th minute while substitute Luis Boa Morte blazed horribly wide in the last minute when presented with an opportunity to claim a dramatic late victory.
Liverpool 0 - 0 West Ham
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Your Comments
ashvagan (Liverpool fan)
"Threadonaspool, the booing is to make the team realize that they sucked in that match. It wasn't uncalled for. They played badly and that's it."
Ch'ng (Liverpool fan)
"I share the same frustration as the fans in the stadium. IMO, the fans booed the players and Rafa coz we were expecting 3 points from this game. I was shaking my head the whole night watching the game on TV. I dont see anything wrong with it coz we all have expectations for this current squad. We do not want to see any slip up after we fought so hard for those come back wins and beaten ManU and Chelski. Our players need to make used of the possible opportunities to break off the current points tally in order to have some breathing space come end of the season. We should be 5 points lead at the top rather than 1 point now. The whole game was boring. We were running out of ideas, no creativity, no drive and determination from the players. Where are those spirited performances from us when we came back from behind to beat Mid'boro, ManU, ManCity and Wigan? I am hoping to see Gerrard land his hand on the titile by end of this season but our last 3 games (including CL) shown that we were not good enough. I think I have to agree with a lot of ManU fans who have mentioned that we are not title contender after watching the last 3 games. It was awful and where are the form we shown in October that landed Rafa with Manager Of The Month award? Rafa has made a wrong selection by pairing 2 strikers that do not have the pace to break off defence. Babel should has been in the starting lineup with Keane with Kuyt on the right wing. However, I haev to admit that West Ham defence was solid and Green made some tremendous saves. We need to improve or we will soon be fighting for 3rd and 4th placing again....YNWA"
Redlad (Liverpool fan)
"No real gameplan and we tried to pass them to death, without Torres we have no targetman, Robbie is not a target man, he feads off them. Bring back Heskey!"
kree (Liverpool fan)
"very disappointing result for us. No class shown last night. Keane needs to start finding his space , kuyt needs to stop running around and try and remain in his position. Alonso needs to stop his annoying back passing. In fact the whole team still have the back passing mentality. Bring some samba to Anfield Rafa . We need a proper Brazilian midfielder and not the Poor show Lucas we have . "
snoop (Manchester United fan)
"Suprised at the fans reaction. Top of the log - best log position at this point of the season for ages. AS a Utd fan i am obviously happy with the result - but pool supporters need to be realistic - without the squads of united or chelsea, if you are gonna win the league - it wont be easy!"
cleonard (Manchester United fan)
"Oh dear me ! .... here we go again, the scousers are losing it ..... One of you wrote that Gerrard was awful, I'll drink to that !"
Gary Neville (Manchester United fan)
"The Liverpool fans who were booing their team (that currently sit top of the league) don't deserve to see their side win a league title."
atruedevil (Manchester United fan)
"Exactly, what happened to 'You'll never walk alone'. U know if there was a group of fans that never booed their team no matter what, i would have thought it would be Liverpool. Shocked really."
moltes10 (Liverpool fan)
"what do u want a player to achieve in just 10 mins???i thought keane would be a great signing for us..but unfortunately he just sucks mann!!babel should be in the starting eleven..and yeah threadonaspool,u r rite..but dude we can't aford to lose 4 precious points against club like west ham & fulham ( clubs who fight to avoid relegation some time back)at anfield!:(:("
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