Liverpool Need to Step Up a Gear

Liverpool travel to West Ham today in the knowledge that there is little room for error, having already suffered two early season defeats in the league. The Hammers are an unpredictable outfit, although Upton Park has been a happy hunting ground for the Reds in recent seasons. With Chelsea having established a slight lead (albeit having played inferior opposition) it is important that Liverpool carry on the momentum from their previous two games against Bolton and Burnley, before the crunch match with Ancelotti's men in a few weeks.

Wednesday's performance against Debrecen was far from inspiring, with Gerrard worryingly out of sorts, and Benitez's side received a fair amount of media criticism for their narrow 1-0 win. In general it was interpreted as further evidence that Liverpool are a long way off challenging for the title (almost universally explained by the absence of Xabi Alonso). In contrast, Manchester United's victory by the same scoreline against Besiktas was described as 'gritty' and 'professional' i.e further evidence that they are a team who know how to win when not playing at their best. Perhaps it is just that I am paranoid, or maybe it was because they were playing in front of a larger terrestrial audience, but there does seem to be a prevailing trend within the world of football journalism whereby Liverpool are open to harsher judgement than their main rivals. Yes, it was a poor performance on Wednesday, but let's not over-react. It is still very early in the season. I'll stick my neck out and say that in the long term, Manchester United will miss Ronaldo more than Liverpool will miss Alonso.