Baros deepens the depression at West Ham

West Ham United 0 Liverpool 3

Another Sunday, bloody Sunday. As with last weekend's humiliation in the FA Cup it was a quick death – if not a merciful one. Two goals within the first nine minutes burst any dreams that the defeat of Blackburn Rovers in midweek was the start of some kind of revival for West Ham United. With two of the other four clubs who are fighting for their lives winning the previous day and showing the strength of purpose so obviously lacking here it was a crushing afternoon in the East End.

There was a palpable sense of resignation around Upton Park. The Great Escape? More like The Vanishing. "They were cheap goals," said manager Glenn Roeder afterwards in a brief and terse press conference. "We gave ourselves little chance to come back. Having said that I did not think that we competed enough. Some of the players became more fearful than I would expect them to."

With away games against West Bromwich Albion, Bolton Wanderers and Birmingham City among their closing fixtures it is looking desperate for the Hammers, especially if they continue to defend in such an appalling manner.

It was as if no lesson at all was learnt from the six-goal slaughter at Manchester United. The darkest day is just before the dawn, as the saying goes, but West Ham, who appeared to have illuminated the way with their first home league win of the season on Wednesday, have clearly now taken another wrong turning.

Paolo Di Canio was peripheral, Lee Bowyer made minimal impact and Les Ferdinand was substituted while the three goals, all from corners, were a collective embarrassment. The exodus for the fans started a full 15 minutes before the end as the atmosphere turned as funereal as the club's prospects.

Michael Owen, although he has only scored once in the past 13 league games, was surprisingly left out. A contest against this porous West Ham defence would probably have provided the confidence-boost he needs, plus Owen has scored Liverpool's last five goals against the Hammers.

Still, Liverpool's manager Gérard Houllier, aware of the demands he has made on the young striker, saw fit to rest him and, instead, put his faith in Emile Heskey and Milan Baros. Owen would have looked on in envy as the young Czech rose unmarked to head in John Arne Riise's corner. Then, two minutes later, perhaps disturbed by the ease at which the visitors had opened the scoring, David James came for another corner but his punch was woefully weak. The ball eventually ran to Steven Gerrard who drove it right-footed through the crowd from 25 yards to score.

The midfielder, finally free from injury, was the influential figure of the half and afterwards Houllier said he hoped that he would be spared the full 90 minutes on his next visit to Upton Park – with England next week. Houllier pointed out that his team have 10 games in the next 30 days and added: "I think Sven [Goran Eriksson] will take that into account."

Liverpool could not believe their luck with Baros, in particular, granted an astonishing amount of space by his marker Christian Dailly. He almost made it three on 14 minutes, but dragged his shot across goal.

Then, one moment midway through the half captured perfectly the fragile state of West Ham's confidence. A back-pass to James put him under minimal pressure but he ballooned the ball into the air for Tomas Repka, stationed on the edge of the penalty area, to then head back towards goal, and almost past his goalkeeper. And this is supposed to be the Premiership.

After the break West Ham struggled to make any headway and it was not until the arrival of Frédéric Kanouté after 55 minutes that they at last began to stretch Liverpool. The Frenchman half-volleyed over the bar after Joe Cole's crossfield pass had been headed down by Trevor Sinclair and later tumbled over in the area to ferocious – and misplaced – demands for a penalty.

Moments before, the visitors had stretched their lead with another goal direct from a corner. Sami Hyypia easily lost his marker and knocked the ball back across for Heskey to beat the leaden James to score his third goal in as many games – all headers. The goalkeeper was at fault but so were at least three of his defenders.

Di Canio almost pulled a goal back in the last quarter but Jerzy Dudek saved well and then Bowyer was easily beaten to the rebound. The game ended amid a flurry of substitutions.

Too good to go down? Too many talented players? "He has the ingredients to pick the team up," said Houllier as he joined the chorus of visiting managers who have left Roeder with plaudits but no points. Now is not the time for talent, it is for a bit more tenacity.

Goals: Baros (7), 0-1, Gerrard (9), 0-2, Heskey (70), 0-3.

West Ham United (4-4-2): James 3; Johnson 5, Repka 4, Dailly 3, Winterburn 4 (Brevett 3, 59); Bowyer 4, Carrick 3, Cole 4, Sinclair 3 (Defoe 4, 67); Di Canio 3, Ferdinand 3 (Kanouté 6, 55). Substitutes not used: Van der Gouw (gk), Schemmel.

Liverpool (4-4-2): Dudek 6; Carragher 5, Henchoz 5, Hyypia 6, Riise 5; Diouf 5, Gerrard 8, Murphy 6 (Hamann, 81), Smicer 5 (Cheyrou, 78); Baros 6 (Owen 6, 72), Heskey 7. Substitutes not used: Arphexad (gk), Traoré.

Referee: M Messias (York) 5.

Booked: West Ham: Cole

Man of the match: Gerrard.

Attendance: 35,03.