Reds pile pressure on gonner Grant

IT IS the by-product of such a bizarre Premier League campaign that no sooner has momentum arrived, it disappears.

West Ham are the only side to have shown any real consistency and if their miserable run of one win in 14 Premier League matches is extended beyond next weekend’s home game against Wigan, Avram Grant will surely be the first top-flight manager to lose his job this season.

If West Ham’s players looked defeated, their fans took it another step, calling for Grant to be dismissed and ridiculing their manager, calling him “utter class”, then asking him for a wave, then pointedly singing the name of Paolo Di Canio, seven days after Roy Hodgson was baited with songs about Kenny Dalglish.

After watching Grant’s side utterly dismantled by a Liverpool team that has rarely hit top gear this season, West Ham’s co-owner David Gold did his best to remain positive and supportive.

“We come to Anfield and suddenly Liverpool are back at their best,” Gold said. “We were 3-0 down and we were thinking we were going to get beaten by 6-0.

“It was sardonic singing, it is what fans do. They are disappointed and there is no question that we have to do better. The situation is worrying.

“As we speak we are standing by the manager. We all have to stick together now. It is not a time to run scared but, by the same token, we know we have to do a lot better.”

The West Ham supporters were certainly good natured but the same kind of performance will get a very different reception at Upton Park.

A few days on from the former Chelsea and Portsmouth manager receiving a vote of confidence from Karren Brady, no matter what Gold says, failing to beat Wigan will create the kind of hostility towards the Israeli that will mean he has to go.

So a week on from looking at life beyond Hodgson, are Liverpool back on track?

The true test of that will come at White Hart Lane on Sunday, with defeats at Manchester City and United still fresh in the memory and just two away victories in the league all season.

Johnson’s return after injury and criticism from Hodgson came with an impressive performance against Grant’s strugglers.

He had already shown he could pull his old club apart when he burst into the area and produced a chip that was desperately cleared by Lars Jacobsen with less than a minute gone.

But Johnson scored his first goal of the season when he took Raul Meireles’ corner on his chest and came up with a fine low finish to beat Robert Green.

Danny Gabbidon’s laughable double handball allowed Dirk Kuyt to double the lead from the spot before Paul Konchesky’s whipped cross was glanced into the corner by Maxi Rodriguez.

Fernando Torres was desperately unlucky not to score, even as Liverpool strolled through the second period, with his best effort being pushed on to the bar by Green.

Johnson will face more of a test at White Hart Lane and even though he is hardly perfect and still has questions to answer about the defensive side of his game, he has plenty more to offer going forward than either Martin Kelly or Jamie Carragher.

As we are regularly told, the modern game is all about full-backs and Liverpool reaped the benefit of having some width against the Hammers, while the reality is that Johnson and Hodgson have to start getting along with each other.

The gist of Hodgson’s words after the 1-1 draw with Wigan was that Johnson was not performing like an international defender.

Johnson’s ‘people’ put it about that his relationship with Hodgson had broken down and that he wanted to leave.

But talk of interest from Bayern Munich, Juventus and Real Madrid is fanciful, while the player’s huge wages would make it tough for Liverpool to move him on even if they wanted to.

Now he is playing again, there seems to be a way back. “It was a little reminder from the boss, he told me that was what he meant by it,” Johnson said.

“We spoke, and he explained he wanted it to help me, to push me and I said to him then, I don’t need people to tell me, I know where I’m at in terms of form, and I knew it all already.

“The boss explained that he didn’t mean it in a negative way, just that he knew I had more to offer than I was showing, and wanted to get that from me.”

If Johnson can do that, Liverpool’s season might just be about to move in yet another direction.