Liverpool and West Ham are not clubs you would normally assume have much in common.The ‘ammers are rooted in their rented E20 stadium in London whereas L4 is about 228 miles north.
However, there have probably been more players than you would care to remember who have donned the famous red jersey at Anfield whilst also representing the claret and blue of West Ham at Upton Park.
As with any signing from any club, some turn out to be good, or even excellent, signings, whilst there are others that you wish you could erase from your memory for evermore and pretend it never happened (I’ll get to Paul Konchesky later…)
There are also one or two that you may not have even realised that they actually played for West Ham at all – Ray Houghton anyone?
I’ll start with Javier Mascherano. I still don’t think anyone ever got to the bottom of how Mascherano and Carlos Tevez ended up at West Ham, and even more bizarrely how Mascherano found himself being kept out of the team by Hayden Mullins and Nigel Quashie!
We know that the entire situation became a bit of a mess with West Ham fined for breaking rules regarding third-party ownership and Mascherano was swiftly moved on to Liverpool in January 2007.
Masch’ was exactly the sort of player Liverpool needed to sit in alongside the silky Xabi Alonso and give Steven Gerrard more licence to get forward and form a deadly partnership with Fernando Torres. Mascherano was labelled a “monster of a player” by Rafa Benitez shortly after signing for the club and the quartet of Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko, Gerrard and Mascherano-oooo….. became the ‘best midfield in the world’. Masch’ was probably the best player to have represented both clubs and it was no surprise when Barcelona eventually came calling where he would win several league titles and two European Cups with the Catalan giants.
Yossi Benayoun was another player who, whilst he didn’t hit the heights that Mascherno did, was a vastly under-rated player by some.
Yossi was another player Liverpool signed from West Ham under controversial circumstances and West Ham were far from happy with him by the time his agent brokered a deal to join The Reds.
Benayoun only spent 3 seasons with Liverpool but scored some important and memorable goals in that time, including the winning goal against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu in the Champions League, a 94th minute winner at Craven Cottage to give Liverpool real hope of finally ending their title drought and a goal in the Europa League semi-final against Ateltico Madrid.
Benayoun was eventually sold in July 2010 to Chelsea as part of the Hicks and Gillett fire-sale.
There are some notable other names who have also been on the books at both clubs, though not necessarily transferring directly between the two clubs, or even actually playing a first team game for them.
Rob Jones, had a spell on West Ham’s books but the injuries that plagued him throughout his career meant he was unable to actually represent them in a first team game.
Rob Jones in action for West HamAnother England right-back in Glen Johnson fared better, though he passed through Chelsea and Portsmouth before Rafa Benitez brought him to Liverpool in 2009 to replace the outgoing Alvaro Arbeloa, who had packed his bags for Real Madrid. Johnson played 200 games for Liverpool before departing for Stoke in 2015.
Arbeloa also joined West Ham in 2016, playing 3 games before hanging up his boots!
Titi Camara was a cult hero amongst many Liverpool fans. Whilst not the most prolific striker to have ever adorned the Liverpool shirt, his passion was unquestionable and he is probably most remembered for his emotional tribute and tears after scoring the winning goal against West Ham at Anfield the day after his father died.
Rigobert Song - who also played for both clubs(!) consoles Camara following his goal against West HamCamara would soon join West Ham however, he failed to score in the 14 games he played and West Ham agreed a loan deal for him to join Al-Ittihad which led Camara to sue West Ham for breach of contract (which he lost!). West Ham were relegated and his contract was terminated!
Paul Ince also went the long way round in representing both clubs, as his path took him via Manchester United and Inter Milan before arriving at Anfield to try to add some steal to Roy Evans’ midfield in 1997. By the time he arrived though, the self-titled "Guv'nor" wasn’t the midfield enforcer he’d once been, and was infamously labeled a 'big-time Charlie' by Man Utd boss Ferguson.
"Charlie, it's for you-hoooo"Some erratic performances and injuries to key players (Fowler, Redknapp, Thomas and Berger) meant Liverpool struggled at times and exited the cups early; however, Liverpool managed to secure a UEFA Cup place at the end of Ince's first season by finishing a respectable 3rd in the league. Ince captained Liverpool the following season, but then Gerard Houllier was brought in to work alongside Evans and Ince was quickly moved on.
There, have, of course been others who probably stand out less that the ones mentioned before. Neil Ruddock joined West Ham from Liverpool and Julian Dicks joined Liverpool from West Ham with a short cross-over in between. They were two of Graeme Souness's less astute signings, though, lets be honest, there are a fair number to choose from.
David (Bugsy) Burrows, Mike Marsh and Don Hutchison are also from a similar era of players who represented both clubs.
David James, and more recently, Adrian have kept goal for Liverpool and West Ham, with the latter scoring a winning penalty for West Ham against Everton in the cup and also playing a role in the reds' first title winning success in 30 years.
Before I get on to Paul Konchesky
(shudder), a quick mention should go out to Craig Bellamy.
Whilst not everyone's cup of tea, Bellamy was a charismatic (and chaotic) footballer who scored some vital goals for Liverpool during his two spells with the club and his passion was unquestionable.
A rare photo of Bellamy not moaning at the referee!And so we come on to Paul Martyn Konchesky. A full-back who was capped by England (twice!) and who can point to appearances in an FA Cup and Europa League Final - both of which he lost!
Konchesky is, along with Joe Cole, another of the Hicks and Gillett era signings and is remembered more for his his mother's outburst at Liverpool fans over anything he did on the pitch whist playing for the club for 6 months!
You may remember, Konchesky had a stinker against Stoke, with Liverpool losing 2-0 and dropping towards the bottom end of the table. Liverpool fans were (shall we say) less than pleased with him and vented their frustrations on social media; then Carol Koncehsky weighed in with her views on Liverpool fans, calling them "Scouse scum" and accued fans of living in the past to comments to friends which were leaked to the press.
Mummy's boy!Needless to say, her son didn't last too much longer at the club and King Kenny, who had thankfully replaced Roy Hodgson by then, sent him to Nottingham Forest on loan and he never returned to the club again!
There are others whom I could write about, including Robbie Keane and Andy Carroll but this preview has gone on long enough talking about the past, so it's time to talk about the game this Sunday...
Due to time restrictions, this report was compiled before the Europa League games on Thursday!West Ham and Liverpool are also aligned in their European commitments this season. West Ham's victory in Conference League last season has propelled them in to this year's Europa League, whilst Liverpool's disappointing campaign last season has seen them slip out of the Champions League in to Europe's second tier competition.
West Ham have had a good start to the new campaign. Prior to the international break, they were 4th in the table with an identical record to that of Liverpool (4 games, 10 points), chalking up good wins against Chelsea and Brighton along the way, and despite taking the lead against Man City last weekend, they finally succumbed and eventually lost 3-1; this stretched West Ham's winless run against Man City to 16 league games, so it was hardly surprising that they slipped to their first defeat of the season!
Jarrod Bowen has continued where he left off in the UEFA Conference League Final by getting on the score-sheet on a few occasions already this season and new signing James Ward-Prowse has hit the ground running with 2 goals and 3 assists and has been racking up a nice haul of FPL points for those who own him!
Meanwhile, hosts Liverpool are currently unbeaten in the league, despite having to do things the hard way. Victories with 10-men against Bournemouth and Newcastle have also been coupled with some Jekyll and Hyde displays. Comfortable enough against Aston Villa but less so against Wolves (in the first half!) and a "meh" game against a poor Chelsea side to kick off the season!
Midfield acquisitions are settling in nicely though and there is a better balance to the side now, with several options in attack as Gakpo, Nunez, Diaz and Jota tussle for starting berths alongside the undroppable Mo Salah, who has managed 6 league goal involvements already this season!
Liverpool will have captain Virgil van Dijk back after suspension and Ibou Konate managed some minutes at the end of the Wolves game as he gets back to fitness. Trent Alexander-Arnold has been out with a hamstring issue, but is due to return to training this week so may feature.
West Ham striker Michail Antonio fancies West Ham's chances: "I am backing myself over Liverpool," he said on the Footballer's Football Podcast. Antonio continued: "You know what, I think we are going to finish higher than Liverpool this season. I'm putting it out there.
"I watched the game [Wolves vs Liverpool] because it was before our game and Wolves could have run away with it! They had quite a few opportunities. We've got them this weekend and it's a six-pointer. We've got them!"
In the corresponding fixture last season, Liverpool edged out West Ham with a Darwin Nunez winner coming mid-way through the first half.
The game is not being televised live in the UK, but this thread should help you out: https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=323139.0.