Gerrard lauds 'on fire' Spaniard

Steven Gerrard believes strike-partner Fernando Torres put any critics in their place with a match-winning display at Upton Park on Saturday.

The Spanish ace was criticised in some quarters before the West Ham clash despite scoring three goals in six games.
 
Two more in London on Saturday helped Liverpool to another three points, and Gerrard said: "He's been playing okay to me.
 
"Those are the standards he's set. If he has one game where he doesn't score or he's below his level then everyone is looking at his form.
 
"That's the criticism you get when you're a top player, but he was certainly on fire here and got two superb goals for us." 
 
Dirk Kuyt scored Liverpool's other in a 3-2 win after the faintest of touches on Gerrard's goalbound header.
 
The skipper joked: "It was going in anyway. Dirk scores enough goals, so I want it."
 
Victory elevated Liverpool back into the top four ahead of a titanic Sunday of action, with the Manchester derby being followed by Tottenham versus Chelsea.
 
Gerrard added: "We can enjoy Sunday now. It was important we got our three points in the bag as the sides above us are going to drop points.
 
"We controlled the game football-wise and we are happy about how we played.
 
"We are building confidence slowly and we're certainly playing better now than we were at the beginning of the season when the two defeats were a bit of a blow.
 
"We've recovered and hopefully we can go on a long run of results now."