Fernando Torres was the hero of Anfield on Saturday afternoon, completing a hat-trick 帽子戲法 for Liverpool in a 6-1 win against Hull.

It is the fourth hat-trick for the Spanish striker, who cost the club ￡20 million. Despite dazzling 使人眼花繚亂 the fans, manager Rafael Benitez was conservativein his praise 很保守的稱贊, saying Torres could still do better:

"He is now showing his ability but I think he can do it better. He is keen to learn and he will improve but how much depends on him.

"We brought him here because of his quality but also his potential. We are pleased now but he can improve."

Gerrard and Babel added three more goals between them to the scoresheet 計分表 to defeat Hull convincingly, though the result was not clear from the start.

Though Liverpool took the lead through Torres, their fragile 薄弱 defence gave the visitors cause for optimism and indeed Hull equalised when Geovanni found the back of the net 進球. But Torres dashed their hopes 希望破滅 when he added his second before the half-hour mark 比賽進行到30分鐘.

Hull's defence then proceeded to fall apart and Liverpool took the advantage, denying the Tigers who could not win possession of the ball.

Hull boss Phil Brown was harsh on his players saying:

"I was disgusted with some of the defending, individually and collectively. For me it was demoralising and I hope it was for the players as well."

He blamed his players rather than attribute the Liverpool victory to Torres' fancy footwork 華麗的腳下功夫.

"People will say Torres was the difference between the two sides but I thought we gifted them the goals."

Here 'gifted' means that they gave Liverpool the chance to score the goals easily.

Brown was critical of his team's commitment after the third goal against them in the second half.

"That killed us off and one or two towels went in after that, which is bitterly disappointing from my point of view."

'To throw the towel in' is an idiom from boxing which signifies when a competitor gives up trying.

When he uses the phrase 'killed us off' of course he is not being literal, he means that Liverpool stopped them from winning.

This weekend's win for Liverpool has secured them third place in the table, after a shaky start （表現）不穩(wěn)定的開始 to the season. Their form seems to have returned with six consecutive wins 連續(xù)6戰(zhàn)不敗, scoring 18 goals in the process.