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Liverpool’s Luis Diaz | Photo by Richard Martin-Roberts - CameraSport/CameraSport via Getty Images
A look back at the key moments in Liverpool’s abject showing at Fulham
Fulham 3 - 2 Liverpool
Fulham: Sessegnon 23’, Iwobi 32’, Muniz 37’
Liverpool: Mac Allister 14’, Díaz 72’
Pre-Match
I’ve never once had a bad thing to say about Everton, you know? Excellent football club. Nice of them to make this one less stressful than it would have been otherwise (both by losing to us and managing, somehow, to take points off Arsenal despite their three-day turnaround).
No real arguments with the line-up, even if Cody Gakpo’s return does feel harsh on Luis Díaz, who played oh so well against the Toffees. It’s a shame not to see some of the sidelined defensive players make their way back in, but this manager is cautious with fitness, so not too much of a surprise.
First Half
Once again a nervy start defensively, with the centrebacks you’d normally call “best in the world” instead looking like they’re learning about defending as they go along. They’re not alone: Mohamed Salah passing the ball out of bounds attempting a simple pass back to Curtis Jones within the first fifteen minutes about sums it up.
And then came Alexis Mac Allister, and none of that other stuff matters. The quality looked quite a bit better following the Liverpool goal, with the players suddenly seeming to have an idea where their teammates would be rather than looking wildly disjointed. A few decent attacking chances without anything particularly dangerous passed before Fulham seemed to remember that Liverpool are shambolic in defense. They score with Ibrahima Konaté flailing past a ball and Curtis Jones “clearing” it to a Fulham player in the box. No more gleeful singing about winning the league.
In general, no one seems to be having a great time. Fulham go 2-1 up and no one is surprised; Andy Robertson finds himself a bit too involved, giving the ball away inexplicably and then finding himself unlucky to deflect the shot past Caoimhín Kelleher. You felt that it was coming. Robertson did almost make up for his error immediately and Diogo Jota is close to getting one back, but possession in general remains graft. Fulham get a third, and neither Virgil Van Dijk nor the goalkeeper will want to see that one back.
Second Half
Immediately better, which is to say less shambolic. Some luck with the bounce of the ball meant Jota got a strong chance on goal in the opening minutes of the second half, as Liverpool look to climb the steep hill their first half performance has created for them. And yet they look, at times, too casual.
Mohamed Salah absolutely skying a chance — admittedly not the easiest chance — is about the measure of it. There was more control, and a bit more danger, but it continued to look ever so difficult for Liverpool. The manager’s second set of substitutions seem to be to manage minutes (is Konaté playing with a bit of pain, perhaps?), and the defense is slightly weakened despite the introduction of a real right back in Conor Bradley, returning from injury.
Bradley makes an impact in attack, putting Luis Díaz though with a smart short pass. Notable, of course, that Curtis Jones provided the pre-assist from the left side, freed to roam with Bradley’s substitution. Suddenly there’s fluidity on both sides of the attack and Liverpool look a real danger.
The introduction of Federico Chiesa out of position was a bit odd, and seemed to limit rather than expand the attacking fluidity that had emerged. Nonetheless both a Chiesa and a Harvey Elliott chance found the target in the closing minutes but lacked the force to find the goal.
Final Thoughts
A truly painful watch. as most have quietly been lately regardless of result. The performance will certainly give the manager something to teach with, though a lack of sharpness is not something that can easily be recovered via training — and is a bit worrying given the fact that these just returned from a break. They look like they could use another one.
The goals themselves are good. There are moments where the attacking best comes through, even if this is less notable than the issues all across the pitch in defense.
Following the second round of changes the tactics became fascinating, as positioning in attack cycled and changed in ways that really did seem to work. You could argue that the two matches against Fulham are among the more fruitful to discuss when it comes to tactics, though this time it was not a man disadvantage but a goals one that caused the creativity.
Despite the abject performance early on, the final 30 minutes did give you some hope that the Reds can recover their form.
