Fulham 3 Liverpool 1 Post-Match Analysis
Fulham Pile the Misery on the Red Side of the Mersey
Nov 1, 2009
The victory over Manchester United was supposed to kick-start Liverpool's season. In reality it was immaterial. The last time Liverpool lost five of their first eleven was the 1905-06 and it is scant consolation to Rafael Benitez and his men that the club still went on to lift the title that year. Chelsea are now nine points clear of the Reds at the top of the league leaving the Anfield club with a mountain to climb if they are to overhaul them.
A Fifth Defeat, Injuries and Two Red Cards
The latest set back for the Merseysiders was a 3-1 defeat away to Fulham in a match that saw Liverpool the dismissal of two defenders. The first to go was Phillip Degen, standing in t right back for the injured Glen Johnson who is still recovering from a calf tear. The Swiss international's lunge on Clint Dempsey was no more than a yellow card, but referee Lee Mason thought the challenge warranted a red card and reduced Liverpool to ten men with a little over ten minutes of normal time to play.
Three minutes later, Jamie Carragher was given his marching orders when he dragged Bobby Zamora to the ground. The Liverpool captain claimed to have got a foot to the ball, but he didn't have it under control. With the Fulham striker through on goal, Carragher was the last man and can have no complaints about the red card.
The timing of the suspensions have come at a time when Benitez is already struggling to strengthen the chinks in Liverpool's armour. Injuries to key players, Steven Gerard, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera have already weakened the creative options in the side and the availability of defensive personnel is shrouded in mystery. Benitez chose to travel to London without Martin Skertl and Daniel Agger, preferring to start with Sotirios Kyrgiakos against Fulham with Daniel Ayala as back up. Martin Kelly, another right-back is also on the injury list.
Benitez Thinking of Lyon
Of course, Agger, Skertl and Fabio Aurelio could have been left on Merseyside resting with Wednesday's crucial Champion League tie with Lyon in mind - a match which Benitez seemed to regard with more importance than the league game at Craven Cottage. His most contentious decision of the season came after 62 minutes when he removed Torres from the field with the score line at 1-1. For sure, Liverpool were in control of the game and Benitez showed faith in his squad. Why shouldn't he have believed the players on the field and Ryan Babel in place on the Spaniard, could go on and win the game? The answer - because nobody else did.
Torres' withdrawal lifted the belief and spirit of the Fulham players and ten minutes later got their noses in front. In keeping the ball in play, Dirk Kuyt presented Paul Konchelsky with the chance to cross which resulted in Erik Nevland finding the net. Not surprisingly Liverpool failed to mount another serious challenge.
Not that they had threatened the Fulham goal before then either. It was a typical Liverpool performance, dominating possession, passing the ball well, but with little creative insight or composure to create a goal scoring opportunity. The only efforts on goal were a Benayoun shot that came of the bar in the 21st minute and Torres half chance which he took superbly to notch his tenth of the season.
It was a game that underlined in thick red ink that not only does Liverpool's squad lack strength in depth, but the attacking players in the first team are not good enough. It is a fact Liverpool supporters are only too aware of. At Craven Cottage Kuyt was anonymous, Benayoun and Andriy Voronin kept running down blind alleys and Babel hardly got a kick. Torres was clearly frustrated by the lack of service from his team mates.
The game against Lyon was clearly a factor in Benitez' decision to bring Torres off. On this occasion it back-fired on him. Benitez showed faith in his players and they let him down. The problem for Benitez is he will have the same attacking options in France.
