Fulham v Liverpool A Liverpool Perspective
Another in what is becoming a string of poor performances from Liverpool. It felt the team sauntered out there completely complacent and expected to just roll over Fulham on their way to the title, particularly van Dijk, who looks absolutely shot right now. And yes, that is not a typo, though it would have been just as correct with the word you are no doubt thinking I meant instead. Before I go any further, I will have to complain about the officials once again, even though this time their incompetence/corruption (delete as applicable) favoured Liverpool.
Fulham are quite rightly aggrieved as they could have, no actually, should have, had two penalties and possibly seen Liverpool reduced to 9 men as well. The first was as clear as day, Konate decides to try and be clever in the box and messes up, losing the ball to Pereira, who is then wiped out by Kelleher after he plays a pass across the box. I can only think the officials never looked at that challenge as they were intent on checking the next one. Even that is no excuse as you can see Kelleher absolutely wiping out Pereira in the background in the shots of the next challenge. It was one of the clearest penalties you will see. They also managed to completely miss van Dijk swinging his arm/elbow about in the box while defending a corner. Again, it was as clear as day but the officials and VAR somehow all missed that too. If VAR is not going to spot those kind of offences, it would be as well scrapping it altogether.
Tactically, Slot got this game all wrong. For starters, not bringing on Endo as soon as possible was an obvious error, there is just not enough bite in that midfield without him and no one in there has his defensive awareness. That allowed Fulham to overrun the midfield. Without Alexander-Arnold’s passing to force Fulham to drop off, they were able to press high and bully Liverpool’s midfield. The other potential option, as Endo just seems to be totally off the table for Slot, would have been to send out the team to play with intensity and get at Fulham from the kick-off. Instead of slowly rolling it around at the back, push right on to Fulham and play with high intensity and pace. As usual though, Slot set the team out with low intensity, thinking he can make changes as the game goes on to counter the opponent.
This time it failed badly as he made no changes until half-time. It was clear Jones was being targeted by Fulham, but he left it as it was throughout the first half, only adjusting things at half-time, when it was too late. It is frustrating to see as the change he made at half-time is one that could have been made during the first half, when it could have made a difference. It was such a simple adjustment he made, simply instructing the team to play in the way it usually does, with the right-back pushed onto the opposition full-back, while Robertson sat in as almost a third centre-back. It sets a much more aggressive tone for the defence playing that way, as the midfield and attack have to push on as well, which would have helped counter the complacency.
It did feel a bit like Slot was a bit on the complacent side as well, he was waiting too long to make changes, then sent the same eleven back out for the second half with no substitutions. That decision felt like a huge mistake at the time, Liverpool were getting absolutely hammered in the first half and there were eleven players in need of being changed, a couple of changes could have given that team a jolt. Instead, another ten minutes were wasted before changes were made. It is little wonder the game ran away from Liverpool, everyone seemed to have expected a stroll and no one was quick enough to react when Fulham did not roll over.
The one good thing from a Liverpool point of view is that the team must have had a wake up call from this performance. They must now realise that they still have to win the points needed, they are not just going to get them handed out for free. They have to be better next weekend, surely?
Fulham
Fulham were truly excellent and Silva showed some tactical nous to exploit Liverpool’s weaknesses. Unlike Moyes last time out, Silva went for the jugular in an attempt to win. Where Moyes used Liverpool’s lack of a genuine right-back as a way of trying not to lose, Silva saw it as a chance to win. He had his team attack down that flank and it put Liverpool on the back foot right from the start of the match. Added to that, he sent his midfield and striker out to be as physical as possible from the kick off, clearly having spotted how much Beto had unsettled Liverpool’s centre-backs simply by being physical.
It worked really well, up until they started to retreat in the second half, as often happens when a team has a lead to hang onto. But, for me, it was a big relief when Muniz and Lukic were taken off as they were both excellent, bullying Liverpool while they were on the pitch and winning most of their battles.
I guess I should also point out that their goals were down to Liverpool’s individual errors, but they were very good value for their lead and were far and away the better team in the first half. In the second half, after starting well they did gradually begin to retreat as Liverpool improved, but overall they were the better side and it was a well deserved win. Liverpool were awful, the worst performance of the season in the first half, but that was in huge part due to how well Fulham played and the tactics they employed.
Tactically, they got very tight in midfield, pressing high and hurrying the Liverpool midfield into many mistakes. They also attacked down the flanks, particularly their left, committing bodies to get forward whenever the opportunity arose. Clearly they knew that, without Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool lack a player who can put the ball in behind them with quality and that Bassey had the pace and power to ensure the main threat, Salah, was shut out of the game. That is in part why the game changed so much when Elliott came on, as they had then to worry about quality passing from him and he was constantly pulling into space to look for a pass. When that happened, they started to drop off, which allowed Liverpool to take control of the midfield as Fulham were no longer first to all the loose balls.
Liverpool
Kelleher – terrible game, his legs are open wider than the Mersey Tunnel and he inspires absolutely no confidence in the team at all. Far too slow to move the ball on as well, whether at his feet or in his arms, missing chances to launch a quick counter. I know he suffers by being compared to Alisson, who is the best in the world, but even putting that aside, he simply is not, right now anyway, good enough to be Liverpool goalkeeper. How he got away with wiping out Pereira in the box, right at the start of the game after Konate’s disastrous attempt to do a drag back, is beyond me. That was a very clear penalty for Fulham.
Jones – was put under pressure from the off and found wanting at right-back. He did improve when asked to defend similarly to Alexander-Arnold, at the start of the second half. Instead of dropping back to form a flat 4 at the back, he was pushing on to allow Salah to push more central in the press. That certainly helped as he was not being asked to do anything that was not natural to him then. Much better after moving into the midfield after Bradley came on, but it was a very low bar.
Konate – a disastrous performance again, he has dropped so far off the level he was at earlier in the season it is hard to believe it is the same player. He has not looked right since coming back from injury. He was physically imposing and dominating attackers, now he is being dominated by them, even average ones like Beto last week and now Muniz. It is not like he is up against the power of Drogba, these are players he should be able to handle but his head does not seem right. He is no longer anticipating the balls in, even though he is not being asked to be responsible for the right-back area as well. Maybe it is a concentration issue and he needs that extra little bit to think about in order to keep himself focused? It is hard to see any other reason for his form crashing so horribly off a cliff in recent weeks but he has been abysmal for a little while now and seems to be getting worse rather than better.
van Dijk – on the basis that he played the worst game I have ever seen from him last time out, this match was at least an improvement. However he was still absolutely woeful. He does look complacent. When Liverpool won the league under Klopp, his form dipped badly then too in the second half of the season, but he had Gomez come in and play out of his skin alongside him, as well as every forward avoiding him like the plague due to how well he had performed in the first half of the season. It was clear he got complacent then, it was all too easy for him and this season seems to be following a similar pattern, but this time out his defensive partner is also having a nightmare. He needs to wake himself up before it is too late. Also very lucky not to get sent off swinging his arm about like that, which would have also been a penalty for Fulham. No idea what he was thinking then.
Robertson – is it possible that he is actually getting worse as the season goes on? He was among Fulham’s best players, which is really a shame to see from such a great servant to the club. It is clear that he is no longer capable of being first choice at this level, the legs are just not there any more. But then that was also clear last season, so questions need to be asked of the recruitment team that a replacement was not brought in during the summer, if none of the academy full-backs were deemed ready and clearly Tsimikas cannot be relied upon.
Gravenberch – going forward, he still looks really good right up until the final ball, when he tends to make the wrong decision. It is defensively that he is a worry. It is fine dropping in to the right-back area and he does that well, but he is not spotting gaps in the centre or runs from the opponents. He is still young, but there has been no sign of him even being instructed to think about that, as his reaction to Jones being right-back has shown that he follows instructions well. He is not being paired with someone to provide protection to the back four, which means he has to do it, but there just seems to be a trio of midfielders who are all looking to go forward in there, with often Szoboszlai having to chase back from his position as the furthest forward midfielder to provide cover. Someone in there needs to do the dirty work and his mobility, height and the position he is playing should make him that one. In the early weeks, he did so much more harrying of the opposition and winning the ball back, it seems to have fallen away as the season has gone on. Which is why it is odd that it works so well when he moved into centre-back, as he did late in the game. It just shows he is capable of doing the defensive work when he has to.
Szoboszlai – had a poor game, most of his passes went astray, though you do have to wonder why it is that he is constantly making that same pass from the wings into the centre where there is no one. Is there always someone there in training? If so, why not during the games. If there is no one there in training, why is he doing this in matches? Surely it should be ironed out of his game in training sessions? It happens far too often for it not to be worked out of his game or for the rest of the midfield not to have figured it out and position themselves for that ball when he gets it out there. It is not like they are giving him a lot of options instead, which is a big part of the problem.
Mac Allister – showed for his goal that he can handle the physical side of things when there is a chance of getting forward, the problem is that he just does not seem the same when asked to do it defensively. The goal was brilliant, I have to say, but it just shows why he should be playing higher up, as he was weak defensively again. The same player, Berge, that he brushed off when running towards the box to take a shot, was able to overpower him when he was defending. He just does not have the appetite for it that he has for attacking. Added to that, his skillset is best suited by playing higher, where he can thread balls into the box.
Salah – really struggled up against Bassey, who was outstanding (possibly man of the match), though Salah was not helped by the quality of pass he was receiving. When Alexander-Arnold is in the side, the balls he gets from him favour Salah, he is able to collect them with little difficulty and get them under his control before the defender can put pressure on him. Without him, the balls Salah gets are ones that force him to battle for them and not many players are going to win a physical battle with Bassey. You are not going to outrun or outmuscle him, so the ball needs to go into feet or a space that angles it away from the defender. Unfortunately, Liverpool failed to do enough of that and it meant Salah barely got a sniff of the ball. When he did get the ball, it was rarely in a position that he could threaten to score himself, though he did put some good quality balls into the box.
Jota – another abysmal performance but this time not rescued by a goal. The problem is that, other than for those moments he scores, Jota is a liability who constantly loses the ball, no matter how simple the pass is that he tries to make. This was one of those days, when even putting the ball on a plate for him was not enough for him to score. Most of the game he was just a passenger.
Gakpo – was not at his best, but he got little service. He did at least offer some kind of threat in attack, though he was not offering much protection to Robertson behind him. Probably lacking a bit in match sharpness by the way he played.
Diaz – replaced Gakpo in the 55th minute. While Liverpool had improved in the second half already, his arrival, along with Elliott, changed the game. He was everywhere and pulled one back to make it an uncomfortable finish for Fulham. He was very much up for it, chasing everywhere. Lucky not to get booked for a horrible dive in an attempt to win a penalty though.
Elliott – was brought on in the stead of Szoboszlai in the 55th minute. He was one of the few bright spots in the match and was unlucky not to score. It was also pleasing to see him not shirking his defensive duties, chasing back to mop up when Liverpool were caught trying to sort themselves out after the second pair of substitutions. He constantly got out wide, which allowed Salah to play more centrally, where he could be more of a threat.
Nunez – replaced Jota in the 66th minute. It looked like a game tailor made for his brand of chaos, but he looked like a player who just was not at all bothered and he was anonymous. It is difficult to come on and not improve over Jota in that game, but Nunez managed it.
Bradley – also came on in the 66th minute, taking the place of Konate. His driving runs created some threat and it was that which led to the Diaz goal.
Chiesa – Robertson went off so the Italian could come on in the 82nd minute. Showed some much needed fire and aggression, even if he is a bit on the lightweight side, he still put himself about and looked to make something happen. Did come close to equalising, but he needed to be on earlier to really make a difference.
Written by Tris Burke April 08 2025 22:47:11
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