After last week’s blog and discussions about goalkeeping skills, I hoped that Alphonse Areola would be at his very best for Liverpool’s visit to the Cottage.
I need not have worried – once again, he was in superlative form when needed. But for the first part of the match, he had little to do as he (and the 2,000 home fans successful in the ticket ballot) watched Fulham team mount attack after attack on the Reds’ goal.
Ivan Cavaleiro had two great opportunities to score, one provided by Ruben Loftus-Cheek on the right, the other by Antonee Robinson and Ademola Lookman on the left. Alisson saved both but if a fully fit Aleks Mitrovic had been playing Fulham might well have established a two-goal lead.
Collaboration between Loftus-Cheek and Bobby DeCordova-Reid allowed the Portuguese a third attempt, but he lost his footing in the area just before Fabinho launched a desperate tackle. Lee Mason on VAR urged the referee Andre Marriner to review this incident and after some delay Liverpool escaped punishment.
From Ola Aina’s superbly judged centre Lookman gave Alisson his sternest test yet. Liverpool failed to clear the resultant corner and Bobby DeCordova-Reid triumphantly swept the ball beyond the keeper’s reach. The visitors could only respond with two off-target efforts from Sadio Mane and Mo Salah.
Jürgen Klopp was visibly furious, not least because (as Alyson Rudd commented) Fulham had ignored his team’s pedigree. He demanded a much greater intensity from his players in the second period, only to find the opposition’s defence as well organised as its attack. Areola and Joachim Andersen caught the eye but the whole team was outstanding.
It took a 79th minute penalty to overcome Fulham’s resistance. Georginio Wijnaldum’s free kick struck Aboubakar Kamara’s arm and Marriner deemed it a handball under the current guidelines. Salah’s goal brought the teams level but Areola withstood Liverpool’s late foray.
Thanks to the fans
Scott Parker, who had ample reasons for self-satisfaction, thanked the supporters present at the game: “The fans were a driving force that gave us an extra bit against Liverpool. The fights we’re going to have, they’re going to be vitally important.”
Klopp could not bring himself to praise Fulham. He attributed the goal to ‘a really bad foul’ by Antonee Robinson, who pushed Salah off balance in the build-up: “It’s normal contact, yes, but enough contact to gain an advantage.”
Why didn’t the referee or the VAR consider it a foul? Klopp regarded that as just another of ‘these kinds of decisions against us’. If the system is really stacked against Liverpool, the manager would need to explain the penalty not awarded to Cavaleiro, the one given against Kamara and the yellow card not waved at Salah for his ‘dying soldier’ simulation.
I doubt if anyone showed Klopp The Times feature (Tuesday 15 December) predicting how the Premier table would look after Christmas. Liverpool were expected to gain just six points from five games and to fall from second to fifth. The paper also wrote off Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United, predicting that none of them would achieve a single point.
The Albion promptly held Manchester City to a draw, and 24 hours later Fulham’s dreary goalless game with Brighton inflicted further damage on the prophecy. The times are a-changin’.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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