Fulham 1-3 Liverpool
Somehow we now seem to have two Fulham teams: one fit to embarrass any club in the Premier League; the other just content to go through the motions.
The second was on display for most of last Sunday’s home match against Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp had made a string of changes to his line-up. The most noteworthy to Fulham was the inclusion in midfield of Harvey Elliott, our former academy star. They booed him whenever he touched the ball, a paltry response which rarely upsets any player. Harvey’s revenge was not far off.
After an early scare when Luis Diaz headed just wide, the visitors fell back on defence.
At the other end Bobby DeCordova-Reid, skipper for the day, passed to Alex Iwobi, who provided an opportunity for Joao Palhinha. His tame shot, straight to Alisson, came in the 25th minute.
Generally the match was, as one Liverpool supporter commented on social media, ‘so dull and so boring’.
Home fans jeered when Harvey Elliott’s free kick cannoned off the defensive wall but apparently it was Klopp’s cunning plan. The ball should have gone under the feet of the leaping defenders. Liverpool got a second chance soon after and Elliott and Trent Alexander-Arnold engineered the second stage of the plan.
Assuming that the defensive wall would not jump so high this time, Alexander-Arnold curled the ball over their heads and into the top left-hand corner of the net.
The jeers this time were for the referee. He may have been right to ignore a potential foul on Iwobi and to penalise Palhinha, but a braver official than Craig Pawson would have reprimanded (if not cautioned) Alexander-Arnold for baiting the home supporters.
The goal did increase the game’s tempo. Bernd Leno was tested by Cody Gakpo, and Alisson by Rodrigo Muniz, who was working hard with scant support.
As half-time neared the Brazilian’s next attempt was blocked by Jarell Quansah and the enterprising Timothy Castagne latched on to the rebound to score the equaliser. Timothy was doing his best to fulfil his stated intention of affecting the title race.
Hopes were high that Fulham would be more positive after the break but a careless pass by Alex Iwobi allowed Elliott to set up Ryan Gravenberch for a long range shot that deceived Leno.
The 71st minute introduction of Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson looked promising but Liverpool increased their lead when Diogo Jota easily evaded Tosin and beat Leno from a distance.
We did witness an overhead kick by Muniz but it was blocked by a defender. The striker came closer to scoring when he combined with Cairney but only Castagne can have drawn much satisfaction from this match.
When it finished only eight Fulham players came over to acknowledge the fans. We deserve a more spirited and sustained performance when Crystal Palace visit the Cottage next Saturday.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
