Fulham 1-0 Liverpool

Lucas’ injury looks even worse after this match. Liverpool’s chance to hop into the 5th spot in the table was wasted in a match that was winnable even after Jay Spearing received his marching orders. Overall, it’s another match where Liverpool have wasted chances and made just enough mistakes on defense that it allowed the opposition to squeeze in a goal and park the bus.

First off, the team selection seemed questionable. ESPN2 showed it as a very typical 4-4-2 with Suarez and Carroll up top. Henderson was on the right of the midfield, Bellamy on the left while Adam and Spearing were in the midfield. The defense was Johnson, Agger, Skrtel and Enrique with Pepe in net. Personally, I don’t think this was the right squad to go with. Maxi scores more goals than Suarez in half the games  recently and he can’t get a start. Maxi should’ve been thrown in there, along with Kuyt because we needed the work-rate on his side as it was constantly exposed to pressure.

The match started off pretty even for both teams. Dembele forced a save on Reina and Suarez created a couple chances to Carroll, but Carroll hit the first one at the keeper, then muffed the second one between his legs. Demsey remained a threat from outside the box, testing Reina and the boards behind the net. Henderson made a cute little move and his shot bounced off the inside of the post and bounced out. This was the end of Liverpool’s dominance in the first half and Fulham looked strong until the break.

The second half turned out similar, with Liverpool’s defense seeming easily beatable. Dempsey and Dembele were the two main threats for Fulham, with Suarez seeming to be the only way a goal was coming for Liverpool. Bellamy hustled his heart out, but couldn’t seem to get the ball on goal. The main game changer was Jay Spearing’s sending off in what I could call a poor decision. This put Liverpool down to 10 men. Suarez again tried his hardest to equalize, but wasn’t allowed the chance to get into the box with threat. In the 84′, Pepe failed to hold onto a relatively harmless shot and Dempsey knocked the rebound in to put Fulham up 1-0. This, along with the absence of Lucas initiated even more useless playing the Reds. Downing again had a strong chance and was thwarted by the keeper and the post after he was brought on with Kuyt. Suarez blasted a late free-kick into the wall and time was called on a terribly disappointing evening for Reds supporters.

Overall the match was kind of careless. The defense was unorganized and there was no enforcer out on the pitch. With Lucas gone, the players couldn’t seem to stay organized. Dembele found space easy and should have had an early goal, and throughout the entire match, Fulham was penetrating easily. The midfield was kind of unorganized also, I’m all for fluidity, but not at the expense of common sense. Running around like chicken’s with their head cut-off is kind of worthless unless you’re a lone forward. Carroll and Suarez’s selection up top isn’t the problem by any means, and now we are missing in the midfield without Spearing for three matches. Maybe this will give Maxi a chance to continue his goal-scoring heroics, but I somehow doubt it. Only time will tell if Liverpool can solve this bottom of the table plague we find ourselves fighting where we can’t seem to do anything positive and be fired up. The whole effort looked more out of desperation and looked nothing like the fired up side we saw against Chelsea and Manchester City.