Liverpool vs Fulham post mortem

[Roboklopp]

Next weekend .. 2 big derbys .. London and Manchester ... we could go top next week if we get our ****ing act together ,,,

Still Rafa called it straight ... a lot of tired legs out there today .. Xabi had 90 minutes with Spain a couple of days ago and we have an important CL match mid week ... could have been a lot worse

Your mood/outlook has mellowed somewhat.

Is WHam week on Mon our next Prem game?

[Roboklopp]

Had the commentary turned down but wasn't going to post it until the final whistle had gone

Skills.

[Reece]

Your mood/outlook has mellowed somewhat.

Is WHam week on Mon our next Prem game?

Yep.

I thought Rashid had stolen Nicey's login earlier

[Nicey]

To be fair that was ****e lads .. and I am Mr Happy ****ing Clappy when it comes to all things Liverpool ...

[Roboklopp]

It is very frustrating we dint take advantage of course. But the positives are:

1) We're 1 point up on the Gooners.
2) We rested Xabi/Stevie with no loss against the Chavs/Scum.
3) That's one less game for Scum to play catch-up with.

The fact Scum didnt get the pen given against em tho, really really riles. AGAIN.

[red g]

still the best home form in the premiership, we cant win everyone and once again nobody took advantage of our slip up which was a bonus.

[Vermilion]

still the best home form in the premiership, we cant win everyone and once again nobody took advantage of our slip up which was a bonus.

What's the chances eh, all the top sides drop points on the same day.

[dom9]

I don't think anyones over reacting, just discussing a very poor performance today? Lucas has his knockers (and rightly so IMO he's had plenty of time to adapt now). It would be a bit of a joke if we were all on here saying we were great today and unlucky not to take all 3.

EDIT: just reread the thread and saw Dhav's comments!

That was utter utter utter ****e with a capital S ... and a bit of a worry .. no Gerrard .. no bite ...i have not screamed that much at the box for ages ..

Got that wrong Rafa ..

Lucas was ****e, as was Kuyt, as was Keane, as was Masher, as was Reira ..

Brutal really brutal .. we got extremely lucky today ... ****ing disgusted ....

Lucas should be taking chances like that with open arms ..instead he did not look interest .. too many balls played backwards.. Robbie Keane with a criminal miss ..
Utter Tosh . ****ing have those useless cunts run laps for 3 hours

Arseholes !!

Ahem.

[dom9]

To be honest, if you're gonna drop points, it's good to do it on a day when the rest of the big 4 do exactly the same.

Opportunity lost, but we have not lost out either.

[frank the tank]

to be honest, i haven't read the whole thread because i gather that it is going the same way as the weekly "keane isn't worth 20m, lucas is ****" thread....

An assessment of our season so far in my opinion can be broken down to the following points:

1. I think everyone would have taken joint top at this stage of the season if offered it in august. I feel that we could have lost to boro and wigan at home but i really feel that against stoke and fulham at home we should have won and it to me looks like a case of us not being able to force games when the pressure is on. Lets be honest, yeah we did great beating manU and chelsea already this season but we should have 4 more points than we do - liverpool should be beating fulham and stoke at home. Also, we should have spanked spurs away and in my opinion, and that of practically everyone on here if my memory serves me correctly, we could have also taken villa away..... that is a potential 9 points pissed away.....in previous seasons, we have looked back and it was our form v the other top 4 teams that cost us....it would be a kick in the bollox if we finished this season say 4 or 5 points behind and it was dopey stoke and fulham and home that cost us...

2. Keane is playing ok. Granted he should have more goals but in general, he has been alright. I feel that just because he cost 20m, people feel that he should be scoring every game but he just isnt that type of player lads. The guys on sky sports today were blowing on about how torres hasnt scored at anfield in 7 games and to be honest, perhaps they have a point too.... i really feel that the last thing we need to be doing is slating keane too much because he needs confidence.... i personally thought that he was going to go on a run after his double at home to WBA but he can still become a kop hero.... he is a far far better player than the crow and just because he cost 20m, i feel as fans we shouldnt worry too much about cost of players..... babel cost 11m, cisse cost 14m..........so ****in what... i think we should judge players at the end of the season because it is a long season...... there is still time for keane to prove himself....

3. lucas should not start in my opinion. However, he is a handy player for the bench because he can come on for any of alonso, gerrard or mascher if required. I really feel that this is the only way that he should be integrated........his confidence is going to go to crap otherwise.... however, i do feel that he is often slated just for the sake of it on here to be honest.....he isnt THAT BAD.......he is solid enough....

4. if we can put the marseille game to bed early it would be good because to be perfectly honest, we need to get the cl group out of the way quick enough and then concentrate fully on the league. To be honest, it wouldnt bother me too much to see rafa put a carling-cup style team in the fa cup..... i really feel that we need to just fully concentrate on the 2 main trophies this year or we could end up with **** all..... also, rafa has spent a load on young players in recent year.....well they need to play an the only way we will know if they are good enough is if they play.....FA Cup should be used for that too imo....

5. we are still in with a great chance..... we are going to spank someone soon enough and then we could kick on with a nice run.... also, i feel that we have a great great chance to end arsenals season at the emirates on the 21st of dec..... lets ****in kick on....

[-V-]

We were bad today, as were all the rest of the top premiership teams which is so weird. Going into today i think everyone up and down the country expected Chelsea to comfortably beat Newcastle and us to comfortably beat fulham. Yet somehow both games ended up 0-0 and Arsenal got smashed LOL. Thankfully Villa saved the day.

We just lacked urgency throughtout the game. Once again we were solid in defence and Arbeloa was outstanding. AA seems to be developing game by game and really showing everyone what he is capable. I have been highly impressed with Alvaro this season, just gets better and better. Well done lad, only real positive today.

Lucas was awful today. I normally defend him but i just can't today. He was **** from start to finish. For someone who stayed behind and trained all week at Melwood he was supposed to show fresh legs and step in when we needed him. Instead he was slow. Very ****ing slow. His passing was rubbish and he wasted possesion so many times i lost count. His tracking-back was also rubbish as he let Bullard get away from him and into space quite a few times. Thank **** for Reina.

We never really took control today and that is down to Mascherano and Lucas not dominating. Robbie Keane had a bad game and Kuyt missed some good opportunities.

Bad day for us. We should be 2 points clear at the top but we didnt perform

[Craig_H]

We're still in it. **** happens - we're going to drop points, and whenever it happens it is going to be frustrating, and against teams which we don't expect.

However, likelihood is that we may lose the league by a couple of points. Even then, I still think we could see this season as a success.

I'm not expecting to win the league- every week we are still up there is a bonus for me, although I appreciate that LFC should always be challenging.

It's happened twice at home this season when it shouldnt have.

It's true that Chelsea and Man Utd also drew, which is good. But the mancs had a tricky away game and we had an easy home game. If/when we drop points in our next tricky away game, the mancs will no doubt have an easy home game that same weekend and that's where today's poor result will cost us - because they'll probably win that easy home game.

[Craig_H]

I know this is a match thread, but just wondering if Scolari got it wrong today as well?

Nah, they had 14 shots on target. Their draw today was similar to ours against Stoke. It was one of those days where you have chances and due to bad luck (poor decisions, sometimes), it just doesnt happen.

Today's draw for us was just poor, we didnt really carve out chances. Keane's one-on-one should've been a goal but otherwise, it was more hopeful than expectant. Passing was very poor and there wasnt enough movement either.

[Craig_H]

Thing is, Keane is an intelligent player Dhav, he's just not using it for us. Nothing he does in our system currently looks natural, he looks tense and is snatching at balls, and not taking chances to have a hit when he's got a sight from outside the box. It all looks forced to me.

We're a different team with Alonso in it, especially our wingers as the ball gets spread to them in space and accurately. I can see in theory why Rafa started Lucas today but in hindsight it was a big mistake, it compressed our play and left Riera and Kuyt with far too much to do when they got possession, doing them no favours at all.

The problem wasnt so much just in playing Lucas. The problem for me (or part of it) was that we had a CM pair with zero threat between them. At home, to Fulham. That, in itself, isnt good enough. Alonso offers a threat, be it in terms of being able to shoot fairly well, or in creativity terms. Mascher's just Mascher, he CAN drive forward and give tempo, but he doesnt offer much in terms of a direct threat, or a creative one. So when you have that, it's imperative that his CM partner DOES offer some kind of threat. Lucas plainly doesnt. And therein lies the problem. When you also add the absence of Gerrard and in turn, the invisibility of Keane (who was effectively in Gerrard's place), it's plain to see why it didnt happen for us today.

[Craig_H]

It obviously backfired, but if home to Fulham isn't a match to give others in the squad a chance, and an opportunity to rest players, then I don't know when is.

To be fair, Fulham are a much better side this season and will be top half material. I do agree that we should be able to beat them at home of course, but they're not the relegation fodder of last season, Hodgson's got them firing quite well.

I'd argue that West Brom, Stoke, Bolton etc, are the type of sides you can play Lucas in, but not really Fulham. Not this season, anyway.

For the record, Fulham have only conceded 6 goals on the road in the PL this year, so whilst they'd only amassed one away point before today, i think they're better away from home than the stats show.