Liverpool 2 Fulham 2: Match Review
Don’t tell me hard luck stories.
There is a version of this that just slaughters the referee. He deserves as much criticism as I can muster (and I can muster a lot). But that does a disservice to the Liverpool players and the Liverpool manager, and the referee already did them enough of a disservice.
You get to see what Liverpool are made of today.
They are made of the stuff from which Jürgen Klopp molded them. Hued from ‘we decide when it is over’. Chiseled out of ‘we decide how strong we are, how good we are, how awake we are and how tired we are.’
That is not how it began.
The first twenty minutes are a calamity for Liverpool. It is difficult to conceive of a worse start. 0-1 down to a deflected goal and down to ten men.
In the ten minutes that follow, we get to watch Arne Slot strut his stuff. He moves Gravenberch into a back three with Gomez right and van Dijk left. He has Jones and Gakpo each do shifts at left back before shifting Gomez into that role. Liverpool settle on a back four of Alexander-Arnold, Gravenberch, van Dijk, and Gomez and the game settles into a pattern dictated by the Reds. Trent winds up playing more as an auxiliary eight while Gravenberch puts in an astonishing performance as both a center back and a six simultaneously.
The circumstances are not ideal, but it is fascinating to watch Slot solve the problem in real time. To move the puzzle pieces around until they fit. It is equally impressive to see the Liverpool players respond, and to trust that they are being put in positions to succeed, and to then assert their authority from a position of weakness. They control the remainder of the first half without truly threatening the Fulham goal.
The second half is barely underway when Cody Gakpo cometh on high. He heads in from close range after an inch perfect cross from Salah. Football is easy.
Moments later, Liverpool should have a penalty kick.
There is this idea about intentionality that has crept into the discourse around big refereeing decisions. That if a defender does something unintentionally it somehow makes the foul less worthy of the proper punishment. It was there in the discourse around the penalty decision at Girona in midweek, with McManaman and Ferdinand at pains to say it shouldn’t be a penalty because Donny van de Beek didn’t intend to do it. Footballers very rarely intend to give away penalties. They almost never intend to get sent off. Sometimes a player is tired, and they get put under pressure and they make a mistake. That should not be an invitation to let them off the hook.
Fulham concede at the Kop end and Kenny Tete falls over right in front of the goal scorer. Then he is immediately under pressure again in front of an Anfield crowd that is baying for blood. He doesn’t know where he is or where the Liverpool runners are coming from, and he steps across and clatters into Joe Gomez so hard he injures himself and must go off. It is a stonewall penalty whether he intends to do it or not.
Tete’s extended injury treatment takes the air out of Liverpool’s sails and allows Fulham to grow back into the contest.
On the day, Fulham are a serious proposition. They begin the game by getting away with serious foul play and it sets the tone. They are allowed to be more physical throughout and take the invitation to be so. But they get progressively worse from the moment they go 0-1 ahead until the moment Liverpool equalize.
They do well all day to take advantage of the extra man and Liverpool’s decision to move Alexander-Arnold up the pitch and central. Big switches to Liverpool’s right side are constantly on and the Fulham players know where the space will be and move the ball into it well. Their second goal comes from this but is also a massive sucker punch.
Liverpool then decide it’s not over. Fulham are made weak, made clumsy, made tired, by the force of a Liverpool side determined to find a way.
Liverpool’s second equalizer is a thing of beauty. It is the goal we’ve all dreamt about since yet another grock fell from the sky onto Diogo Jota. The Portuguese makes space for himself in the penalty area, sits the goalkeeper down with a sashay of his hips, and rolls it into the net.
When the board goes up indicating nine minutes of added time, Liverpool are full of brio. It is exemplified by Harvey Elliott. His movement and his energy give Liverpool impetus. Fulham look dead on their feet. It is the visitors that look as if they have been playing a man down for 70 minutes.
Liverpool rattle Fulham’s cage. They go 2-2-5. van Dijk goes to play center forward and thinks he’s scored the winner but it is well blocked by a resolute Fulham rear guard.
Slot sinks to his haunches as the full-time whistle blows and you know that he knows, that as much as much as it is one point gained it is two points dropped.
It is a day for frustration and for pride. Frustration at what can’t be controlled. Pride in the reaction to that very same thing.
The circumstances are hard luck but this side won’t suffer any hard luck stories and neither should you. Two seasons ago, we saw what it is to tell ourselves hard luck stories. It is insidious and uninspiring. It is no way to live.
We see what it looks like now for our title rivals. Arsenal have told themselves so many hard luck stories that they’ve succumb to them.
This Liverpool side haven’t got the time of day for hard luck stories. They experienced hard lines last season. Newcastle away. Spurs away. February. To name a few. They fought through them. They backed each other to the hilt. They made us proud. In victory and in defeat, they made us proud. Because they fought for us and for each other.
Tonight, it is difficult to feel positive because of what is at stake. Because it happens at Anfield. Because of the stage of the season and the points gap Liverpool have built up. But what we should feel is immense pride.
Make no bones about it, these Liverpool players and this manager want to win the league more than you. They are ready and they are willing. And they love this thing of ours as we love it. And they care for it as we care for it. And they’ll fight to the ends of the earth for it.
I know that Joe Gomez will.
Will you?
Greg