Liverpool vs Fulham - match thread

Credit to Fulham, they played well IMO.  Had a few chances and in the first half had more possession than us and counter attacked us well.  Second half they sat back and defended well, not that we posed much of a threat apart from a few chances.  I think they deserve credit and they made us look appalling because it seems Rafa expects teams to roll over for us going by his non selection of Alonso and substitutions.

I'm not giving up on the title. But the doubt creeps in for me after games like today. We weren't a team that had the hunger for the three points.

Let's not beat around the bush. We should be beating teams like Fulham and Stoke at Anfield. You can't expect to, but we should be going out with the hunger to get the three points. Of course, no games are a given these days but there was only really one player wth the desire for us to be winners today. That's not a sign of a title winning team.

There's still a long way to go and we have to be picking the points up in our own back yard.

11 pub players can put bodies infront of the ball and still make it hard to score

That's because pub players are huge

I think the only thing that the newcastle chelsea game proves is that any team can throw 11 men behind the ball and earn a draw against any top team.

I'm not giving up on the title. But the doubt creeps in for me after games like today. We weren't a team that had the hunger for the three points.

Let's not beat around the bush. We should be beating teams like Fulham and Stoke at Anfield. You can't expect to, but we should be going out with the hunger to get the three points. Of course, no games are a given these days but there was only really one player wth the desire for us to be winners today. That's not a sign of a title winning team.

There's still a long way to go and we have to be picking the points up in our own back yard.

On the flip side to this, we have the best home record in the league and nobody was complaining about the hunger of the players when we were coming back from behind against teams earlier in the season.  Today was an off day and some players looked rusty after the internationl break midweek.  Our record over the past few years after internationals has been pretty awful so a draw isn't bad against a team that didn't haveas many players travelling for games during the week.  Although we should be winning games like this...no team wins every game in a season and Chelsea have dropped more points at home than us, nobody is writing them off are they?  :

I don't get this. The substitutions are only ever poor when we fail to win. Had any of our subs slotted one in, which it was touch and go near the end, the substitutions would have been sound.

To be honest, I feel we should have been winning before the substitutes could have been blamed.

Well in crk 

I'm not giving up on the title.  I just expect that Chelsea and United will be far stronger than us in the run in.

We missed a glorious opportunity today, as we did at Stoke, as we did at Spurs.

Not good enough, but to be fair, the piss poor crowd at Anfield didn't deserve us to get them 3 points.

I'm not giving up on the title. But the doubt creeps in for me after games like today. We weren't a team that had the hunger for the three points.

Let's not beat around the bush. We should be beating teams like Fulham and Stoke at Anfield. You can't expect to, but we should be going out with the hunger to get the three points. Of course, no games are a given these days but there was only really one player wth the desire for us to be winners today. That's not a sign of a title winning team.

There's still a long way to go and we have to be picking the points up in our own back yard.

We over the last 2 seasons have probably picked up more points after Christmas then other teams but had always been too far behind to catch up at least now we are a joint top so as bad as todays result is we are far from finished.

On the flip side to this, we have the best home record in the league

And Fulham have the worst away league record.

On the flip side to this, we have the best home record in the league and nobody was complaining about the hunger of the players when we were coming back from behind against teams earlier in the season.  Today was an off day and some players looked rusty after the internationl break midweek.  Our record over the past few years after internationals has been pretty awful so a draw isn't bad against a team that didn't haveas many players travelling for games during the week.  Although we should be winning games like this...no team wins every game in a season and Chelsea have dropped more points at home than us, nobody is writing them off are they?  :

Good post.

But as I've already said, I don't care about anyone but ourselves. What the chavs do at home or away is their own business. And I don't buy into this coming back from friendlies notion. If the players would rather give their all for a friendly and leave themselves goosed for a very important league game that follows - where the people who provide their bread and butter are watching them, then there's something seriously wrong.

Today was a poor performance no matter how it's dressed up. If we want to win the league it's these performances at home that have to be nipped in the bud.

I'm sure I'll calm down sooner or later and be more reflective on it. But all I can see from today is us throwing points away. We can't be having that.

I'd say I wish for a better performance on Wednesday but the way I'm feeling, a 10-0 win over Marseille won't get rid of the disappointment of losing two points in a title race today.

We over the last 2 seasons have probably picked up more points after Christmas then other teams but had always been too far behind to catch up at least now we are a joint top so as bad as todays result is we are far from finished.

Not so.  We have indeed done better in the 2nd half of the season but the top teams have marginally done better than us as well.

Not so.  We have indeed done better in the 2nd half of the season but the top teams have marginally done better than us as well.

I knew you'd be on the ball JD so I stuck "probably" in there 

Seriously tho my main point was that at least we are giving ourselves a fighting chance this season and I bet Chelsea and utd will be wary of us.

I knew you'd be on the ball JD so I stuck "probably" in there 

Seriously tho my main point was that at least we are giving ourselves a fighting chance this season and I bet Chelsea and utd will be wary of us.

I agree on what you are saying Brian, but its stil points lost?

You cant say that its because of the international break so their rusty. A lot of our players play internationally so where does the rust come from?
Also, these players are paid to pay football, theyve had 2 days to recover from the internationals, stop making excuses and face upto the fact that we werent good enough.
Geez

Wishlist:

I wish Robbie Keane would try throwing his leg out or something at chances in the box
I wish Dirk kuyt would try an attacking dart into the box, at set pieces, instead of always being caught standing still
I wish Lucas would become a footballer at some point
I wish Rafa would leave Riera on, especially today when he had the beating of the right back, and i also Rafa would stop F***ing Alonso around, 25 mins is all he played today and he controlled our midfield more than lucas did in the previous 65 mins.
I wish we could get some heaters in the kop, was b***ard freezing today!!

that's a crazy silly point.this is a lost game.CRAP of this .we can do nothing and can never take an oportunity.

that's a crazy silly point lost.CRAP of this .we can do nothing and can never take an oportunity.

Don't you mean 2 points ?

Right I got up for this sh*t at 1.50am and had to be at work at 6am...not happy.

I know Lucas was sh*te, so were a lot of others but the only person I blame for this is Rafa. He is such a stubborn b***ard sometimes.

Like a few have said, no Gerrard, you have to start our best passer of the ball on the F***ing field. If Xabi needs a rest, take him off when we are comfortably in front.

His substitutions left me flabbergasted and to top it all off when Xabi did finally come on...he goes to the holding midfield role and Lucas is the attacking midfielder. WTF? I'm so gutted at the moment and I'm at work 

The only positives to come out of a very weird night of football is that Chavs had the same result, Mancs as well and The Arse got beaten...oh yeah and Torres looked sharp.

I just hope Stevie ran down to that dressing room after the game and gave them an absolute F***ing spray. They deserved it, 2 points lost...with The Mancs drawing we could have put even more space between us and them, even with their game in hand.

F***ing GUTTED!

With you all the way on your wish list huytonred, especially number 3, No way is Lucas an international midfielder, Xabi is and deserves to play. Rafa still hasn't got the basic fact that to win the title you need to play your best team, Mascherano cannot hold the midfield by himself, and with Stevie G out, Lucas just hasn't got it.

And Keane??? are you kidding me? 20m? all I keep hearing is "oh he's a proven scorer' shyte, not for us he is, and all I care about is Liverpool FC.

Mascherano cannot hold the midfield by himself

What are you talking about?

He has controlled games countless times when he only played with Alonso or Gerrard. He has the ability to boss the game, that is why he is one of not the best holding player in the world. He simply didn't show up today like a lot of the players.

i think rafa is to blame for this draw, sometimes his team choice is puzzling, to play lucas ahead of an inform alonso is damn right scandalous, and to buy keane for 20 million is even more criminal

You cant say that its because of the international break so their rusty. A lot of our players play internationally so where does the rust come from?
Also, these players are paid to pay football, theyve had 2 days to recover from the internationals, stop making excuses and face upto the fact that we werent good enough.
Geez

If this is aimed at my earlier post then that's my mistake.  I didn't mean to say rusty because obviously they wouldn't be rusty playing any kind of football.  But breaking up from your club team and travelling to various parts of the world with national teams is obviously going to take its toll on some players and thats the point I was trying to make.  If you look back at our games over the past few years after internationals I think you'll find the results have been pretty poor.  I wasn't making excuses, just trying to take positives out of the situation. 

We were sh*te, Fulham did their job and got what they came for but we're still joint top so its not all bad.  Still think Rafa screwed up though by not picking Alonso.  :

Not so.  We have indeed done better in the 2nd half of the season but the top teams have marginally done better than us as well.

True. What has mostly happened in the past is that, when we hit top gear in the second half of the season and begin to stack more points, the top 3 clubs do the same too. That is why a game like today's was supposed to be killed off.

The fact that Chelsea and Man U played the exact same score line offered little for me in terms of consolation. it was another opportunity for us to get back on top of the table.

Will be nice if other teams played catch-up for once.

On key name missing in our game today? GERRARD! We are still heavily in need of a Gerrard Sub. I don't think the premiership offers option in that regards. We will have to look to other leagues for a Gerrard sub. Lucas tried today, but he was overwhelmed by the task.

The manager's subs were odd for me.

Riera was holding it down, he needed to remain on the pitch, Alonso should have come in for Lucas not mascherano. Babel for Kuyt not Riera.

Better win margin on tuesday.