Fulham 3-1 Liverpool

The trouble with playing the big sides is that the games can be a bit dull.  Typically said big side keeps the ball, Fulham stand off, keep shape, but don’t do much going the other way.  It can make for a painful watching experience, a reminder of everything Fulham are not and may never be.  The worst such game was when Arsenal beat us 3-0 a year ago, and we didn’t get near them all match.

Today felt like it was going to be like that.   Liverpool kept the ball for about 10 minutes from the kickoff, but then Fulham put the cat amongst the pigeons with a goal against the run of play, Damien Duff (how important he is) firing across the area for Bobby Zamora to slot home, right footed.   Liverpool were stunned by this unexpected twist, but soon got going again.  Red shirts surged towards the Hammersmith End, with Benayoun tormenter in chief with some snaking runs through the midfield.  It was a puff out your cheeks and fight for it game now, but by and large our defence did its job.   John Paintsil cleaned out Fernando Torres with about as hard a tackle as you can get away with in the modern game.  Fulham meant business.

But Torres is not spoken of as the world’s best striker for nothing.  As half-time drew near the ball dropped to him on the edge of our area.  A good player might have made something of the situation, Torres belted the ball past Schwarzer on the volley.  It was a breathtaking finish, stunning in its execution, ferocious power and impeccable technique.  Wow.

The concern now was that a 4-1 scoreline loomed, but Torres was frequently seen hobbling, bending over, grimacing.  My mind wandered into schadenfreudous territory.  He’s injured!  Yes!  Is he injured?  Please let him be injured.  I’m not a bad person for thinking that?  Of course I’m not.  We need him off the pitch.

And off the pitch he went, on the hour.  My chronology may be off here, but at this point the game went apocalyptic.  Zamora – who had another of his “best game in a Fulham shirt” days, scampered into the box, was surely hauled down, and was not awarded a penalty.   The ground howled in disbelieving anger.  How was this not a penalty?  How?  Lee Mason, who had been erring Liverpool’s way all match, was now public enemy number one.

He atoned for this by dismissing two Liverpool players.  The first (Degen?) lunged into Clint Dempsey and saw straight red.  The second, Jamie Carragher, occurred after Zamora had again wrestled his way free of his markers and was bearing down on the Liverpool goal.  Carragher may well have been the last man, and it may well have been a foul, but it felt like we were being paid back for the penalty non-decision.

The game was great fun at this point, not least because Erik Nevland had already made it 2-1, backheeling home following a neat knockdown from the impressive Gera.  Later, with the freedom of the park (we were now playing against nine men, including two Liverpool youth teamers), Fulham waltzed through on goal again, Dempsey taking care of business with an assured left-foot finish past a bemused, furious Pepe Reina.  Did I say the game was going to be a bit dull?   Quite the opposite!

3-1 to the Whites (we’re just not a 3-1 side are we?), Liverpool had withdrawn some key players, and were effectively surrendering the points.  This doesn’t happen every day, their season is all but ruined, and our boys seem to keep getting better.  Something is wrong at Anfield, the wheels are coming off as a succession of poor signings fail to add to the Gerrard/Torres core.  For us it’s a time to again sit back and wonder how on earth we got to this point, having been down so long so recently.   Wow.  Get Mr Hodgson a new contract before someone steals him.