That’ll do. I thought Kloppo brought up an interesting point in the build up to the game when he said he had fed the narrative about our ‘poor form’ by talking too much immediately after games.
The list of what he was saying was that often the performances had been better than he initially thought, but that he had fuelled it further by talking about how we can do things a lot better.
I don’t entirely agree with him with regards to the quality of performances, but he’s probably right to downplay the negatives and talk up the positives as there's been a bit of a cloud over us of late that really shouldn't be there when you look at the results we've had. We're doing alright. We can do better, but it makes sense for Klopp to try to nip this negativity in the bud.
So with that in mind, this was fine. We didn’t tear Fulham apart and score six or seven goals as we might have done when at our best, but we won. We kept a clean sheet, scored a couple of good goals and barring a couple of first half scares it was extremely comfortable.
Until the blistering form returns this is exactly what is required. The goal difference is well gone already. We’re not clawing that back so the pressure is off in that sense. It doesn’t matter if City are winning 6-0 and we’re winning 1-0, just as long as we can match them point for point and stay on their coat-tails. That’s all we can do.
Of course that will be a hell of a lot easier to do when we start dismantling teams as we can do, but for now it’s a case of just getting the job done.
I’d also make the point that Fulham were actually pretty good. Far better than most teams that come to Anfield anyway. Their defence has been a train wreck all season but they ditched some of the clowns who have been costing them goals (Fosu-Mensah and that American centre half) and overall they did pretty well.
I knew we’d win the game as soon as it kicked off though. Fulham had four attackers on the pitch and they were playing their usual style. They hadn’t come to sit back and try to stifle us, they were going to have a go. And going toe to toe with us was never going to end well for them.
Fair play though, they gave us some anxious moments in the first half and can consider themselves unlucky to have been behind. Sessegnon missed a glorious chance when he took advantage of a lucky ricochet to go past Gomez and find himself with just Alisson to beat. He dragged his shot wide and he knew immediately how costly it might be.
They had another couple of chances too, and also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision. You can argue the case either way, which to me shows how tough that was for the linesman. That was virtually impossible to see with the naked eye, but the direction the players were moving in certainly makes it look more offside than it was.
Fulham’s disappointment was doubled when the ball was in their net 14 seconds later. That was last season’s Liverpool that. We’ve not seen anywhere near enough of it this year but it was exhilarating stuff and the kind of goal we were scoring as a matter or routine last season. There's no finer sight in football than one of our lightning 'defence into attack' breaks.
It all started with Van Dijk. He didn’t touch the ball but as soon as the goal had been ruled out he was yelling at Alisson to start a counter. The keeper did just that, finding Trent who then hit a brilliant ball down the line to set Mo clear. He never looked like missing did he? Great finish.
I thought Mo looked sharper than he has all season. The swagger was back in his play, but I wonder how much of that was down to Fulham not surrounding him with three players as everybody else seems to be doing. We’ll find out over the next few games I suppose.
The first half performance was patchy. Some good, some not so good. Part of the problem for me is the 4-2-3-1 system doesn’t seem to suit Bobby. I’ve said before that it feels to me that the system change is because Klopp doesn’t trust Shaqiri and (to a lesser extent perhaps) Fabinho in his usual 4-3-3.
Shaqiri has to play because he’s our most creative player and the man who can provide the kind of passes that Salah and Mané thrive on. The logical thing to do would be to keep Mo on the right, Bobby as the nine and play Shaq as the ten, but Klopp so far doesn’t fancy that at all.
I remember him once saying that the number ten has to be the hardest worker on the pitch, which would explain his use of Firmino there over Shaqiri. Defensively I can understand the logic, but the bottom half of the Premier League are generally garbage so would having Shaqiri in there really be that much of an issue?
I dunno, I’m just thinking out loud. All I know is that Firmino has not looked comfortable in that role and at times doesn’t seem to know where to run. Normally he never stops moving, but there were times against Fulham where he looked a bit lost, as other players were in the space he’d normally be in.
Maybe it just needs a bit of work on the training ground, but maybe that time would be better spent teaching Shaqiri how to play in the midfield three in the role Coutinho used to occupy occasionally? He has to be in the side somewhere, that much is obvious.
There were three or four passes he played that were a fraction away from being perfect. I love how he plays. There’s a busyness and infectious enthusiasm about him every time he gets the ball. Any time he has the ball at his feet I’m expecting something to happen, because he can spot a pass and he can execute it.
And how about that finish? He made that look far easier than it was, because the ball was in the air a long time and tat could have led to indecision. Initially I thought he might head it, but he kept his cool and just stroked it in the corner with that magic wand left foot of his.
The cross from Robbo was great though, a fact recognised by the Kop who immediately chanted his name. Bit sly on Shaq, but as soon as someone comes up with a catchy song for him I can see that being this season’s equivalent to “Egyptian King” last year.
At 2-0 we were safe but it was good to see the professionalism and determination to keep a clean sheet. That’s a point of pride for this team now, you can tell they don’t want to ever concede goals regardless of how many they might be ahead. It’s standing us in good stead this year, because if we were relying on being prolific at the other end we’d already be out of the title race.
Some will argue we’re really in it anyway as City are looking unstoppable. We can’t control what they do, so as demoralising as it is seeing them just churn out easy win after easy win, there’s no point dwelling on that.
We just have to take care of our own business and hope that eventually someone will be able to take points off them (personally I’m hoping it’s the Premier League and UEFA). Wolves held them to a draw so you never know. They won’t win every game between now and May so we have to make sure we’re in position to capitalise if and when they slip up.
Star man is Andy Robbo who completely dominated that entire side of the field. I was thinking after the game, is there any Liverpool team from any era that Robbo wouldn’t get into? Certainly not in my lifetime (Steve Nicol could just switch to right back), but maybe he’d have his work cut out shifting Gerry Byrne from Shankly’s side. He’s fucking boss though.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho (Keita), Wijnaldum (Henderson); Shaqiri (Milner), Firmino, Mané; Salah:
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