Fan Report: Fulham 3-1 Liverpool

Liverpool effectively ended any hopes of a title challenge this season as they were defeated 3-1 by Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The loss comes less than a week after beating arch rivals Manchester United in a result believed to have put the Reds’ season back on track and is a demoralising blow to the Anfield faithful.

Bobby Zamora put the west London team ahead against the run of play after Emiliano Insua fell asleep at the back post and Zamora tapped in from close range.

Fernando Torres equalised before the break when he powered an instinctive shot into the bottom corner from outside the area only for Erik Nevland to put Fulham back in the lead in the second half.

Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher were both harshly sent off late on for Liverpool before Clint Dempsey put the result beyond doubt.

The defeat does nothing but heap more pressure on Liverpool and their manager Rafa Benitez as his club seem to be continually in disarray with the season potentially being over in the very near future.

Benitez left many supporters confused over several of his tactical choices during the match with the decision to substitute goal scorer Fernando Torres with half an hour remaining and the game deadlocked at 1-1 in particularly bewildering.

The game began with Liverpool in control despite only threatening with a Yossi Benayoun effort that hit the top of the cross bar.

Zamora then opened the scoring against the run of play before Torres equalised with his delightful strike. The second half continued with Liverpool in control without threatening and Fulham capitalised when Nevland put them back in front.

After the two red cards Fulham took control and were almost making fun of their opponents when Dempsey added a well worked third for the Cottagers.

In his post-match press conference Benitez defended his decision to remove Torres after just 62 minutes and claimed the Spaniard was not fully fit.

He said: “We decided to play Fernando against United which was a difficult decision because he wasn’t 100 per cent fit.

“After this game he needed four days to be ready again but he still isn’t 100 per cent fit, so we had to decide if he could start today or use him for part of the second half. We decided to start with him but I have to protect the player.

“We decided to take him off just after the hour because I want to protect him and don’t want to lose an important player like Fernando for one month. We had options in attack when he came off.”

By Michael Glover

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