Key events
28 min “Not sure how there was any doubt about either penalty claim,” reckons David Stockman. “Both Liverpool players made clear contact with Pereira and Muniz without getting the ball. The only argument against is they didn’t ‘feel like’ penalties because the attack continued after the first, and the second was accidental contact.”
I think your ‘feel like’ point is a good one, but I think the Vaan Dijk/Muniz collision was, as you say, a collision, so not a penalty as the players ran into each other. The Kellher/Pereira one, though, made it easier for the ref to say no than yes.
27 min This take has not aged wall that well, brilliant though Van Dijk has been.
25 min It’s so good to see Sessegnon having it. He was touted as a special talent what seems a long time ago now, but his career stalled at Spurs. At 24, though, he’ll have a much better understanding of his game and, more importantly himself, and has plenty of time to fulfil his potential.
GOAL! Fulham 1-1 Liverpool (Sessegnon 23)
Berge power0trundles through midfield like Jan Molby in his pomp, spreading right for Iwobi, whose cross hits Jones, unused to defending such situations and unable to sort out his feet quickly enough. And, as the ball drops, Sessegnon reacts quicker than Van Dijk, lashing a really smart, controlled finish inside the near post in his first Premier League start at the Cottage for almost six years!
22 min Here’s that Pedro pen…
20 min Lovely from Salah, cutting infield and looking to laser a low pass for Gakpo at the back post, a favourite move under Slot … but he puts just too much on it.
18 min “I don’t think Kelleher on Pereira is a penalty using normal footballing logic,” returns Dave Estherby, “but based on the two or three given this season where the keeper has wiped out a player running away from goal after he’s played the ball if I was Marco Silva I’d be going bat**** right about now.”
He didn’t wait for the inevitable Liverpool goal, he spoke from the heart at the time. And yes, I agree with your wider point too, the most egregious Joao Pedro for Brighton against Bournemouth, where he pretty much boots the ball into touch in order to accept the contact he knows will get him a pen.
17 min Gosh, Southampton are bad: even Spurs are beating them, Brennan Johnson with the goal.
16 min “We’re gonna win the league!” chorus the away end. And they’re right, they are.
WHAT A GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Liverpool (Mac Aliister 14)
Gravenberch leaps to win a challenge inside his own half and Mac Allister seizes the loose ball, swerving away from Berge, who can’t keep up and, seeing open grass ahead of him, advancing before, from 20 yards, unleashing an outswinging monster that shrieks, fizzes and hisses past Leno, hitting the side-netting halfway up.
13 min Liverpool are beginning to play.
12 min “Have to agree with Joe Pearson I’m afraid mate,” says Dave Estherby. “The only reason you didn’t get weapons-grade trots is the fact you already had, in your words, a hyperactive intestine to begin with. Tread carefully my friend…”
So how do we explain the fact that it worked?
11 min Liverpool win a corner down the left, Mac Allister to take … and Leno claws away.
10 min Still, Fulham have started pretty well.
8 min The more i think about the penalty shouts, the second definitely wasn’t but the first probably was. Pereira made sure to go down and no longer had possession, but Kelleher didn’t get the ball and did dive where he wanted to run.
6 min I see both sides of those calls. Kelleher went for the ball, but didn’t get it, and he left Pereira with no where to go; other hand, lot of bodies, small space. Van Dijk and Muniz looked like a coming together,.
5 min Konate, inviting pressure inside the box, tries a drag-back like he’s Maldini, and it turns out he isn’t; a turn-up for the books. So Pereira nicks the ball way from him and Kelleher dives in front of him, T-bone style, creating a collision. He still, though, gets his pass away and Van Dijk then does enough to put Muniz off, the two bashing into each other; Fulham, understandably want a penalty, but the ref decides there’s no foul in either case.
3 min “Presumably the answer,” says Charles Antaki of the cooked-rice conundrum, “is because, indeed, the already-cooked rice is already cooked? That is, that it’s absorbed all the water it was cooked in, so no room for the less pleasant liquid that was washing around on your insides. Anyone who’s dropped a beanbag into water (esp. those of us who were alive during the short lived beanbag-juggling fad a few decades ago) will remember what happened then.”
Haha, the most elegant “it’s obvious you clown” I’ve received since at least this morning. I shall advise my wife forthwith.
3 min Castagne seems to have hurt himself a little, leaping for the ball and landing awkwardly, then colliding with Berge, but I think he’ll be OK.
2 min Almost immediately, Fulham hit the bug swutch out to Robinson, the ball just too strong. But, as expected, they’re looking to get after Jones.
1 min The camera at Craven Cottage is vertiginously high.
1 min And off we go!
The teams take the knee. Black lives matter.
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!
“How about parking the low bar, poor league asides?” wonders Cormac Culkeen. “Liverpool have been very good. As a point of comparison, here are some teams with a very similar points tally after 30 games: Arsenal in 2004, Chelsea in 2005, Man United in 2007 and 2011, City in 2022. Were they poor seasons?”
I don’t think points tallies are a particularly good measure, especially given relative squad-sizes. But 2011 was an extremely poor season, while in 03-04, Arsenal made the last four of the League Cup and FA Cup and last four in the Champions League, while United made the FA Cup final and Champions League last four in 07 and so on.
Really, though the eye-test should suffice here, which is, of course, subjective, but if you think this Liverpool side are in the same postcode as Arsenal 03-04, Chelsea 04-05 and united 006-07, we understand football in very, very different ways. Which is legal.
“Back when my daughter was young, we made use of the BRAT diet whenever she had ‘issues’,” returns Joe Pearson. “All parents of young children know this. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast. Miracle cure.”
Americans love for applesauce makes the tariffs look like a good idea.
“What constitutes a shot of rice?” wonders Zia Faruqi.
Rice scooped into a shot glass.
“Appreciate your positive words about Marco Silva,” writes Richard Hirst. “Much praise is, rightly, given to Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth, but Fulham could be above all of them after today’s game. Marco Silva is not the best tactician, witness last weekend’s debacle against Palace, but he is clearly a great man-manager and has revived a number of moribund careers. If only he could do it with Smith Rowe!”
There’s a player in there, but I guess Pereira plays where he’d like to.
Goodness me, that Palace game. It reminded me a bit of when David Moyes’ Everton got to the last eight of the Cup in 2012-13 then lost 3-0 at home to Wigan, and I’m sure the home fans will still be feeling poorly at missing so rare an opportunity. All that trouble they went to in winning on penalties at Old Trafford in round five, for nothing. Sickening.
Marco Silva tells Sky that Liverpool winning the league is a matter of time and says they deserve all the credit for their consistency. But Fulham’s games against them have been closely contested and he wants to give the crowd something back for their support against Palace.
“Oh Daniel!” begins Joe Pearson. “Raw rice? Flirting with food poisoning. But you do you.”
I wasn’t doing anything other than what i was told, but be very sure, the symptoms of food poisoning were already fully ensconced. I meant to say, though, is anyone who knows more about science and so on than me able to explain why it works? I guess the rice expands once inside, but why, then, wouldn’t already-cooked rice do the same?
So tossing it forward, where do Liverpool need to buy? Of course that’s partly dependent on what happens with Salah and Van Dijk, but even if both stay, a man as prudent as Slot will surely be succession-planning in any case, given the ages of both. Otherwise though, someone more consistent than Konate, unless they’re convinced Quansah will get there; someone to take over from Robertson; and an elite centre-forward if at all possible. But the main aspect needing attention, I think, is the midfield: good enough to get it done in the league this particular season, but shown up in Europe by PSG.
The way Slot was talking about Jones, it was as though he’s investigating him as a longer-term option at right-back – where of course there’s about to be a vacancy. I’ve no idea as to Liverpool’s summer budget, but losing Alexander-Arnold for nowt could well mean a chance for Bradley to establish himself as a first pick – one, in fairness, he’s earned. And if Jones can prove himself to be another option there, there’ll be money to spend strengthening in other areas.
Also going on: it’s summer!
We’re all Brann now.
Who remembers the Game of Life? No I’ve not been hacked by Peter Kay, but there was a card in it called “Share the Wealth” and that’s what I’m about to do.
I’v been crook this week, an … um … er … hyperactive intestine among the symptoms. So my wife recounted this tale of woe to our cleaner, who advised the following: necking a shot of uncooked rice, washed down with a mug of mint tea. And mates, it works!
So what does it mean? Well, Fulham will look to block up the middle with Berge and Lukic, and I’m sure Robinson and Sessegnon will look to gang up on Jones, an emergency right-back.
Liverpool, meanwhile, will hope to exploit the space Robinson leaves – though Salah has been becalmed recently – and for their midfield three to pop the ball about, using their superior touch and nip to keep possession while they work angles.
As below, Slot makes one change: Gakpo for Diaz.
Marco Silva makes five changes following midweek defeat at Arsenal. Jorge Cuenca, Adama Traore, Emile Smith Rowe and Raul Jimenez are all on the bench, with Issa Diop out of the squad entirely; Calvin Bassey, Ryan Sessegnon, Andreas Pereira, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz come in.
Ah, one sec, here’s Arne Slot. His tracky bums are very tight; the least said about Jamie Carragher’s brown suede brogues the better.
Slot says he’s got two very good left-wingers to choose from, and this time he went for Gakpo not Diaz. At right-back, meanwhile, Curtis Jones played well against Everton, he thinks, and he can only see how he does against very different opponents by picking him. But Conor Bradley is on the bench, and will also get minutes.
Otherwise, he’s happy with the midweek performance and the reaction to the Tarkowski tackle – you might’ve heard about it – relative to the game at Goodison, not just from his players but from himself.
Liverpool know Fulham like to attack down the wings, but the way Antonee Robinson attacks should leave room for Mohamed Salah to attack
I’m going to write these down, then we’ll reflect on what we might see.
Teams!
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Lukic; Iwobi, Pereira, Sessegnon’ Muniz. Subs: Benda, Tete, Cuenca, Reed, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Traore, Willian, Jimenez.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Kelleher; Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister’; Salah, Jota, Gakpo. Subs: Jaros, Endo, Diaz, Nunez, Chiesa, Elliott, Tsimikas, Quansah, Bradley.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Ashton-under-Lyne)
Preamble
Sixteen years ago, almost to the day, Liverpool visited Craven Cottage and, when Yossi Benayoun scored the winning goal in injury-time to send his team two points clear at the top of the table, the away end could contain itself no longer. “And now you’re gonna believe us, and now you’re gonna believe us,” resounded the chant, “we’re gonna win the league!” Bereft of the title since 1990, relief was palpable.
The problem was, Manchester United had two games in hand. The first, the following day, climaxed with Martin Tyler’s “Machedaaaaaaa” moment, and the second at Wigan, six straight wins later, effectively settled things. Anfield would have to wait a further 11 years to see the Premier League trophy – and even that was disrupted by the pandemic.
This season, there will be no such mishaps. Liverpool have been, by some distance, the best side in the country – a low bar, yes, but also one they’ve sailed over – and all that remains now is for them to indulge in six weeks of parties, starting today. Only they who have suffered can know true joy.
Fulham, though, won’t want to be their patsies – especially after the resounding disappointment of last weekend, a 3-0 home tousing, to Palace, in the last eight of the Cup. With all the noise made elsewhere, it’s easy to overlook the excellence of Marco Silva’s work, but taking a side up from the Championship and immediately establishing them in the middle of the Premier League – without wild spending – is a task proving beyond almost every manager attempting it, and one for which he deserves much praise. The neutrals among us might forgive his side if they mentally check out, but we can be certain that he will not.
Kick-off: 2pm BST
