Premier League - Fulham hold Liverpool

Eurosport - Sat, 22 Nov 20:21:00 2008

A lacklustre Liverpool failed to exploit Chelsea's inability to beat Newcastle after they were held to a goalless Premier League draw by Fulham at Anfield.

FOOTBALL Liverpool Fulham Torres Pantsil - 0

A poor match mirrored Chelsea's own bore-draw with the Magpies and Liverpool stay second, behind Chelsea on goal-difference.

Liverpool lacked the injured Steven Gerrard and left Xabi Alonso on the bench and, as a result, were strangely subdued going forward.

Apart from Mark Schwarzer's superb save from Robbie Keane after the ball kindly deflected into the path of the Irishman off strike partner Fernando Torres, the hosts barely troubled the Cottagers with Keane in particular looking sluggish and Torres's keen running not matched by his shooting.

Keane's chance aside, the first half was Fulham's in terms of opportunities.

Andrew Johnson poked weakly at Reina when put through following a corner, while Jimmy Bullard forced consecutive saves from Pepe Reina, first with a sweet strike from the edge of the box and then with the subsequent corner.

Liverpool started the second half with more vigour and Torres forced Schwarzer to tip the ball behind after a smart run inside from the left wing.

The corner that followed caused the visitors some problems, although Dirk Kuyt could not convert at the far post.

The Dutchman had a superb chance to put his side ahead on 70 minutes when, after a good move that involved Alvaro Arbeloa and Albert Riera, he angled a rising drive to the top-right corner only to be denied by an excellent stop from Schwarzer.

Alonso was introduced for the sluggish Javier Mascherano and the Reds immediately upped the ante.

Kuyt, who started the match on the right wing, adopted a more advanced role and popped up on the left to send a shot flashing inches over the top right corner.

Liverpool started to control the game, as Ryan Babel came on and immediately sent a low drive just wide after leaving Clint Dempsey and John Pantsil for dead.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez surprisingly brought Kuyt off for young Frenchman Nabil El-Zhar, a relatively defensive move that tightened their formation but reduced their impact going forward.

Fabio Aurelio sent a low volley wide after Fulham failed to fully clear a corner and Alonso summed the match up when he sent a shot from the edge of the box into row Z.

Torres could have won it in the final minute but his shot was deflected over for a corner, and Fulham ran the clock down to hold on for an excellent draw that puts them ninth.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

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  1. sack the stupid manager and robby kean .let them both do it .go to plymouth a f c

    From rocky.harris@..., on Thu 27 Nov 6:51PM

  2. we r going 2 take d mantle of leadership next wk

    From NOFIU, on Tue 25 Nov 10:04AM

  3. lfc 4 eva

    From NOFIU, on Tue 25 Nov 10:02AM

  4. alsonso can be a attacking midfield what..he is a playmaker..but we have gerrard thats why rafa alwaz use him as defensive mid..that game should be masch and alonso in starting eleven..rafa is fu€king stupid..

    From zir, on Mon 24 Nov 7:31AM

  5. Just a comment to captain @#$%....liverpool are not top of the league,have a look for yourself......

    From chrismurph1@..., on Sun 23 Nov 4:10PM

  6. Nice to see people jumping on Rafa's back when we are still top of the league. I agree, Lucas is not up to par just yet, but he took Masch off because Leiva is more attacking and he wanted to go for it. But most people are right, these are the games we should be picking up the tree points in. I don't undertand how they can outplay Man Utd and Chelsea and not at least get 3 points at home to Fulham. Fair play to them though. Much better than last term Fulham, Hodgson isn't praised enough

    From , on Sun 23 Nov 12:09PM

  7. Rafa if you only want to win Champions League tell the supporters, so we can kick you out, if you want to win the premiership then pick the best players to win matches. Getting tired of excuses that you picked a team you thought could win. you should have learnt from the Stoke game.

    From Neville, on Sun 23 Nov 11:29AM

  8. Yet again....Liverpool without Gerrard have no idea...lol..........

    From chrismurph1@..., on Sun 23 Nov 10:41AM

  9. THANKS RAFA chelsea get robbed but you balance it out by @#$% it up again hope you stay at liverfool for life then we only have man ure to worry about

    From U R SOLES, on Sun 23 Nov 10:29AM

  10. Liverpool, i hope u people are not trying to repeat what happened last season from 29 dec,2007 to 29 jan,2008 where we drew 4 match and lost 1. From man c to west ham. Liverpool when will u be consistent at Anfield against lower teams with worst away records (stoke and fulham) open ur eyes or. or.. or... or.... or..... anyway

    From nwaliver, on Sun 23 Nov 10:03AM

  11. Liverpool, i hope u people are not trying to repeat what happened last season from 29 dec,2007 to 29 jan,2008 where we drew 4 match and lost 1. From man c to west ham. Liverpool when will u be consistent at Anfield against lower teams with worst away records (stoke and fulham) open ur eyes or or or or or anyway

    From nwaliver, on Sun 23 Nov 10:02AM

  12. Very dissapointed in Masch, however, time and time I keep saying it! Lucas is not a liverpool player!!!!!!!!!!!! The very fact that he is Brazilian does not make him a good player, he has no bottle, no touch, no heading ability and when he loses a ball he walks after it. I have watch him in the "reserves" and he is adequate, send him out on loan to the lower divisions and let him learn from tough physical games.

    From Tony, on Sun 23 Nov 9:26AM

  13. @ lyndon,exactly could not agree more.cole,cole,lampard,ferdinand and rooney all playing yesterday,makes you wander doesn't it!!

    From jolfc, on Sun 23 Nov 7:53AM

  14. Where are all these bell ends who claimed Gerrard was feigning injury for injury and would be fit to play for Liverpool against Fulham??

    Pretty quiet now, aren't you? I wonder if the likes of Talksport radio will do a whole show apologising for their disgraceful insinuations against Gerrard and LFC???

    Probably not. Nobody will mention the fact that Gerrard wasn't fit enough to play for Liverpool this weekend.

    From Kim S, on Sun 23 Nov 7:37AM

  15. well done, fulham

    From kathy, on Sun 23 Nov 12:26AM

  16. Why Rafa never puts his best side out I'll never understand. Get the job in the bag and then rest players. Bring them off for the last 20mins...We cannot afford to miss out on points like this. We are very fortunate Chelski draw also.

    From skem, on Sun 23 Nov 12:02AM

  17. stupid benitez, he is to blam for leaving out alonso and babel

    b*ll sh** rafak

    From Jemi, on Sat 22 Nov 11:10PM

  18. Never mind a points a point. Let's focus on winning in Europe to secure place in next round, then get back to fully concentrating on the league

    From Suzy, on Sat 22 Nov 10:09PM

  19. Liverpool are not nearly good enough to save players for Europe. I'm not sure the manager cares about the paying public and i think his days are numbered without the league title this year (not likely as they are a long way behind the big two).

    From kop it, on Sat 22 Nov 9:44PM

  20. to familybowen....no one goin to support the pityful and loser team....unless u bet on online casino....haha.....lfc fan...totally clean...

    From Teddy, on Sat 22 Nov 8:57PM
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