Liverpool v Fulham

Liverpool lost at home to Aston Villa 3-1 to and even a 87th minute goal by Steven Gerrard was no consolation for the Anfield faithful ...manager Brendan Rodgers had claimed before the match that Liverpool could challenge for a top two spot in the Premier League ..with second place now 14 pts away ..maybe a rethink from the Livcerpool boss is in order .



Fulham suffered a 2-1 defeat at QPR and have now won just one out of nine away games this season in the league , manager Martin Jol admitted it was not good enough .."it was not good enough"....

Brendan Rodgers might leave out Allen and Raheem stating they're tired.

Be interesting to see who starts. Assaidi and Sahin, maybe.

Lucas and Sahin in the middle is a combination I wouldn't mind seeing ,and maybe if Wisdom is back we could possibly deploy Johnson on the wing . I think if I'm honest ,Gerrard could do with a sabbatical ,a lot more than our 17 yr old winger.

Gerrard's form has been at it's lowest i can remember. The ammount of times he's lost the ball, failed to win tackles and i think it's down to his position and instructions. He plays alot deeper, rarely getting forward. I think he's getting to that age where playing back to back games takes it's toll on him. I'd like to see Lucas, Sahin and Henderson against Fulham, give a few players much needed rest and give a game to backup players.

Agreed, Gerrard is definitely not conducive to Rodgers football philosophies ,it seems apparent to most of
us in the Kop that if you play Gerrard in the middle he will eventually drop deep enough to play in goal .

Kudos to Rodgers though ,he has stuck to his method of possession football and showed no signs of
deviating into a more defensive system ,but if he persists with expecting Gerrard to win the ball back
and playing pressing football then he really will be the loser .

What I find most frustrating is watching a succession of "Hollywood balls" being pinged up the park that
are either hit too hard or too high .

Time to give a Liverpool legend a well deserved break ,and maybe use him as an impact sub for the
next few games....Who knows it might help to instil the hunger that made him such a hero to us all .

Could not have put it any better myself gerrad is lost and although the man is a true great in my eye's its time he take's a backseat or even move on to have a final fling at a club abroad....

Ill most likey get hounded for my last statement but he has been truly shocking....

I always support Liverpool.


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www.duplichecker.com

The only centre midfielder who is allowed to advance forward is Shelvey. I haven't seen Allen & Gerrard work since Lucas was put back in the side.

I think there are lots of changes before Rodgers gets the side he wants.

Gerarad seems to be dead weight at the moment ,you can see he tries to have some input but you can just see his head dip when he makes bad passes which he never did in his prime. The realisation for these player that they are getting old is made hard by the media's stupidity in brainwashing them into believing they are better than they really are. Ditto goes for that bunch of crap player i ridiculed them buying tow seasons ago Henderson and Downing what a joke!
They are not Liverpool quality players ,they are Wigan quality at best.

I agree with Downing ,but in regards to Henderson I think if he was given a regular berth in the middle then I still believe he could be useful player for us . One positive I have noted concerning Henderson ,is if Rodgers gives him instructions he carries them out to the letter . If he is told to keep the play simple then he does exactly that .I don't believe the same can be said of the lethargic and generally disinterested Stewart Downing.

^ and Joe Cole, he seems to ignore instructions.

I agree, i think Henderson, although might be an expensive signing, still has much room for improvement.
He hasn't dissapointed in the rare appearances he makes.

Joe Cole frustrates me more than any player I've watched play for the reds since Harry Kewell ,both once
blessed with outrageous talent ,but both seemingly happy to watch their once brilliant and bright careers
fade into obscurity . I think when Mourinho took the reins at Chelsea he knew straight away that Cole
whilst being a very skilful player had little or no game intelligence and trouble following his instructions .

Another player with magic in his feet ,but absolutely no sense of where he should be on the pitch was
Ryan Babbel ,honestly if this kid had a football brain he would have been sensational .

Spot on comparision, both are rubbish reading the game. They're more suitable as flair players, impact subs.
Just like against West Ham, when we needed something different and unpredictable, Cole made an impact. If he'd had started i doubt he'd be noticed. Only thing that winds me up is his wages...

Agreed, 90 grand a week is an exorbitant sum of money to pay any player ,let alone one who makes coastal erosion seem rapid in comparison .

Did you know that Fulham have won only one of their 11 Premier League trips to Anfield (L6 D4), but this victory came in their last visit there in May.

Surely it won't be 2 wins in a row at Anfield?

Any more comments or predictions?

Villa had a poor run at Anfield and they managed to end that in the last game.

Being the Christmas period I'm expecting a few shock results in all Premier League games.

I'm gonna sit on the fence and go 0-0.

Hopefully my Christmas will start tonight in L1 by celebrating three points and a convincing win.

Line ups

Liverpool:
Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel ,Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Suso, Shelvey, Downing, Suarez.

Subs: Jones, Carragher, Wisdom, Sahin, Henderson, Allen, Sterling.

Fulham:
Schwarzer, Riise, Hangeland, Hughes, Riether, Baird, Karagounis, Richardson, Dejagah, Kacaniklic, Berbatov.

Subs: Stockdale, Senderos, Briggs, Kasami, Frei, Tavares, Rodallega.

HT

Liverpool 2-0 Fulham

Skrtel and Gerrard scored in the 1st half.

It looks like the Reds have the 3 points already wrapped up at the break.

How did Agger miss an open goal from 4 yards and manage to get it in the first row of the top tier?

Brilliant pass by Downing and a nice finish from Gerrard to make it 2-0 after Skrtel's goal.
I'd be a very frustated Fulham fan if i was watching that joke of a first half perfomance. They're
playing like Liverpool did against Villa.