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Liverpool travelled down to London to face Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Arne Slot made three changes to the side that drew with Leeds, as Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo replaced Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong and Hugo Ekitiké.
Marco Silva made three changes to the team that drew with Crystal Palace, seeing Issa Diop, Timothy Castagne and Tom Cairney come in for Kenny Tete, Sander Berge and Kevin. This saw Fulham shift to a 3-4-3 formation.
Probably expecting Fulham’s usual 4-2-3-1, Liverpool seemed really poorly organised defensively. The Reds would step up to press with their usual man-orientations, but there was little consistency to the structure, as who was picking up who would change each time. For example, sometimes Florian Wirtz would step up to a centre-back, sometimes a midfielder; sometimes Dominik Szoboszlai would press a centre-back, sometimes a wing-back. The bigger issue was that they nearly always left a free man, and while they would shift across to press him when he received the ball, this would just leave another man free elsewhere.
Fulham weren’t really taking full advantage of this though. They were capable of passing out, yet most of the time they would pass the ball around in defence, then go long rather than trying to pass through Liverpool.
Fulham weren’t a whole lot better defensively. They would sometimes drop back into a 5-4-1 shape as you would expect from a 3-4-3, however they would also often form a 5-3-2, with Emile Smith Rowe pushing up next to Raul Jiménez. They would look to block the passes into Liverpool’s deep midfielders, then push up to press the centre-backs.
When pressing, Fulham often weren’t getting out to the Liverpool players fast enough though, meaning if Liverpool moved the ball quickly, they could pass around Fulham. Sasa Lukic and Cairney stepping up to Ryan Gravenberch and Mac Allister meant they left the attacking midfielders free behind them.
Even when they weren’t pressing, Fulham still had a focus on stopping passes into the deep midfielders, with Harry Wilson and Smith Rowe often coming narrow. This blocked up the centre, but left space down the outside of the midfield for both Curtis Jones, and Szoboszlai to pick up the ball.
If Fulham’s midfielders moved wide to pick them up, then this left space through the middle for Wirtz to receive the ball.
To combat this, Fulham’s defenders would step out of the backline, leaving a gap, yet Liverpool, lacking a real striker with Alexander Isak and Ekitiké out injured, failed to take advantage. There was one moment where Diop was concerned with Kerkez, allowing Gakpo to run in behind, but that was it.
As Fulham’s wing-backs were in charge of stopping Liverpool’s full-backs, Liverpool could get them in space by positioning them deeper, essentially too far a distance for the wing-backs to realistically cover. Conor Bradley mostly remained high on the right, but Kerkez would drop back on the left to get the ball in space. He doesn’t have the passing ability to really punish Fulham for this though.
With their pressing not working, Liverpool soon began to drop off into a mid-block. This didn’t see them become more secure defensively though, soon conceding a goal.
Rather than holding their positions and remaining compact, in typical Dutch fashion Liverpool continued to man-mark in midfield. This saw Gravenberch drawn away following Wilson, opening up a space for Jiménez to drop into, which in turn saw Ibrahima Konaté step up following him, leaving a gap in defence. Jiménez flicked the ball in behind for Wilson to run onto, scoring against his former club.
Liverpool pushed men forward more after going behind, although this wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It did allow them to make more runs in behind, but it also made it harder for them to progress the ball, as Jones and Szoboszlai were generally positioned higher now.
As a result, finding it difficult to move it through the middle, Liverpool were forced into passing wide. This got the ball forward, yet, as neither Bradley nor Kerkez are strong crossers of the ball, it would usually end up getting passed back the other way.
Liverpool did at least move the ball quicker though, switching sides with longer passes, and by the end of the half, the attacking midfielders were drifting wide to help the full-backs work the ball inside.
Liverpool’s press also improved by prioritising blocking up the centre. It was still man-orientated, sticking tight to Fulham players through the centre to get them passing wide, then shifting across to try and trap them on that side.
Liverpool upped their intensity further after the break, making it harder for Fulham to play out, and they soon got their reward for this pressure.
Cairney pushed forward with the ball and found himself surrounded, but managed to poke a pass forward to Jiménez, however the Mexican failed to control it under pressure, handing the ball to Liverpool. With Fulham caught out, Bradley burst forward with the ball, driving through the middle to draw players towards him, then slipping a pass through to Wirtz to finish.
Liverpool’s play soon began to slow back down, reverting back to the sideways passing plaguing their recent games, while Fulham began to look more dangerous, catching them on the counter.
Liverpool thought they had it won in injury time though. With Fulham sitting back, they passed from left to right, and substitute Frimpong whipped in a nice cross from the flank, bouncing awkwardly for the defenders in the six-yard box. Diop and Castagne did a terrible job of competing for the ball at the back post, allowing Gakpo to tap it in.
Fulham equalised near-immediately though. Liverpool pulled players back to defend their box from a throw-in, which left Harrison Reed in acres of space outside the area, giving him all the time in the world to pick out the top corner from distance.
This wasn’t a great performance from Liverpool, yet it was significantly better than what they have served up in previous weeks, showing an ability to make positive adjustments they have been sorely lacking recently.
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