With Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur dropping points, a trip to relegation-threatened Fulham was an open goal for Liverpool to move to the top of the Premier League table.
With nothing to play for, Jurgen Klopp put out a weakened team in mid-week, yet still managed to lose Diogo Jota to injury. He kept just three players from the starting eleven against Midtjylland – Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Mohamed Salah – as Liverpool returned to a strong side in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Scott Parker made just one change to the team that lost to Manchester City, replacing Harrison Reed with Mario Lemina in midfield as Fulham set up in a 3-5-2 shape.
Fulham started the better side. They would block Liverpool’s build-up through the middle, with Ivan Cavaleiro and Ruben Loftus-Cheek generally picking up Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum as the Dutchman dropped back alongside Liverpool’s captain to help them play out. When Liverpool went wide, Fulham would rush out to ensure they didn’t have time on the ball.
This made it difficult for Liverpool to play out, but they were also looking off-the-pace defensively. Fulham would look to play forward quickly, getting Ademola Lookman up next to Cavaleiro and Loftus-Cheek, and too often they found themselves able to simply meander past a Liverpool player, either slow to react or caught square.
This was neatly displayed by Fulham’s opening goal, where Liverpool’s backline pushed up following a corner but the Reds failed to actually claim the ball. This made it easy for Lookman to slip the ball in behind the defence for Bobby De Cordova-Reid to run onto, picking out a beautiful finish into the far corner.
Following the goal, Henderson began to drop back to the right of the defence, forming a makeshift back three that made it easier for Liverpool to play around Fulham’s front two. This also enabled the backline to spread out, making it easier for Liverpool to switch play and therefore harder for Fulham to rush out to the flank whenever Liverpool moved the ball wide.
While they now found it easier to push Fulham back, Liverpool were still having problems actually breaking the hosts down, especially now they had more reason to sit back and defend their lead. Roberto Firmino had dropped back deep early on to help play the ball out, but in doing so removed an attacker from the frontline. Curtis Jones, unable to get on the ball in the opening stages, began to drop back to the left of the centre-backs as Henderson had on the right. The young Scouser provided the same extra man to work the ball out, but was an improvement as someone more capable of picking out a neat pass forward. Nevertheless, Liverpool now found themselves able to get forward, but would hit a brick wall around the box, surrounded by Fulham defenders.
Klopp made a substitution at half-time, moving Henderson back into defence as Takumi Minamino replaced Joel Matip, adding a more technical player to the midfield. Parker moved to shore up his defence though, switching to a 3-4-3, adding extra defensive width to the midfield by moving Loftus-Cheek back.
Fulham simply sat back and forced Liverpool into breaking them down. The back five gave them enough defensive width to ensure Antonee Robinson and De Cordova-Reid could get out quickly and block Liverpool’s crosses, while the centre was also flooded with players, meaning Liverpool had to work in tight spaces if they were going to create chances through the middle.
They may have had a strong starting line-up but their struggles in breaking Fulham down showed the lack of depth caused by their injury crisis. Thiago Alcântara was brought in specifically for this kind of match, Jota has proved to be excellent combining in tight spots around the box, and even the likes of Naby Keïta or Xherdan Shaqiri would have been obvious choices to turn to in search of someone to thread a pass, however none were available. Minamino was the right kind of addition, although he added little in practice, but Neco Williams was a like-for-like replacement for Alexander-Arnold and Divock Origi is more of a battering ram than a slight technical attacker, yet a quick glance over the bench showed Klopp didn’t really have much alternative.
Jones often seemed to pop up in good areas, winning free-kicks such as the one that led to Liverpool’s equaliser, but Liverpool never really looked capable of threatening Fulham. In truth, they were somewhat fortunate to even come away with a point.
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