Liverpool vs Fulham | 22 December 17.30GMT| Saturday | Premier League|

Shelvey down right now...

Edit: Looks like he got hit in the head. He'll be ok, walking off now.

SKRTEL What a beast. Agger should've grabbed himself a goal as well. But our team looks much MUCH better with Sterling and Allen on the bench. Defense is better. Attack is better. And glad to see Suso playing after a long layoff.

Apparently we've played more games (30) than any other EPL team so far this year. Chelsea is at 29, playing 30th tomorrow.

Making our thin squad look even more thin.

If this Downing had been around for the last year and a half, we'd be looking at a VERY different side...

yes we played fantastic but i want a clean sheet

8th in the table.....oho oho ohoh

FT 4-0

Skrtel, Gerrard, Downing, Suarez the scorers.

Made the chances count. Fans deserved this performance after that horror show against Villa.

Now the question arises, Bench Allen?
Ill be honest but the moment Fulham got the ball, I could spot so many gaps in the LFC midfield and defense. So very confused on this one.


EDIT: Check out my prediction in the prediction thread

For the first time after a while I can say that not a single player put a foot wrong today. The team did great as a whole.

Doubters were in full voice. . Fans turning on each other. . Strategies being doubted . . Players being scrutinized. The story of Liverpool Football Club for the past weeks.

But today the players answered to the call. Teenagers stood up. . . Failures rampaged. . & Legends roared in the field of the Liverbird. Liverpool in all its glory where burning through opposition like The Reds we have come to love and aspire to see.

This for me is not a tribute to anyone loving this wonderful club. This for me was a glimpse of what this team can be & what it can achieve in all its glory. Today the players were ruthless . . The manager relentless in his plans & execution of those plans.

My only wish is this is appreciated not pounced upon . . We the Redmen need to stick to this team in its glory & its failures. The fans need to sing YNWA on the top of their voice until they cannot make any noise at all. Let the spirit never die down. Let us not doubt them but look for the positives bury our doubts, get rid our anguish & with all the spirit we have let us be the REDMEN this great team deserves.

You my friends with this team & the spirit we have WILL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!

It's so heartwarming to performing like this. This is how I remember my Liverpool Could've easily been 6-0 but who cares we won convincingly.

I hope Rodgers starts this exact team next week. Allen and Sterling on the bench was the best decision this season.

Great to get an emphatic win, they've been really hard to come by for us in recent times!

Gotta say I'm hoping Allen will be on the bench in our next couple of games, too, he hasn't been good lately.

Downing

Also it was great seeing Riise back. I miss his thunderous left foot.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:Also it was great seeing Riise back. I miss his thunderous left foot.

Such a shadow of his former self though.

yeah, he didn't get forward even once today. Back in the day, attacking was all he did. Sad part is that the memory that stands out for me about Riise is that own goal in the Semi final against Chelsea in the last minute of CL that caused us the whole tie. We would've won the final against United that year. The team was unbelievable.

Our best game by a mile in every single aspect. Today we saw BR's philosophy come into fruition in all its might and glory. Yes, Fulham is a poor team away and showed very little nous to actually adapt to our game as they were poor all around and in every single aspect yet this is a team that has thoroughly troubled all the top teams with their solid squad.

Fulham tried to initially nullify our possession based general play with a 4-4-1-1 by sitting deep and absorbing the bulk of our pressure and possession. Initially it worked yet what made the difference is Steven Gerrard. Joe Allen has been fantastic for us but his absence gave the freedom and space to Stevie G to distribute and thrive in all the freedom as he usually would. No this does not mean Joe Allen's absence makes us superior as it means Stevie G is simply a the Captain we know when he is afforded a role which he is allowed to have more touches and distribute. Lucas had a perfect game by shielding the back four which allowed Gerrard to never look back as Shelvey did well to create and draw space with his off the ball movement but was poor on a whole as his touch, vision and passing was way off as its especially disappointing when Fulham allowed our midfielders so much space. Johnson has been a revelation in attack despite my criticism as his excellent overlapping with Downing allowed an unpredictable outlet of attack and consistently troubled the London defence. Downing had his best performance in a Liverpool shirt. Why? Rodger's finally listened to Kenny's advice on placing Downing on the right where he won't just bomb (whimper) down the flank and cross but add an element of unpredictability to his game. It allows him to naturally cut in, foresee the net by his natural foot and even play in passes with his right which has shown slight improvement. If he continues to play like this I shall eat my words about him. Enrique as usual for his form this season was a revelation in attack and defence. Its especially amazing how he is so quick to track back after taking such steps far in the oppositions half. Great decision to play him as LB again. Skrtel and Agger? Agger was excellent defensively yet ruined it by his Klose with Bayern-esque sitter missed. Yes he is a CB but so skilled he is we expect him to bury it which is why Skrtel has the edge on him today. I initially thought that exquisite piece of technique was Jonjo Shelvey yet was marvelled when I saw Skrtel's distinct features on screen. I knew he had technique (aerially) yet I never knew he could blast it so hard into the net so quickly before you can say PFK. Suso was a disappointment. I continue to rate his talent and ability above Sterling yet given the space to him and the lack of pressure coming from the 4-0 it was strange to see him not influence the game any more than usual. Yes he is being played out of position and a little rusty but a well rested Sterling did more than he did within the time given (not impressive given Sterling's room to perform in the 4-0 albeit). Speaking of Sterling we both saw what he is a capable of when well rested as although Fulham were demotivated yet Sterling was a livewire when on as this hopefully gives Messia and I some hope on Sterling's capabilities. Allen being rested also was an apt move given that he has been run into the ground. I hope to see Sahin play for us soon yet its obvious that we aren't looking to buy him.

Goals:
First one was brilliant as mentioned for Skrtel as its probably the best goal I've seen this month.

2nd was a piece of brilliance from Gerrard with his excellent movement to split the defence taking advantage of a very shrewd and impressive pass by Downing to catch him. Excellent finish. Shows how superb Gerrard is withint he box

3rd was a typical Downing goal as the man doesn't know how to score simple ones. Being on the right side it allowed him to track inside utilizing the open gap and use his impressive left foot to smash it past Schwarzer into the net. Brilliant finish. A goal and an assist for Downing today.

4th one was my favourite. Why? I so wanted Suarez to get a goal after having a drought in 3-4 games of goals. He was a live wire yet looked low on confidence today and almost anxious as its clear the lack of recent goals made him take one or two extra touches than he normally would. The joy and relief on his face as if he scored a winner was absolutely price less. Loved every second of that moment.

We cannot be carried away from this victory as we were relatively untested from a tactical perspective as I truly expected more from Martin Jol's side. Yet given that our possession and chemistry showed signs of improvement as did the cohesion of our defence, its not hard to find some joy in our best victory since the 5-2 vs Norwich. Its good to see Rodger's rest some faces as the inclusion of Tom Ince and Daniel Sturridge will give us the depth and incisiveness we have missed.

All in all it was an excellent match vs a rather disappointing (if not overrated) Fulham side yet a win at Anfield which is less a fortress than a Serie B stadio is quite something to marvel at given Martin Jol and Fulham as a whole always always trouble us with their negative play.

stevieg8 wrote:

HEIL MEIN REDS wrote:i was just about to write that downing is playing good today n he passes a beauty for Gerrard
hopefully a high value for him in Jan window

If he can put in another game or two like this, we could see 10 mil.

Nothing to get carried away but I am a little confused now whether to sell him or not, Although this was his performance after years.

I would really like Downing to start every match before the Jan window. We can assess his performance till then, we have Suso, Sterling now playing in the squad but they are not so experienced. Although we sign Sturridge, Ince...probably we will still need a good depth in the squad, considering we play in champ league next season OR if we have to challenge for fourth spot in the next season, in both cases I guess we should keep Downing (off course if he shows similar performance in few next matches). We cant forget that he has scored couple of vital goals this season in europa league. I also guess that probably this is the first time we played more experienced side in the starting line up, so may be in few matches, we will need experience more than other stuff
Second thing,there was a little concern when fulham started pressing hard, we started having misplaced balls n lost ball few times. I guess it was just a period of 7-8 minutes. So today we played against an uninspired and lacklustre fulham side. It will be interesting when we play against stoke n that too away.

Heil Mein nein nein nein nein nein nein. Under no circumstances should we even consider keeping Downing. Offload him this winter to the first bidder ffs.

It's amazing how much an early goal can do for us. Think we've won our last 3 games in a row where we've scored in the first half hour.

Oh, and sick of people saying this was only a good display because Fulham played poorly. We made them play that bad. We were all over them. We defended brilliantly and attacked as a team. Amazing performance with a scoreline that should be a confidence booster after what happened against Villa.

ynwa wrote:It's amazing how much an early goal can do for us. Think we've won our last 3 games in a row where we've scored in the first half hour.

Oh, and sick of people saying this was only a good display because Fulham played poorly. We made them play that bad. We were all over them. We defended brilliantly and attacked as a team. Amazing performance with a scoreline that should be a confidence booster after what happened against Villa.

Phewww atleast someone voices with me . . . CHEERS MATE

Nishank wrote:Now the question arises, Bench Allen?
Ill be honest but the moment Fulham got the ball, I could spot so many gaps in the LFC midfield and defense. So very confused on this one.

I would against Stoke as I don't think he can compete physically against them. But after that I'll slot him straight back in.

Fahim89 wrote:Phewww atleast someone voices with me . . . CHEERS MATE

You and I agree on a lot of things. =P

ynwa wrote:It's amazing how much an early goal can do for us. Think we've won our last 3 games in a row where we've scored in the first half hour.

Oh, and sick of people saying this was only a good display because Fulham played poorly. We made them play that bad. We were all over them. We defended brilliantly and attacked as a team. Amazing performance with a scoreline that should be a confidence booster after what happened against Villa.

I agree wholeheartedly. I keep talking about waiting for a game where attacking and defending put it together, and we see a good game from both halves of the team. Well... this was it! Finishing was good, chance creation was there as always, with lots of clear-cut and half chances that we missed alongside the four goals. Defense was incredible, they didn't really have a real chance all game, except maybe the header that Rodallega missed and one Berbatov shot? We disrupted their game and our offense made them pay for trying to sit back. Great game all around, every player did their part and it got put together well. A performance like that would've beat any team in the league.

Stevieg add to that the fact that the refs weren't sticking anything up our arses as well, so indeed it was a perfect performance.

I've been looking for this for ages. Finally found it. Anyone else notice the drug deal caught on camera during this game.