View from Liverpool: Before/During/After the game

[terryr]

Enjoy

Before the game

" Line up as expected and strong"

" Strong team come on and murder them, Spurs still 1 up"

" All out attack to get the three points."

" Some good results for us this weekend, let's knock in a few more and sort out the goal difference."

" Over to us now..weekend results have been in our favour, a win here will psychologically impact Wednesdays game against Spuds..
Nothing but a must win here..
I've gone for a 3-0.."

" Just need the lads to go out and do a professional job on this lot. They didn't throw in the towel after going 2-0 down early doors at City so i don't think it'll be a walk in the park, particularly if they've got some fans in the ground again"

" Great opportunity for us to move ahead. Let's just do it.
3 points by any means.
3 nil would be nice though.
Give the ball to Bob and he will score. Hat trick Bobby Firminho"

Kick off

" Bright start for Fulham"

" Fulham
Looking up for this......."

" Passing is off and we should be 1 down already"

" Wow we are getting torn apart here"

" We need to take control and get an early goal.
Knock the f**king wind out of their sales and shut the fuckers up"

" Fans in makes a big difference, best I've seen Fulham play all season!"

" They're good. We need a goal now."

" Dreadful start"

" Wow we look like the dead rubber in midweek is around our necks"

" This is almost a carbon copy of the Villa game so far"

" F**k sake don't say that, never want to relive that nightmare again"

" Hoof ball down the middle from Fulham and it's been effective so far."

Penalty VAR shout

[/b]

" This will be a penalty"

" Actually he got the ball"

" Hahahahaha they're giving this"

" They're 100% going to give it"

" F***ing VAR ruining the game again."

" No way that's a pen."

" this is absolutely bullpoo. For f**k's sake, stop ruining the game."

" No pen, good"

" F***ing hell. Some sanity at last"

" How long did that take....4 minutes??"

" A REF WITH A BIT OF COMMON SENSE"

" If that's a pen the game is dead."

" Need to use that stoppage as a reset because at the moment it's just a matter of time before we concede"

" Surprised we got one in our favor.
He got the ball in my eyes but after 4 minutes reviewing it thought they were going to give it."

" Thank f**k, if we had to have a ref on the pitch, I think this guy is one of the best of a bad bunch."

" I bet they were pleading with him in the VAR room over the mic to give it."

" I'm looking forward to us going 1-0 completely against the run of play"

" F***ing all over us"

" Lookman causing us all kinds of sh*t"

" We just have zero dynamism."

"They have too many bodies in the midfield, and we are struggling to cope with it."

" Just got to ride this and they will lose self belief"

" They're bullying us and we're letting them do it!"

" We are just giving the ball away constantly - painful to watch"

" These are a big team with athletes all over the park. If you dont try and match them then this can happen.
Need to get to half time to be honest level."

" We're getting f**king battered !"

The Mighty Whites Score!

[/b]

" Ffs it was coming"

"Thats a push on Salah surely"

" That was coming"

" Worst I've seen us play since Villa"

" Salah just summed our performance up.
Soft and sh*te. Get a grip man!!"

" There was a clear foul on Mo there."

" No it wasn't. Just Salah being a soft tw*t, needs to do better there when we're up against it"

" Totally deserved. Abysmal so far.."

" Sold like a wwe wrestler. Toughen up and understand what this game entails.
These are big and strong. Toughen up and match them, then beat them."

" Yea on the replay it wasn't, Mo could have been stronger and got us out of danger but decided to play act which cost us."

" Deserved for them."

" Klopp going mental"

" As deserved as that was - since when is a two-handed push in someone's back allowed? Complete and utter lack of consistency."

" well deserved we have been woeful Gini the worst by far"

" What the f**k is happening???"

" I'm not saying the goal should have been chalked out for the "push" on Salah, but you can guarantee it would have been if we'd done the same up the other end."

" Aggression missing in everything we are doing.
Got to compete. This is a sad performance of long balls and shitting ourselves."

" I cant blame the defence nor the keeper. They have defended well as long as they could against their attack after attack. our front three havent had any service. Its our midfield which is letting us down."

" Completely deserved goal. Fulham have been by far the better team.
Not for the first time recently we look very disjointed and poor.
Unrelated but I still don't know we played such a strong team on Wednesday. The players look like they need a rest and that was an ideal opportunity."

" Would love to be a fly on the wall in the locker room at half time. Klopp is going to beat them the f**k up.
Get a lucky equalizer before half time and let's regroup."

" Can't say that goal wasn't coming.
Looking sloppy.
Fulham though are playing very well.  Look like a team who didn't have to go to Denmark in midweek."

" We simply can't go 2 down, please"

" Kamikaze defending"

" They're all over us, I can't believe how sh*te we are"

" 7-0 on the way at this rate"

" Jürgen's got his work cut out at half time to sort this total mess out! There again, that's why we pay him a huge salary!"

" We can't play a single forward pass!! This is mental."

"  not panicking yet, they cant maintain this high pressure game in midfield for the whole 90. they dont have the stamina for it."

" Can't believe what I'm seeing. Looman and Reid are making us look like a pub team."

" They're moving around faster than us. That's the problem."

" Making Fulham look like Barca"

" We beat Barca at least."

" Floundering like a tug boat in a whirlpool"

" Two good chances wasted"

" Thank f**k that first half is over ,surely we can't be any worse second half,really need to get stuck in second half if we are to get anything from this."

" Embarrassing dive from Firmino there."

"Well first half was utter Tosh. Fulham far superior.
We look so poor it's unreal.
Bring back heavy metal football!"

" We dont want to be crossing with to much height. They all 6ft plus. And we have to improve our passing. Accuracy and pace ffs.
They winning every ball hoofed down field as they again are well over six foot where it's targeted.
Fab as DM would be good, as his forward passing is more positive.
Gotta raise it second half that's for sure !
Come on you red men."

" Sometimes the opposition are on it when you're not quite on it.
It's football, that's how it goes sometimes.
Parker has done his homework, and prepared them well to cut our passing lanes, and press the right areas at the right time.
The little ball over the top of the FB has caused us problems on both sides.
I'd expect a few positional tweaks for the 2nd half, but nothing major."

Second half

[/b]

" They almost got another there"

" Back injury for Matip f**king hell"

" Sore back for Matip. What a delicate flower he is. Out for weeks most likely."

" Much better. There's every chance of getting back."

" Matip suffering with back pain.
In other news, water is wet."

" All the possession now but not a bit of threat really"

" Playing better but still not enough of a goal threat. Wish Mo would cut out those stupid dinks over the top that never work."

" Big miss"

" Hendo put your laces through it!"

" F**k knows why he's side footing it at the near post"

" shocking miss"

" It's not happening.
We ain't gonna score today.
3 massive points dropped considering other results the weekend."

" Mo completely anonymous second half."

" Forgot that Lookman was actually Messi in disguise"

" what is happening..pathetic"

" Trent is off. Another one bites the dust. What a shambles"

" I hate to criticise Jürgen but that midweek game looks like it's going to cost us, both points and injuries! Madness!"

" This is simply a case of a team with less talent wanting it more.
We're not at the races. Maybe we thought we could simply turn up and it would be 3 points in the bag.
P*ss poor."

" I really hate that f**king fake stadium noise, annoying as hell it is"

" Injuries. No energy. No bench options. No form."

Penalty

[/b]

" Penalty!!!!

"Deffo pen"

" The way the game is going wouldn't surprise me if this penalty is missed."

"  F***ing get in mo,"

" MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

" F**k sake that was close..."

" Go for the 3points reds"

" A bit of luck, terrible penalty."

" That was the only way we were going to score but can see Fulham panicking a bit now"

" would fuming if that was given against us but take it to escape with a barely deserved point"

" If we sneak a win here it would be tough of Fulham. They are much the better team."

" They are, but it's happened to us plenty of times!"

"There's no sentiment in football so I want the 3 points.

" Salah off is mental
Proper mental"

" It's coming... Divock"

" 4 extra minutes"

" Stop. Lumping. The . Ball. In. The. Box."

" Nah this ain't happening"

Final whistle

[/b]

" we have been aweful but it doesnt cancel the fact that Fulham have played brilliant."

" Take the point and learn some valuable lessons here.

"Sh*t result this.. opportunity  lost."

" Very fortunate point"

" Thank God thats over. We  were bad were bad"

" well done to Fulham. They deserved the 3 points, so any point for liverpool in this game is bonus. The injuries are starting to make their marks on our season. Learn from this and go on."

" There's an attitude thing going on, they think they just need to turn up as World Champions and win, well it doesn't work like that. Plus there's a bit of dis-content in the camp,"

" Much better in the second half but make no mistake we were lucky to get outa dodge with a point today but with another injury to contend with and a pretty awful performance all round we came off worse today & it gives Jürgen plenty to think about over the chrimbo period & January were he really does need to look at finding  a CB
Ali motm by a mile"

" Bad day at the office a point was a bonus could have very easily came out with nothing.  We were just not good enough as a team and Fulham were brilliant."

" Should be about 8 points clear at the top of this league by now.
Thrown some daft points away.
But also think we can probably count ourselves lucky that we took a point.
Minamino's not great is he.  Not a great option off the bench for any situation really.  Not enough bite for midfield and not enough magic for up front."

" You have a squad with players who all want to play every game. so you have less meaningfull games where you rotate players. No one knew Jota was going to get injured nor did we know we were going to draw against Fulham. Its easier to say "told you so" in hindsight."

" Onwards and upwards.
Jürgen will use this as a rattle of how NOT to start a game.
Let's not get down about this red folk, it's a blip, nothing more."

" We can't win the league by March every year chaps"

" Lucky to get a draw there. Dire first half hour, they totally outplayed us. Second half was better but still not great. Gave MOTM to Jones, although could have been Alisson.
WTF was Lee Mason doing trying to get the ref to change his mind over that first half tackle in the box by Fab? 3 minutes of watching a good tackle over and over and then suggesting to the ref he might overturn it. Shady as f**k. Would almost certainly have cost us a point as well."

" Fulham should of had a penalty...so it could have been a lot worse"

" Think we need to give big credit to Fulham thought they were excellent for large parts of the game, and with some better attacking play could have easily finished us off.
Hope they stay up along with Leeds."

" Shocking game but its not the first. Dropped points at Brighton and now Fulham. Big game sgainst Spurs bur even if we beat them it will count for nothing if we slip up at Palace its going to be a long season"

" We will tw*t spurs. Game by game, it's hot and cold. Fulham were great today and we were not, they bullied us and we tried in the second half to play our game. keep possitive lads and lasses"

" Think we were lucky.
Would've been annoyed if that was a penalty against us."

" Exactly 7 days ago we absolutely battered Wolves with a classy and polished performance. 7 f**king days ago and some of you lot are spouting absolute bollocks as if we were in a relegation battle ffs! Wind your necks in some of you, were second against all odds the unprecedented injury crisis, the heavy spending Chelsea and a City side who have supposedly mended their ways and corrected their defensive issues spending a whopping 100m in the process on 2 defenders. Yet all are behind us and yes we haven't consistently played our best football this season but we've played like champions and found a way to come out on top. A draw against a side already fighting for their life in turgid conditions amidst a heavy fixture list isn't a crisis ffs."

" Could be worse .. we could be Arsenal.,"

[Fulham1959]

I suspect all football message-boards would display similar comments and attitudes.

[Somerset Fulham]

I love reading these, cheers Terry.

I'm aso surprised by this, and in a pleasant way. I thought the Micky Mousers would have taken that badly, but fair play to a lot of them who acknowledged our performance.

[Whitesideup]

Yes. I thought they mostly and very fairly acknowledged that it wasn't just their team playing poorly, which is the normal reaction. Slightly different view of the penalty shout, but only to be expected. (Suggest they listen to Souness.) Interesting though they seem to think they are often victims of poor decisions. No doubt there's been one or two, but in general they benefit. As they did against us.

The bit about the artificial stadium noise - either a) they can switch it off, or b) they mistook our 2000 supporters for canned noise.

[ScalleysDad]

Thanks Terry. It's good to see we are getting some genuine praise these days.

[Craven Mad]

Thanks for this - genuinely interesting read, so thanks for taking the time to pull this together.

[Twig]

Thanks Terry as always.  To be fair to the 'Pool fans they were pretty complimentary to us and magnanimous after the game.

[BarryP]

Thanks Terry, I enjoyed the read!

[alfie]

I can never understand when a replay is shown several times that Cav's foot was taken before the ball, they still saying never a penalty.

[The Rock]

One more thanks - I do enjoy reading these. When we win or draw at at least!

[General]

I have to admit, having watched the game, I was suprised to see all of Klopps post match comments so bitter and lacking in acknowledgment of the fact that we actually simply outplayed them. Yes they've injuries, most notably to Van Dijk, but a lot of that team that played against us (mane, Salah, Firminho for example) were key players and starters for them last season when they won the season at a canter. Wondering if they did so well last season and in winning the title for the first time in so long, they may have had so much hype around the team and Klopp that he's become more authoritarian.. a fascinating thing to see. I always had him down as a much more measured individual. We outplayed them for the first half. We should've scored more.

Had we had one or two better strikers/attacking players we probably would've. As their fans suggested, and many media have in their match reviews, we did do very well and this is the one time we simply deserve credit. I also noticed in Klopps post match comments he did say that he thought we'd changed our tactics compared to our usual game, which may have caught him off guard and confused/annoyed him a bit. He did though say we stopped playing along the ground, but there's highlights to suggest we did play it through the middle and on the ground - we just mixed it up a lot more.

[Sgt Fulham]

Like others I am surprised by this. Some very classy comments throughout. I have had a lot of respect for the Liverpool team over the past few years and have adopted them as a sort of second team as one of my closest friends is a Liverpool fan so I watch them frequently. I was aware they have a very dedicated fan base but classy and magnanimous didn't come to mind. Pleasantly surprised, most of all by their frustration with Salah's theatrics.