Topic: Fulham 1-0 Liverpool: Full time

[conman]

I think we should get shot of him if we can, to be honest. He doesn't fit into our style of play, he isn't on the same wavelength as those around him and as you said, the team is suffering because of it.

It's the same situation Barca were in with Ibra, big striker, huge huge fee, didn't work out, got shot of early.

[JerseyKloppite]

I think we should get shot of him if we can, to be honest. He doesn't fit into our style of play, he isn't on the same wavelength as those around him and as you said, the team is suffering because of it.

I like Andy, and think he has a role at Liverpool, but that role should be as an OPTION. One of 3 strikers we can use depending on the circumstances. At the moment, he seems to be the default choice no matter how he does, and I agree, he doesn't fit into how Kenny wants to play, and I really don't see how he can.

[tommy LFC]

So the official site are running a story about how Kenny finds it so difficult to omit Maxi. Not sure what to make of that.

[keswick]

Kenny doesnt get much wrong but he picked the wrong team today. The Andy Carroll fee is an alabatros around the team's neck at the moment.

Otherwise, game turned on inces. Henderson hits the inside of the post when inches to the left its a goal, ref give a free kick inches away from the area, linesman dissalows a goal as Suarez is inches offside... Leaving aside whether they were good or bad calls, the refs saw it that way, and in all 3 moments we were just inches away from 2 goals and a pen.

Red card was a joke.

We've hit the woodwork 15 times this season in 17 games, league and cup. We've also missed 3 penalties.

Same shit, different season.

Picked the wrong team? Not sure about that!! Are you trying to say that the team he put out there where not good enough to dispose of Fulham, albeit a well drilled dogged Fulham? On another day, in a not 'indifferent' season and with better luck, we would and should have beaten them quite comfortably!

Its just not happening in front of goal this season....Its not as if we're not creating chances, especially Suarez, because quite clearly we are....The luck is just not there at the moment! The worrying thing is, I don't think that luck will be here all season....No matter who we have upfront!!!

[hesbighesred]

Laws of the Game only says that a pen is given if a foul is committed in the box - so far as I can see.  Nothing about fouls that start outside and end inside the box.

http://ar.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame_2011_12e.pdf

interesting, because the media were all over the 'if it continues into the box...' justification when Mash gave away that penalty against the Mancs.

Watch them keep silent about this one though...

[andyrol]

strongbow could be clouding my mind here but does anyone remember ian rush being fouled by viv anderson at old trafford in the late 80's ( before rushy had scored against them anyway) in the 'D' of the box and someone saying that a foul in the 'd' is a penalty!!! could be bollocks or something the commentator got wrong (likely). but the foul tonight was nearer the box than that long ago foul and i seem to remember nobody making a fuss about it being in or out cos it was in the D. and i know i always thought the D was for positioning at pens etc. as i say cider can fuck you up. maybe mr.friend had a lunchtime sesh.

[Matt8Pie]

It's the same situation Barca were in with Ibra, big striker, huge huge fee, didn't work out, got shot of early.

I just hope we don't hold off doing it for pride's sake. When he's featured it just reminds me of how Heskey has always been deployed as a team player but he's not really been contributing much. Carroll had 9 goals at this stage of the season last season playing for Newcastle so it's not his lack of ability, it just doesn't work for him here in the same way Torres doesn't work at Chelsea or as you say with Ibra at Barca though he's a world class player and still got a handful of goals - then again, I suppose it's not hard to in that team.

[jaffod]

Same shit, different season.

A lot of words have been written after last night's game but these 4 just about put it in a nutshell.

[tommy LFC]

I still think we should give carroll at least two years. He's still young and has played relatively little with the current players. And every team needs a plan B (yeah I know, expensive plan B and all that).

[conman]

Picked the wrong team? Not sure about that!! Are you trying to say that the team he put out there where not good enough to dispose of Fulham, albeit a well drilled dogged Fulham? On another day, in a not 'indifferent' season and with better luck, we would and should have beaten them quite comfortably!

Its just not happening in front of goal this season....Its not as if we're not creating chances, especially Suarez, because quite clearly we are....The luck is just not there at the moment! The worrying thing is, I don't think that luck will be here all season....No matter who we have upfront!!!

What are the strengths of Fulhams 2 centre backs?

[WhiteHeat]

We certainly weren't awful like some people are saying, but our level of performance was much lower than the Chelsea trips and City and away from home you usually need to be spot on to win unless it's Wigan or some other dross.

[Mutton Geoff]

Two things cost us the game Glen's piss poor defending and Pepe's fumble but if you all want to blame the usual whipping boys go right ahead losers!

[conman]

I just hope we don't hold off doing it for pride's sake. When he's featured it just reminds me of how Heskey has always been deployed as a team player but he's not really been contributing much. Carroll had 9 goals at this stage of the season last season playing for Newcastle so it's not his lack of ability, it just doesn't work for him here in the same way Torres doesn't work at Chelsea or as you say with Ibra at Barca though he's a world class player and still got a handful of goals - then again, I suppose it's not hard to in that team.

Well that's it really..

It comes down to Kenny.. Does he firmly believe Andy can fit into this system. If not, Will Pride be a tough pill to swallow to move him on?

I'd love Andy to fit in and start becoming fuckin ace.. It might yet happen, but we are really suffering now, and we need to start scoring goals. So, maybe he can stay and work his way into the side from the bench, but can we afford 35mil non starter?

[Kenny's Jacket]

All night we seemed less composed at the back than we have doen since Carra got injured.
Ref was bad, I know we've said it so many times this season but he was very poor. The Dempsey/Bellamy incident was a classic example.

The fucking woodwork again. Carroll missing easy chances again. Deja fucking Vu.
Henderson had a good game though. Pleaseed for him.

You do wonder whagt Maxi has to do to get in the team.

As for selling Carrolll as soem have suggested.
We're not Barcelona, we dont have that much money to throw away on mistakes so Kenny and the club will stick with him. Possibley to the detrement of the club as it was tonight.
We would get close to Fuck all for him. 10m maximum.

The only way out would to try and get Torres back for 15m or so.

[conman]

I still think we should give carroll at least two years. He's still young and has played relatively little with the current players. And every team needs a plan B (yeah I know, expensive plan B and all that).

I love the plan B idea, as Carroll is certainly a good player.
But plan A is suffering a hell of a lot in the interim.

[welshred1976]

Dempsey throws his head at Bellamy for about 5 seconds, should be a red card but it isn't. Bellamy does nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing but laugh and he gets booked for it.

this was a joke.

[conman]

Two things cost us the game Glen's piss poor defending and Pepe's fumble but if you all want to blame the usual whipping boys go right ahead losers!

That's why we conceded alright. But we surely should have scored too.

[tommy LFC]

I love the plan B idea, as Carroll is certainly a good player.
But plan A is suffering a hell of a lot in the interim.

Yep, Kenny is definitly at a crossroads now. Either commit everything to getting the best out of Carroll. This would at the very least need downing playing as an out an out winger, maybe Johnson too, with the midfield getting closer to him. Or commit to playing the small fast players. the time for trying to find a happy medium is over, we need a consistant team to deliver consistant results.

[buzzing]

In the words of Suarez "We lost a game that We deserved to win, I'm very upset with what happened tonight ... Cheer up everyone!
 "

[stststst]

Was at the game and jus watched the highlights and still think we deserved a win - despite hitting the post twice though I still think we're lacking up front and generally going forward, I think we need more or another (better) striker to partner Luis. I dont know about you lot but I personally wouldnt put Carroll in my 1st or 2nd best Liverpool team - he's just not fitting into things at the moment, I dont know what to put it down to (confidence? luck - missed pen at chelshit and mite of scored on another day tonight??) - we need to find a way or just play him in certain games.

You look at other teams and their attacking players:
-Silva, aguero, dzeko, johnson, nasri (fair enough City are a bit different)
-Rooney, hernandez, young, valencia, nani
-Bale, ade, defo, vdv, lennon, modric
-Drog, torres, sturridge, mata, malouda,
-Rvp, gerv, walcott, arsh, ramsey, even fucking song
-US: Luis, gerrard, bellamy, hendo, downing, kuyt, andy, maxi , few squad players in there as well

Dont know maybe im looking into things a bit too much and that train journey home gave me too much to think about - Just think we need more

[Dr Manhattan]

Two things cost us the game Glen's piss poor defending and Pepe's fumble but if you all want to blame the usual whipping boys go right ahead losers!

Proper funny fella this one. Always makes me laugh.

[andyrol]

not really into this conspiracy bollocks but theres no way any of man utd, chelsea, or arse would have had: a penalty turned down (twice),a player booked for being headbutted, a goal chalked off for offside that was very marginal and a man sent off for winning a tackle, in the same match.

[shelovesyou]

So the official site are running a story about how Kenny finds it so difficult to omit Maxi. Not sure what to make of that.

You don't have to make anything of it mate.

[conman]

Yep, Kenny is definitly at a crossroads now. Either commit everything to getting the best out of Carroll. This would at the very least need downing playing as an out an out winger, maybe Johnson too, with the midfield getting closer to him. Or commit to playing the small fast players. the time for trying to find a happy medium is over, we need a consistant team to deliver consistant results.

Carroll needs to start beefing up his game too, he is too soft this season for a bigman. Falls over too easily.

[Gainsbarre]

I like Glen, but a new right back should be on the cards... or give Kelly more games. New striker! New DM.. The rest is history now, bring QPR..

[dublinred101]

I like Glen, but a new right back should be on the cards... or give Kelly more games. New striker! New DM.. The rest is history now, bring QPR..

Hold on a minute. What the fuck. A new right back? What's all this about?

[keswick]

What are the strengths of Fulhams 2 centre backs?

Tall fuckers who can head a ball....Best chance of the match fell to Andy though....On another day he would have placed it either side of Goalie..It just ain't happening this season!!!

[Gojedo]

Such a fine line between winning or losing, rejoice and despair. That fine line between hitting the post and scoring and referee decisions that can affect a game and the outcome to some extent. There is also a fine line between an opinion on how well we performed based on the result of the match. If we had won would that be a sign of how good we are that we can play poorly and still win? Of course we lost but that result was only seperated by fine lines. Personally speaking I thought we played well. Well enough to win.

We certainly didn't deserve to lose but we did and this will always beggar the question as to why. The question that would not possibly be asked if that fine line had sided in our favour. If the ball had lined up more towards the inside of the posts. If Suarez was minutely on the right side of that off-side line. If the referee had decided Spearing had lined up that tackle with good timing. It's these little fine lines that can affect a result and lend us to question why we lost and possibly overreact when we were in fact the better side on the wrong side of the final outcome.

Even though we did lose the match I see a lot that we did right and a lot that we can look foward to throughout the remainder of the season. Some individual performances need to be analysed naturally but the team ethos seems to be strong enough to build a platform from that can see us perform better and more consistantly as the season wears on. With clubs such as Spurs and Man City strengthening, this season was always going to be a real battle, even for a top four finish. In regards to the bigger picture, on and off the pitch, our future looks a lot brighter than it did this time last season. I think we'll only get better as the season gets on.

[dublinred101]

Tall fuckers who can head a ball....Best chance of the match fell to Andy though....On another day he would have placed it either side of Goalie..It just ain't happening this season!!!

But when is that so called 'another day' mate, because he seemed to do the exact same thing against swansea?

[tommy LFC]

Carroll needs to start beefing up his game too, he is too soft this season for a bigman. Falls over too easily.

was actually talking about him falling over with a few mates during the match. It was said that he was trying to con the ref, that he was simply clumbsy but more than likely he is simply muscled off the ball. If so, then surely we should give him the time to beef up? I mean Charlie Adam looks much more athletic since he joined so maybe Carroll just needs more time in the gym. Might sound too simple but maybe...

[The Red artist.]

Two things cost us the game Glen's piss poor defending and Pepe's fumble but if you all want to blame the usual whipping boys go right ahead losers!

Nail on head there Geoffrey, it really is amazing the amount of idiots we have who call themselves supporters....divvies.

[Borninbethlehem]

I'm disappointed we didn't win, but not winning isn't the end of the world. Not winning is just exactly what it says on the tin i.e not winning. And as much as it frustrates to not win we need to look ahead to future wins. Wins that will help us get respected as a team again, wins which will help us get back into the elite again. Not winning against smaller teams is our Achilles heel, but I believe winning will breed winning which will again breed more winning confidence. The only problem is: we have to win. And that doesn't look like happening against small clubs.

[Sammy5IsAlive]

A lot of words have been written after last night's game but these 4 just about put it in a nutshell.

Completely disagree. In Rafa's early seasons we had games like that where you could see that the team was heading in the right direction but there would be frustrating results. In the end it came to fruition and we could easily have got another European Cup and a title the next season. In Rafa's last season things were clearly going in the wrong direction and that process was put into overdrive by Hodgson.

The team we have now is moving in the right direction but is still a long way from the finished article. For me that is streets away from the last two seasons when you could see the wheels coming off under both managers.

We are exactly where I would expect us to be under a new manager that knows what he is doing. Just as it was under Rafa, you can see the potential in the team and that they are trying to do the right things. Just as under Rafa it will take time to get right. And I believe that just as it was under Rafa, in the end things will start to come together and we will be a force to be reckoned with.

To say that things are the same as they were under Hodgson and to a lesser extent as they were in Rafa's last season and that it is 'same shit different season' is really lazy analysis in my opinion, and the same kind of thing that the Mancs come out with when they bang on about us always going on about how it is going to be 'our season this time'. This season won't be ours and I will be surprised if the next one is to be honest. But if we keep on improving as we have been so far under Kenny I believe that we will get there in the end. It just requires a little patience and perspective.

[conman]

Tall fuckers who can head a ball....Best chance of the match fell to Andy though....On another day he would have placed it either side of Goalie..It just ain't happening this season!!!

Might have been better to start quick players against the center backs, then bring Andy on when they are knackered.
Yea, Andy had 2 great opportunities..
* one he hit right at the goalie, but to be fair, it was still a decent effort.
* the other he fluffed.

I like Andy, but he needs to start manning up.

[Gainsbarre]

not really into this conspiracy bollocks but theres no way any of man utd, chelsea, or arse would have had: a penalty turned down (twice),a player booked for being headbutted, a goal chalked off for offside that was very marginal and a man sent off for winning a tackle, in the same match.

The offside was a close call, sometimes we have a goal from offside sometimes a regular goal is called offside. The tackle was League one level, you just dont do that.. both legs off the ground.. you can have a red, yellow or nothing.. Adam foul was outside the box... and why the fuck Adam didnt pass the ball to Bellamy? Suarez should have had a pen maybe from Sanderos..but was bit soft.. Dempsy could have had a red for what he's done but the many would have done just a yellow as Mr. Friend have done.. The ref was maybe bad, but far from what many try to portrait..

[bird_lfc]

Just got back from the game, fucking despise London public transport.

Was sitting in the Fulham end 'cos I got offered a free ticket. Got a few comments/questions on the game as I haven't turned on Sky Sports yet.

From where I was sitting, it looked like Spearing got the ball. Am I right? Also, was in no position to see whether it was offside or not but Luis finished it well. Again, how harsh was this decision? Officiating was fucking terrible across the board the whole game. Dempsey is one lucky boy.

Had some posh twat who was adamant he would rather have Ruiz in his team that 'that c*nt Suarez'. The Fulham faithful despised him, and I fucking love it. We need a player like him that gets under the oppositions skin.

We didn't play too badly but Fulham wern't great and we really should of taken advantage. Oh well, roll on the next game. And bed.

[conman]

was actually talking about him falling over with a few mates during the match. It was said that he was trying to con the ref, that he was simply clumbsy but more than likely he is simply muscled off the ball. If so, then surely we should give him the time to beef up? I mean Charlie Adam looks much more athletic since he joined so maybe Carroll just needs more time in the gym. Might sound too simple but maybe...

As far as i remember, that wasn't a characteristic of his game last season.
He was certainly much more bullish.. Did he get pushed off the ball at Newcastle all the time? I don't know..

[buzzing]

The offside was a close call, sometimes we have a goal from offside sometimes a regular goal is called offside. The tackle was League one level, you just dont do that.. both legs off the ground.. you can have a red, yellow or nothing.. Adam foul was outside the box... and why the fuck Adam didnt pass the ball to Bellamy? Suarez should have had a pen maybe from Sanderos..but was bit soft.. Dempsy could have had a red for what he's done but the many would have done just a yellow as Mr. Friend have done.. The ref was maybe bad, but far from what many try to portrait..

[Kenny's Jacket]

Completely disagree. In Rafa's early seasons we had games like that where you could see that the team was heading in the right direction but there would be frustrating results. In the end it came to fruition and we could easily have got another European Cup and a title the next season. In Rafa's last season things were clearly going in the wrong direction and that process was put into overdrive by Hodgson.

The team we have now is moving in the right direction but is still a long way from the finished article. For me that is streets away from the last two seasons when you could see the wheels coming off under both managers.

We are exactly where I would expect us to be under a new manager that knows what he is doing. Just as it was under Rafa, you can see the potential in the team and that they are trying to do the right things. Just as under Rafa it will take time to get right. And I believe that just as it was under Rafa, in the end things will start to come together and we will be a force to be reckoned with.

To say that things are the same as they were under Hodgson and to a lesser extent as they were in Rafa's last season and that it is 'same shit different season' is really lazy analysis in my opinion, and the same kind of thing that the Mancs come out with when they bang on about us always going on about how it is going to be 'our season this time'. This season won't be ours and I will be surprised if the next one is to be honest. But if we keep on improving as we have been so far under Kenny I believe that we will get there in the end. It just requires a little patience and perspective.

I dont disagree. Trouble is mate, the longer we wait for Champions League Football, the further behind we fall, and then we have even more cathing up to do.

[nicreynolds]

Two things cost us the game Glen's piss poor defending and Pepe's fumble but if you all want to blame the usual whipping boys go right ahead losers!

It isn't defensive problems that are costing us points this season tho is it? With the exception of the Spurs game where we had 9 men, no ones put more than one goal past us in both league and cup. If you are conceding, at a maximum, one goal per game your defense is doing its job. Hell we have the best back 5 in the league.