Liverpool travelled south to face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday (January 4), hoping to earn all three points and solidify their position in the top four. What actually happened was one of the most dramatic games we’ve seen all season.
Harry Wilson haunted his old club with a lovely opening goal, latching on to a clever flick from veteran striker Raul Jimenez, driving into Liverpool’s box and cooly finishing beyond Alisson.
Arne Slot’s side dominated from there on out, hitting the woodwork twice, although one doesn’t count because Cody Gakpo was offside, before Florian Wirtz stepped up to score his second Premier League goal. VAR deemed him to be juuuust onside.
Gakpo, starting up front with both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike out injured, thought he won it in the 94th minute with a scrappy finish, tearing his shirt off to go and celebrate with his teammates.
It wasn’t meant to be though. Three minutes later, Harrison Reed scored a goal of the season contender to break Liverpool hearts and earn a memorable three points for his side.
The real Wirtz?
It’s taken over six months, but Wirtz is starting to show why Liverpool were willing to break the British transfer record to bring him to Anfield. Two Premier League goals over his last three games is a solid return, could it be because Mohamed Salah isn’t in the side?
Playing in the number ten with Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai beside him, doing some of the dirty work, Wirtz has been allowed to focus on his attacking play. He made eight passes into the final third, seven touches in the opposition box, and two total shots.
Yeah, it wasn’t an incredible performance, but not all of them are going to be. What matters most is that he’s putting the ball in the back of the net and creating chances, which is what he was signed to do.
Conor Bradley is Liverpool’s best right back
The academy product has been in and out of the side this season. Slot has tried almost everything in his mission to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, including playing Szoboszlai at right back, to varying degrees of success.
We don’t need to get into all of the issues around Liverpool’s right side and whether they are better with or without Salah and his lack of defensive input, but with Jeremie Frimpong struggling, Bradley looks like their best option.
Bradley was active up and down the pitch, making five passes into the final third, having two touches in the opposition box, seven clearances, and five recoveries. He was also the most fouled player, picking up three.
Not ‘mentality monsters’ anymore
Earlier in the season, Liverpool were the ones that went bump in the night, scoring late goals to get themselves over the line. As many predicated, it wasn’t sustainable, and the fall of this season compared to others has been significant.
No one could have accounted for Reed’s goal, it was an absolute belter, but before Gakpo scored in added time, Fulham were on the ascendency. It was a similar situation in the 3-3 draw with Leeds earlier in the season. They don’t have that fear factor anymore.
Still, this result isn’t as bad as it may look. Fulham are a good side on a good run of form, and it took an incredible goal for them to get something out of the game. Liverpool players shouldn’t be too disheartened, even if they did drop points.