Early setbacks from conceding goals and a red card made it really difficult for Liverpool against Fulham, but quality and fight showed that somehow we managed a 2-2 draw.

Liverpool – Fulham 2-2

Premier League (15) | Anfield
December 14, 2024

Goals: Gakpo 47′, Jota 85′; Pereira 11′, Muniz 76′

Red card: Robertson 17′

---

Alisson – 7 (out of 10)

A routine save early on and then beaten by a deflection from close range. When we were under pressure we did a few big air strikes to make sure things didn’t get any worse.

He suffered a serious hit to the head on Fulham’s second goal. Important stop with his feet late from Traore.

Trent Alexander Arnold – 4

As expected, a few nice changes, but nothing dramatic in the first half, and in truth, after the red card and the change of system, we probably just needed restraint and a straight line from him.

His set-pieces weren’t great in the first half – often out of play or out of the group – and far too often he was caught out by runs behind and unable to follow up on second balls. With only ten men we could not afford such casual positional work and it was almost costly on more than one occasion.

Got yelled at several times by Virgil van Dijk, and rightly so, for being so careless. Nothing changed because Trent was far too easily overtaken, never got into position and the second Fulham goal fell to him, assisted by the man who had run away from him. A shock.

Joe Gomez – 8

He wasn’t too involved in the early stages and was moved to the right after the red card, but the Reds were so disorganized in the first half that he sometimes lined up at left-back – and made a fantastic mistake while blocking. After a possible change, he ended up there as a left-back.

He made constant runs down the left and deserves a lot of credit for that, one of which definitely could have won a penalty when Tete took him out. Own goal when he tried to block a cross, very unfortunate.

Virgil van Dijk – 8

He was able to clear a shot on goal, but this only resulted in Robertson receiving a red card. After the reshuffle, he had to be really diligent about tracking runs and organizing the people around him, and he seemed very confident as a result.

Death glares weren’t enough for Trent, so screaming had to do, but he also managed the necessary headers himself and got in the way of low crosses.

Andy Robertson – 3rd

Made an early attack forward that should have ended in a red card for Diop, needed treatment and was then completely overwhelmed at the back post by Pereira, who scored off a deflection from Robertson.

It was a tiring and not very good start for him, but he needn’t have worried, he only had six minutes left – a miscontrol and a shocking challenge resulted in a straight red card for being the last man standing.

Another dismal game – or 16 minutes – for our left-back.

Ryan Gravenberch – 8 (Man of the Match)

Another terrible early tackle went against the Dutchman’s Achilles tendon, but fortunately he was able to carry on. After Robertson’s red, he surprisingly became a centre-back, or some version of it – at times he was almost a sweeper, playing deep and then to the left of the three and finally just as a centre-back alongside Van Dijk.

He twice won key tackles when Fulham would have been there, including once when he appeared to slip earlier. I can’t fault his performance and a cut-out after an hour was sensational, just six meters from goal. Back in midfield for the last 20.

Curtis Jones – 7

Caught a short back pass at the start, but couldn’t get any reward from it. Had a big role in the center to help stay in shape and pass the ball when we were behind. Not too many standout moments, but disciplined and consistent. He suffered a severe blow to his ankle and was unable to continue – hopefully nothing serious.

Dominik Szoboszlai – 7

A game in which Szoboszlai needed to shine as an attacking force, but the red card reshuffle essentially killed any chance of that as he found himself paired with Jones in the middle – not the most natural defensive pairing.

Nevertheless, he brought a few nice balls into the penalty area and gave Salah a chance for a lightning counterattack.

Mohamed Salah – 7

The game started calmly but soon got the better of Robinson and then decided to beat him at every opportunity, dribbling into the penalty area three times in a row to give the team moments.

He started the second half by sending a cross at the far post with full force for Gakpo’s equaliser, but then missed the target when Szoboszlai sent him through. Had a few half-hits where he couldn’t get any clean shots after that.

Luis Diaz – 7

Given Nunez’s recent appearances, it was no real surprise that he started at centre-forward, but was booked early for an attempted overhead kick. Tried to force his way into the box and dribble at every opportunity and was a good escape on the left at times.

A header flew over the goal from a good position before half-time, and a shot was blocked late on. More hard work than inspiration, but lots of hard work and effort.

Cody Gakpo – 7

In the early stages he showed some strong dribbling and good balls, but was then forced into relief duties as an effective left full-back or sometimes as a direct full-back, depending on the state of the game.

From then on he worked diligently on counter-attacks when necessary – he even ended up as the sole centre-back against one – but still had the main task of making up numbers in attack, from where he scored a brilliant diving header to equalise.

Substitute

Jarell Quansah (for Jones, 69′) – 5 – Couldn’t block the cross, which made it 2-1, and gave away a corner for no reason.

Darwin Nunez (for Gakpo, 69′) – 7 – A few canal runs, but no immediate threat. Can you scrape off a header? He did it. Then he set up Jota to make it 2-2.

Harvey Elliott (for Szoboszlai, 78′) – 7 – Bent a ball just past the post and took a free kick well.

Diogo Jota (for Alexander-Arnold, 78′) – 8 – Welcome back, to the field and the score sheet! Great serenity. Had two more openings that he made himself.

Substitutes not used: Kelleher, Endo, Morton, Nyoni, Chiesa

Arne Slot – 8

I’m not sure if we over-prepared the false back three in training, but after a few confusing minutes the team settled in nicely, in fairness, so the coaching team deserve praise for, if not outright, the clarity of the message Foresight on the training field.

From this point on it will be interesting to see how they continue to juggle the defensive line for a midweek cup game.

Anyway, most managers would respond to a red card by substituting a player, especially for a defender, but I have to give credit to Slot for trying something different; It took a few rotations and testing positions, but the Reds found a groove again and dominated possession and territory for the most part from that point on, even if they were down a man.

In the end we had almost a “normal” back four, albeit in terms of personnel and position, before we dropped back to a back three towards the end when we were hoping for the second goal.

It’s hard to make too much of the subs; Too many are just getting fit again, there are no senior options in defense and the running required for a full game with ten men meant some changes were evident.

Later, goals were gambled for and a reward was collected.