LIVERPOOL 4 FULHAM 0
Liverpool: Amorebieta 23’ (og), Skrtel 26’, Suarez 36’, 54’
English football correspondent
LIVERPOOL // Since Shahid Khan bought Fulham in the summer, the scenery at Craven Cottage has already been subject to significant change. One figurehead has already been removed, with the statue of Michael Jackson unceremoniously binned. Another’s future is under threat, too, as Martin Jol’s problems mounted. The king of Craven Cottage may go the same way as “the King of Pop”.
A fourth successive defeat was compounded by Fulham’s haplessness. They were beaten inside 36 minutes, defended disastrously and displayed little of the fight a side in their plight requires.
The Dutchman’s position has been the subject of speculation for weeks. It would be no surprise if the American owner acts in the international break. From a Fulham perspective, this was embarrassing.
Yet complicit as the Londoners were in their downfall, Liverpool merited a comprehensive win that took them second. The statistics, showing 32 shots from, and 68 per cent possession for, them were an indication of their excellence and an indictment of Fulham’s impotence.
Liverpool have been an awesome attacking proposition since Luis Suarez returned from suspension. The Uruguayan’s brace took his tally to six goals in his last three games at Anfield.
Aided and abetted by Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard, who was involved in all four goals, he ran Fulham ragged.
“We played very well,” manager Brendan Rodgers said. “Our appetite for the game was outstanding.”
The same could not be said for Fulham. Jol branded the defending for the first two goals “unacceptable” but remained defiant about his position. Now Fulham are embroiled in a relegation struggle, he argued, they need him more than ever.
“You have to be an expert if you are in the bottom four of five to keep teams up and I don’t think there are a lot of experts,” he said.
There was precious little expertise on display from the visitors yesterday. Their attempts to defend set pieces were particularly damning. For the opener, Gerrard’s free kick flicked off the head of Suarez but the telling touch came from Fernando Amorebieta, who deflected it in with his arm. After the ignominy of scoring an own goal, the Venezuela international’s afternoon got worse.
He was detailed to mark Martin Skrtel at from Gerrard’s corner. Instead, the Slovakian headed in an emphatic second three minutes later. “To concede two goals like that is disappointing,” said Jol, in an understatement.
Indeed, Amorebieta proved a dreadful deputy for Fulham’s injured captain Brede Hangeland. After his inadequacies in the air were exposed twice, he found the slippery Suarez altogether too elusive to track for the third goal.
It was a classy passing move. Jordan Henderson slid an inch-perfect pass into Suarez’s path and striker angled his shot across Maarten Stekelenburg. Suarez’s second came after Gerrard picked Kieran Richardson’s pocket and provided a defence-splitting pass.
Before and afterwards, Stekelenburg was superb; a double save from Suarez and Sturridge and a flying effort to tip Coutinho’s half-volley over were especially impressive. He could save shots, but saving Jol may be rather harder.
sports@thenational.ae
