Continuing the series
where I look back at my five favourite wins the Liverpool’s next
opponents. Midweek fixtures this week
sees Liverpool travel to Craven Cottage to meet Fulham and here are my five
favourite wins from past encounters.
There have not really
been enough meetings in the League to make up a Famous Five, so this just
covers three of my favourite wins.
16th October
2004
FULHAM (2) 2 (Boa Morte 24,
30)
LIVERPOOL (0) 4 (Knight
og 50, Baros 71,
Alonso 79, Biscan 90)
FULHAM: van der Sar; Volz, Bocanegra, Green, Knight; Pembridge,
Diop, Malbranque; Radzinski (John), McBride, Boa Morte
LIVERPOOL: Kirkland; Josemi, Hyypia, Carragher, Traore; Garcia
(Warnock), Hamann, Diao (Alonso), Riise; Baros (Biscan) Cisse
Two months into Rafa
Benitez new regime at Liverpool and they were still waiting for their first
away win. In fact, they’d lost their
last three on the road and so were desperate to get things up and running. Fulham were down in 12th having won
just twice all season, but were on a run 1 win in their last 6.
Midway through the first
half and Pembridge’s pass into the area found McBride in some space and his
ball across the goal was turned in by Luis Boa Morte. Barely six minutes later and Fulham were
again on the attack as Boa Morte was played in and his low shot beat Kirkland
at his near post. Fulham were rampant
and went in at the break still 2 goals up.
But as we were soon to
discover, Benitez had the knack of changing things at half-time and Liverpool
came out a different side in the second half.
Baros shot from 30 yards out was deflected sharply by Zat Knight and it
looped over van der Sar for a goal back.
With 20 minutes to go Xabi Alonso on the left-wing floated a ball
right-footed into the area where Luis Garcia’s header was saved by the Fulham
keeper. The ball bounced back out and
Milan Baros was first to it to bundle it over the line for the equaliser. Eight minutes later and Liverpool had a
free-kick just outside the area. Xabi
Alonso took it and the Spaniard gave Liverpool fans a glimpse of what they
would become used to as he floated a superb free-kick over the wall and past
van der Sar.
The comeback was complete
as the visitors were now in front and as the game reached the end, and the home
side pushing men up, Liverpool came forward to finish things off. Warnock played a square ball to Biscan on the
edge of the area and his first time shot fired into the top corner to complete
a fine win from a losing position.
Liverpool finished 5th
in the League and won their 5th European Cup with a famous victory
over Milan in Istanbul. Fulham finished
13th.
9th May 2011
FULHAM (0) 2 (Dembele 57, Sidwell 86)
LIVERPOOL (3) 5 (Maxi 1, 7, 70, Kuyt 16, Suarez 75)
FULHAM: Schwarzer; Salcido, Hughes, Baird, Hangeland; Sidwell,
Murphy, Dempsey, Davies (Zamora); Gudjohnsen (Johnson), Dembele (Kakuta)
LIVERPOOL: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Flanagan; Spearing,
Meireles (Shelvey), Lucas, Maxi (Cole); Kuyt, Suarez
Five months into Kenny
Dalglish’s 2nd reign as manager and Liverpool were in good
form. Wins over Manchester City (3-0),
Birmingham (5-0) and Newcastle (3-0) had seen them rise from 12th at
Christmas to 6th coming into this match. Fulham were 10th, although 10pts
behind their opponents on this night.
Just over 25,000 watched
Liverpool, on a warm early summer Monday night, make a stunning start. Fulham kicked off and played a long ball
forward which Flanagan cut out and eventually the ball fell to Lucas midway
through inside his own half. With Suarez
on the left wing, Lucas threads a perfectly weighted ball beyond the Fulham
defence and Suarez was away. He gets all
the way to the edge of the 6-yard box and plays the ball across the area where
Fulham make a real hash of defending it. The ball runs free to Maxi Rodriguez
who fires a low shot into the net.
Barely 30 seconds into the game and it was a dream start.
Fulham had hardly a
chance to find their feet when Johnson was put away down the right and his
cross to the far post was fired in by Maxi for his 2nd goal. Seven minutes into the game and Liverpool
lead 2-0. Ten minutes later and Maxi was
again involved in a sweeping move from left to right, where Meireles found
Kuyt. His progress was halted but
Johnson was first to the ball and he played Kuyt back in and from a tight-angle
Kuyt beats Schwarzer on the near post.
Sixteen minutes gone and now they were 3 goals up and the game was
gone. The home side, then managed by
Mark Hughes, were stunned and never recovered.
During the second half,
which predictably lacked the intensity of the first, Fulham got a goal back
after a slick passing move saw Dembele slide the ball in from the edge of the
area, but the celebrations were muted.
With 20 minutes to go, the visitors restored their 3-goal advantage as
Flanagan intercepted a crossfield pass and set off. He tried to play a one-two with Maxi, but
when the Argentinian’s return pass was blocked, Maxi took the ball on himself
and from 25 yards hit a screamer into the top right corner of the net to
complete his hat-trick. He’d scored a
hat-trick in the Birmingham game and grabbed a goal in the win against
Newcastle, and to everyone’s amazement the Argentine had finally come
alive. But Liverpool weren’t finished as
they stole the ball in midfield and Shelvey surged forward. He played a lovely through-ball for Suarez to
round the keeper and slip the ball home for Liverpool’s 5th.
Sidwell hit a real
screamer from outside the area to get another consolation goal but Liverpool
were comfortable winners. They finished
the season in 6th with Fulham just two places below them.
12th May 2013
FULHAM (1) 1 (Berbatov 33)
LIVERPOOL (1) 3 (Sturridge 36,
62, 85)
FULHAM: Schwarzer; Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Richardson
(Emanuelson); Duff, Karagounis (Riise), Enoh, Kacaniklic (Petric); Ruiz,
Berbatov
LIVERPOOL: Reina; Wisdom (Enrique), Coates, Carragher; Johnson,
Henderson, Lucas; Shelvey (Borini), Downing; Coutinho (Coady), Sturridge
The penultimate game of
the season for both these sides and Liverpool were sitting in 7th
with Fulham down in 12th.
Since beating QPR at the beginning of April, Fulham had suffered an
alarming drop in form with no win in their last 6 and picking up just 1pt. Liverpool were unbeaten in their last 6 and
this was their 3rd game without Luis Suarez, but they had coped well
since his ban with a 6-0 win at Newcastle.
Fulham took the lead when
Berbatov headed in a right-wing cross from Riether after 33 minutes. It was a poor goal to concede as Berbatov was
unchallenged despite standing between Wisdom and Coates. But Liverpool were soon back level when
Daniel Sturridge ran onto a ball from the back by Wisdom. He twisted and turned, giving Aaron Hughes a
torrid time, and then fired right-footed past Schwarzer. The two sides were still level going into the
break.
In the second half it was
Liverpool who looked the more likely to score next but it took until the 62nd
minute for them to take the lead.
Another long ball forward which Fulham again struggled to defend and
Coutinho’s shot was half-stopped and the ball ran to Sturridge where the
striker made no mistake as he slipped the ball past Schwarzer for his 2nd.
Then with just 5 minutes
to go Liverpool completed the victory when they counter-attacked again with a
precision and incisiveness we’ve come accustomed to this season. Coutinho was inevitably involved as he
continued to pull the strings in midfield.
From the centre circle he played a beautiful ball with the outside of
his right foot for Sturridge to run onto, and he got there before Schwarzer and
clipped the ball over the keeper for a wonderful hat-trick. It was Sturridge’s 5th goal in the
3 matches since Suarez was banned and Liverpool were finishing the season on a
high enabling them to go into the following one with great optimism.
HEAD TO HEAD at Craven Cottage/Loftus Road
Matches: 28
Liverpool win: 13
Fulham win: 9
Draws: 6
Liverpool goals: 43
Fulham goals: 36
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