Anfield Red

Halloween has never been my favourite time of year. Scores of chipper children descending upon my house armed with macabre costumes and begging bowls? Not for me. But even that ghastly vision could not compare with events at Craven Cottage this weekend, as Liverpool put on a horror show of their own in a 3-1 collapse to Roy Hodgson’s Fulham.

In many ways it was the manner in which Rafa Benitez’s depleted side had so bossed their west London counterparts for the best part of an hour, before collapsing like a soggy house of cards in the final quarter, which gives Reds most cause for alarm. Liverpool were, as Benitez likes to say, “controlling the game” before each of Fulham’s first two goals, by the end of the game they were controlling little but their own demise.

Injuries and illness didn’t help, depriving Benitez of several first teamers – Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Alberto Aquilani, Daniel Agger & Fabio Aurelio amongst the most important – but the same could also be said for Fulham, who were minus skipper Danny Murphy and striker Andy Johnson, as well as midfielder Simon Davies. The fact that it was the hosts who handled their situation better is a damning indictment of Liverpool’s failings on their travels this season.

Liverpool will appeal the red cards shown to Jamie Carragher and Philip Degen; Rafael Benitez has confirmed.

Degen’s challenge was more worthy of a yellow than a red; but it was still a bit wreckless, whereas Carragher’s could be rescinded if the FA watch the replays and decide if firstly Zamora was offside; and the fact that Carra got his foot on the ball before Zamora went down.

Rafa Benitez clearly wasn’t happy about the red cards: For me, the first one with Degen was a yellow card, and with the second one it was clear that Carra was kicking the ball and not Zamora,” he added. “I watched the replay and it is clear.

“It was difficult to take but it was a good response from the nine players who worked hard, but always it’s very difficult to come back against 11 players.

Liverpool lost 3-1 at Craven Cottage to Fulham today as Carragher and Degen were both sent off.

Rafa went for a 442 with Voronin joining Torres upfront; while inexperienced was a word to describe the bench of Gulacsi, Dossena, Ayala, Spearing, Plessis, Eccleston and Babel.

Liverpool dominated the opening play, but went a goal behind when Zamora was allowed to walk into the box and tap in a cross from Duff. Benayoun smashed a shot against the bar, before Torres pounced on a ball that fell between defenders to rocket past Schwarzer.

Nevland scored Fulham’s second, then Degen was shown a straight red for a challenge that only warranted a yellow. Carragher was then sent off to compound the misery after he appeared to bring down Zamora, but the replay shows his right foot hitting the ball.

Clint Dempsey got the 3rd as he took advantage of the extra space left by the 2 sendings off. Liverpool dominated the first half, and the scoreline didn’t accurately depict the massive difference in possession. Rafa Benitez was disappointed after the game, saying: Always it’s hard to take any defeat but especially this one because we were in control of the game.

“I don’t know the percentage of possession we had but it was unbelievable to concede in the first half after controlling everything. They were more offensive in the second half and we made a massive mistake when we conceded the second goal. We then had two players sent-off.”

Liverpool had one eye on the Lyon game coming up next week, but even so the league still matters. Where we go from here I dont know, but we did have several players missing; perhaps theres a reason, it just seems strange that we can turn over Man Utd at Anfield then go to Fulham and get beat.

Bring on Lyon, and try to forget about today’s game.

No Gerrard? No problem. That was Liverpool’s mantra last weekend, when the club went toe-to-toe with Manchester United in quite possibly the most important clash of the campaign.

Even without Gerrard, Liverpool managed to play their best match of the year, utilizing Fernando Torres’ efforts to secure the three points. Benitez doesn’t enjoy playing matches without his skipper, but it looks like he’ll have to do it once again at Craven Cottage.

Both Gerrard and Glen Johnson have been ruled out for the against Fulham. Whilst it would appear to be a big blow on paper, the club seems to be doing just fine without him — so long as Torres is in the squad.

Kuyt, Voronin and Babel cost us Wednesday’s Carling Cup game against Arsenal. Plain and simple.

Why? Not one of them was good quality enough when it mattered. What I have been saying about Kuyt is, that without Gerrard and Torres he is exposed for what he really is: a workhorse with a poor first touch, and a player who needs five chances before he scores. Voronin was so poor I would never let him near a Red shirt again; and Babel well he has gone so far down hill, he needs to move on.

The rest played ok, but lets be honest here — we do not have the squad to win all competitions. We need to save are best players for the Premier League and Champions League matches. So the Mickey Mouse Cup is the last thing we need to worry about. Fulham then Lyon are far more important for you lot who say it’s a trophy to win. I say if that is all Rafa did win, you critics of Rafa would have said it was only the Mickey Mouse Cup.

In your eyes he would not win. With a bit of luck we could have won, but hey, that’s my opinion. I still think the top four should not be in this competition; the Champions League and Premier League come first. Hell, even the Fa Cup is better quality competition that the Carling Cup. What I’m trying to say is that we cannot afford to pick up injuries in silly cup competitions like the one on Wednesday. We don’t have the squad to back us up, as last night proved.

I know, I know; we don’t have any transfer funds. That seems to be the general consensus around the world when it comes to discussing Liverpool’s prospects for signing a big name in the January window.

Even without the transfer funds, that hasn’t stopped a number of websites from linking us with some fantastic players who could be on their way out the door. The first name on the list? How about a Valencia player not named Silva or Villa!

We’ve all waited long enough to see £20 million summer signing Alberto Aquilani on the pitch, but finally — finally! — it looks we’ll finally get the chance to see him in action with the senior squad.

Rafa spoke earlier today and confirmed that Aquiliani will make the bench and could be used in a sub role during the match.

“He will be with us. He is improving his fitness, so he’s in the squad.

“He cannot start at this moment but he will be there and maybe we can give him some minutes. If it’s possible we will try to use him.”

He also feels the Italian midfielder could bring a different dimension to the middle of the pitch. I know a quality player of his calibre would be a welcomed sight!

“We can see in every training session that he has quality, game intelligence and good movements,” said the Spaniard. “He is a different kind of player for us.

“We talk about using Gerrard deeper sometimes, but maybe in Aquilani we have a player who can play there and pass the ball really well in the final third.”

Let’s all hope he gets the chance to play 15-20 minutes tomorrow. I for one can’t wait to see him walk out on the Emirates pitch for the first time this year.

Arsenal is never an easy game, so lets hope the lads who play give it their all. Oh, and all of you calling for Pachecho to play…he can’t. He was called up by Spain to play in the next U19 match.

But we have enough good youngsters to give Arsenal trouble (Ecclestone is one such player who we should all be looking for). I know it’s not the most important game, but i want a win. Let’s hope we can nick them at the Emirates and move on to the next round of the Mickey Mouse Cup. After the high on Sunday, we can only hope the positive vibe continues on Wednesday.

When Liverpool signed David N’Gog from PSG in 2008, most people were probably thinking he was going to be ‘another for the future’ that would never really make the step up from the reserves; but it seems this time Rafa has a real gem on his books for the bargain price of £1.5 million.

We’ve seen Rafa bring in a few young strikers in the past; like Ramon Calliste who was touted as a decent striker but was eventually released; Vitor Flora who  no one has seen much of apart from the odd reserve appearance, Dani Pacheco who shone in pre-season but has since been back in the ressies, and Krisztian Nemeth who has been sent out on loan to Greece.

David N’gog has been around the first team for a year, and most people would hardly say he was adequate back up for Torres; but if you watch some of his finishes these comments are clearly unfounded.

Liverpool are a team for the special occasion. That, as Rafa Benitez may say, is a fact. Few sides discover their zest as readily as the Reds when the pressure is piled on. Today’s victory over Manchester United is yet more evidence of this.

Benitez, if certain Sunday tabloids were to be believed (and they are not), was under serious pressure before kick off at Anfield today. Chief executive Christian Purslow may have issued a heartening defence of the under-fire boss this weekend, but recent results – Liverpool’s worst sequence for 22 years – and performances have cranked up the pressure on the Spaniard, and United’s visit had the “do or die” feel usually reserved for European ties.

How Benitez’s side responded. The crowd may have groaned predictably at the first careless errors by Emiliano Insua and Lucas Leiva, but their passion certainly worked its way onto the pitch, and Liverpool were soon well on top. It was where they would stay for the bulk of the game.

Insua aside, the Argentine was given a torrid time by a half-firing Luis Valencia – imagine the scenes had Cristiano Ronaldo still been at United – every player won their individual battle. Be it Jamie Carragher & Daniel Agger, who got tight enough to nullify the sizeable threat of Wayne Rooney & Dimitar Berbatov, Glen Johnson who kept Ryan Giggs relatively quiet, or Javier Mascherano & Lucas, who bossed a midfield containing excellent footballers in Michael Carrick & Paul Scholes. Wherever you looked, it was the Red man who was on top.