Liverpool suffered a 0-1 defeat to Fulham in Week 27 of the Premier League at Anfield Stadium on Sunday (7/3).
Jurgen Klopp put the trio of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Xherdan Shaqiri on the front lines. Not only that, Klopp also replaced four other players for positive results at his own headquarters.
The 11th minute Ademoola Lookman becomes the first player to create a golden opportunity. But the Fulham wing attacker’s kick was off target.
Liverpool responded by creating chaos in the Fulham penalty area in the 15th and 19th minutes.
The Cottagers put pressure that was not playing for the hosts. In the 29th minute Alisson must work hard to secure his area of control,
Lookman again threatened Liverpool’s goal in the 35th minute. Lookman tries to take advantage of Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s pass. Neco Williams’ alertness thwarted Lookman from scoring a goal against Liverpool.
Four minutes later, the Reds’ chance came through Shaqiri’s free kick which still bounced over the bar.
Score changes at the end of the first half. Starting from Ivan Cavaleiro’s free kick, the ball was cleared by Andy Robertson. The round skin was under Salah’s control, but Mario Lemina managed to grab it and let go of the kick which made the ball lodged in Alisson’s goal.
Liverpool started the second half with threats from Jota and Salah. The visitors continued to be forced to survive. Shaqiri also created opportunities but his shot in the 58th minute still went up.
In the 70th minute, Sadio Mane tried to take advantage of the bait from the stomach. The ball which he headed hit the bar, even though Areola was resigned to motionless.
Entering the final 10 minutes, Liverpool and Fulham seemed to be playing on one side of the field. Home pressure keeps guests busy. A late Fulham counter-attack still ended with Alisson’s brilliant save.
Meanwhile, the Reds’ efforts in extra time also did not result in a goal. Score 1-0 for Fulham lasted until the referee blew the final whistle.
This defeat made Jurgen Klopp no longer think about the top four positions in the Premier League standings. Klopp currently only wants to focus on helping Liverpool to win again.
“That [top four] is really not on my mind at the moment. I can’t think about that. We have to win. We have to win a game, it will help,” said Klopp.
The German coach admitted that currently Liverpool players are experiencing mental problems that affect their performances on the field.
“Trust me, the players wanted it [the win], but it couldn’t happen, we didn’t score and conceded one,” he explained.
“We don’t have the mentality like before but the players want to win and I saw that today. We still make mistakes and that’s the problem,” continued Klopp quoted by Yahoo Sport.
Klopp made seven changes to the line-up, but that hasn’t brought the Reds back to winning ways.
Liverpool have recorded six consecutive defeats at Anfield and are in danger of slipping further to the middle of the Premier League standings.
Currently Liverpool are in seventh place with 43 points, only one point ahead of Tottenham Hotspur who still have two more games left.
