Liverpool goals twice against Fulham to get a tie.
Liverpool rallies twice against newly promoted Fulham to preserve a tie.
With a late equaliser,
Mohamed Salah saved Liverpool from disgrace as the defending Premier League champions were beaten to a 2-2 draw against newly promoted Fulham in their league debut.
HIGHLIGHTS AND GOALS : Fulham 2-2 Liverpool
Since Fulham hasn’t lost in their last three Premier League games,
Jurgen Klopp’s team has found it challenging to defeat them.
To offset Aleksandar Mitrovic’s two goals, Liverpool had to come from behind twice.
The Serbian striker, who has a famously difficult time scoring in the top league,
had no signs of any problems against the Reds and scored his first goal of the season in the 32nd minute.
Just after the hour mark,
Darwin Nunez scored a wonderful improvised backheel to tie the score. A Mitrovic penalty, though, gave the home team the advantage once more.
Salah, however, was then set up by Nunez with just under 10 minutes left to play,
and he calmly tucked Liverpool‘s important equaliser away.
As Liverpool first struggled to get going and string passes together before being caught on the break,
the warning flags were there for Klopp.
Even though the Reds got into the game,
it was far from a composed display,
and Fulham looked nothing like the team that conceded 10 goals in its first three Premier League games of 2020–21.
With Kenny Tete overlapping Neeskens Kebano,
the Cottagers made a deft play down the left,
and Mitrovic outmuscled Trent Alexander-Arnold to head the ball beyond Alisson at the far post.
A few minutes later,
Liverpool came close to equalising when Diaz’s attempted chip from inside the box flew past Rodak but rebounded off the post.
Thiago Alcantara pulled up early in the second half and had to be replaced,
leaving the field holding his hamstring. Klopp already had a significant injury problem going into the game.
Kebano nearly scored Fulham’s second goal early in the second half,
but his shot bounced off the inside of the post. Bobby Decordova-curling Reid’s effort from the next corner was stopped by Alisson.
Nunez attempted to find Diaz at the far post,
but Joao Palhinha intercepted his delivery as Liverpool showed signs of determination.
Nunez equalised after Liverpool seized a brief window of opportunity to make his Premier League debut.
Harvey Elliott had set Salah up on the flank, and he crossed the ball for Nunez,
who backheeled it into the goal. After a quick VAR check for offside, the goal was upheld.
Nowadays, in the current era that Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool have contributed to,
it takes almost 100 points to win the Premier League,
and the German will be the best person to understand how important each and every result is in this taxing division.
Liverpool has such high standards that any tie seems like a loss.
Particularly when it involves Fulham, a team that many believed would be fresh meat for Liverpool to consume. The great Aleksandar Mitrovic delivered the first two hits to Liverpool’s defence this year,
but the freshly promoted team proved to be far too difficult for the visitors.
Speaks Jurgen Klopp
The fact that we managed to win despite a truly horrible performance on our part was the game’s best aspect.
Since we played right into their hands from the beginning with the wrong mindset,
it will be challenging to make amends. When we did get some guidance,
we probably stood a better chance.
There is a great deal of room for development. We began the game in the exact opposite manner from how we had intended.
