Fulham vs scousers

To say that these guys are in form is an understatement. They've thrashed Arse and Everton, albeit at home, and are doing a lot of things right at the moment.
What to expect at the Cottage then?
Who knows?
There's no reason, much like the trip to Old Trafford, to expect a result, especially with our horrid home form this season. In short, it could get just as ugly as most of us expected it to at ManUre.
I wish I could be heartened by our brave and, let's face it, lucky draw Sunday, but it's gonna take more than that to sway me.
0-3 bad guys.

 

Watching Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling et al slice up teams that have conceded a lot fewer goals than we have has to give a Fulham fan anticipatory heartburn. Maybe our lads will take heart from the reward earned by their doggedness on Sunday, but it's not that hard to imagine Lpool amassing the same kinds of stats at the Cottage that MU did at Old Trafford. Let's face it - MU have not been playing well, and Lpool have been both talented and heartless. Hope dies last.

 

Liverpool at Anfield have been amazing, but they are only 4-4-4 away from home. While it will take some luck and Liverpool coming in flat after their thrashing of Arsenal, a result isn't totally out of the realm. Expecting a loss, but hoping for another gritty performance and a little rub of the green. COYW!!!

 

3 points. that is all

 

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/155060-fulham-v-liverpool-important-update

 

They've known this was coming for quite some time now. I wonder why they waited until the Monday before the Wednesday fixture to address it?

 

Depending on when a replay would be scheduled, I'm not sure that a postponement would be beneficial to Fulham.

I'm not sure that we can hold off Liverpool's attack but, if we stick all eleven guys within 30 yards of our goal again, we may be able to keep the goals allowed to a respectable number.

 

I got the impression from the Wilkins interview I linked that the "park the bus" approach was more of a one-off type thing and not something we'll look to do often. That said, it wouldn't be the worst decision to do it again. Liverpool has far too much pace and skill so we'll have to be very careful to not let them get in behind us or have a run at us in space.

That said, I'm not overly confident in parking the bus either. For one, despite taking such a negative approach, we still shipped 2 goals to United. The odds that we pull back 2 off 3 shots on target are fairly low. Unlike United, Liverpool are better at playing balls into the box, better at keeping it on the deck and passing inside the box and have more players who can do so from varying positions. With Coutinho, Suarez and Gerrard, we'll have a hard time containing them to just looping in crosses (most of which were poor) from the right. Obviously they have more pace than we saw from United. They're also more dangerous from set pieces and corners. Since the calendar rolled over to 2014, Liverpool are unbeaten in 6 (4-2-0) with 19 goals for and 7 against. Joe mentioned their 4-4-4 road record, but the 4 losses came to City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Hull, all of whom have proven far superior to us defensively (4th, 2nd, 1st & 6th, respectively).

Now on the bright side. If the match isn't postponed, we could catch them overconfident after the beatdown they put on the Gunners. At the same time, we should be playing with more confidence after the last result. With the short week, we might see Rodgers take the opportunity to give some squad players some pitch time. The Craven Cottage pitch is smaller and should be easier to defend. And the Puddles have been prone to mistakes at the back, especially on their left (Toure/Cissokho).

Prediction - if we park it, 3-0 Pool. If we don't, 4-1. Whatever the result, our Premier League fate doesn't really hang on this fixture. It's the next one that I suspect will go a long way in determining our future.

 

Just received this by email from TFL:

I am writing to let you know that following constructive talks, the Tube strike action by the RMT and TSSA unions, which had been planned for this week has now been suspended.

Our services will therefore operate as normal.

Yours sincerely,

Vernon Everitt
Managing Director,
Customer Experience, Marketing and Communications

Woopeedoo!

 

So with no Kostas and (assuming) no Hugo, who are we gonna put up top? Tank?

 

This is pretty much my expectation as well.

 

If Dempsey could do something special against the vile club that started the whole hullabaloo around him leaving that would poetic. Come on Deuce. . . one last time to be the hero!

 

I'm glad that the match is on. It makes the afternoons go by much quicker.

I will enjoy sitting at my desk listening to GJ while I "work", even though I'm not optimistic about Fulham getting a result.