Posts Tagged ‘Luis Suarez’

Liverpool vs. Fulham: Let’s Make This Trip to Merseyside a Little Better

Posted: May 1, 2012 by Austin in Previews
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So our last trip up to Liverpool on Saturday didn’t go so well, but hey – Everton is the better side in the city right now.

Just as a side note before we get started, can I mention how entertaining the fact that Everton are above Liverpool in the table is? 35 mill on Andy Carroll, 20 mill for both Henderson and Downing, and 7.5 mill for Charlie Adam. Compare that to Everton’s total lack of finance. Loanees and cheap buys have been the answer for them this season, as well as the mid-season pickup of Jelavic, and I’m happy to see a cash-strapped club doing well, especially when it means the table-jumping of an intense rival.

That being said, I don’t dislike Liverpool as a club and, truth be told, I’m a bit jealous of Everton for their success. I sometimes feel as if Fulham could and perhaps should be doing something similar. But I digress, there’s a preview to be made.

State of Fulham:

Could be better. The thrashing at the hands of Everton was unexpected and a bitter pill to swallow. I wasn’t expecting a result from one of our bogey away teams but we could have made a much better effort than we did. It was another limp away performance, and doesn’t bode well for the rest of the season. However, I think the players will go into this game feeling optimistic for two reasons:

1. They beat Liverpool at the Cottage, and it could have been by more than one goal. That’ll give them encouragement and hopefully they’ll play with a little less fear than otherwise.

And 2. Anfield has fallen from a fortress to not much more than a playground. Liverpool have won just five home matches this season, drawing nine and losing three. We only lost by an own goal from The King of Own Goals, John Paintsil (may his Fulham career be remembered for better reasons) last season, and I think a decent result is there for the taking.

Overall, Fulham really have nothing to play for, but neither do Liverpool, and I think Jol should hope and try to improve away performances (as Kyle talked about in his Everton preview). With Sunderland at home and Tottenham away coming up (what a hilariously capitulatory season Spurs have had as well), any sort of result would be welcome to build confidence ahead of two tough fixtures.

State of Liverpool:

Basically, who knows? They’ve been terrible at home this season, decent away, but overall incredibly disappointing in the league when compared to the Cups and when their monetary outlay and pre-season expectations are considered. They’ve just come off of a dominant performance against a fading Norwich side – it seems like the end of the season can’t come soon enough for them – and will be confident heading into this match. However, they have the FA Cup Final this weekend, and hopefully will be resting many of their key players. And by that I mean Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez. I watched a lot of the Norwich game and those two seem to be the only players really trying on offense – the rest looked to be saving themselves for the final I guess. Overall, they’re in decent form but will be distracted by what’s to come.

Prediction:

I’d love to say that Fulham will upset the Reds and cause another day of misery at Anfield, but with that tragic Everton performance and the general away-day hoodoo around the club, I don’t see three points on the cards. A draw, however, isn’t asking too much, given Liverpool’s troubles at home and their rather large and trophy-shaped distraction on Saturday. I’m calling a 1-1 draw, with either Dempsey or the Pog scoring (brave I know), and hopefully an assist for Dembele. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an unlikely win, but I don’t see it happening. Also, I hope Suarez won’t play. He’s terrifying.

Thanks for reading and please comment with your thoughts!

Fulham 2-5 Liverpool: Disaster at Craven Cottage

Posted: May 9, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Postgame
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Least painful picture I could find. Luis Suarez celebrating with Kenny Dalgish. Blah

Yes, the title sounds like a murder mystery for a reason.

Murder Victim: Fulham
Cause of death: Blunt force trauma to the ego
Suspects: Maxi Rodriguez, Luis Suarez, and Glen Johnson
Location: Victim’s home

I can’t believe I’m having to do this. It’s hard to do a recap post when you are left speechless by your team. Liverpool came into this match on a great run of form, but so did Fulham. The Whites coming into this had won 8 of their last 10 home matches, and had allowed 3 goals in that run. So much for statistics.

The good:

-Clint Dempsey: The midfielder actually had a decent match, passing the ball effectively, getting around defenders, and even doing some defending himself. Was a nice showing for the American

-Moussa Dembele: Also passed the ball effectively. Looked to be running a little sluggishly out of the gates, but he ended his goal drought and seemed to really seem lively, especially in the 2nd half after being switched to midfielder.

The bad: (where do I even start? Oh, I know where)

-Mark Schwarzer: Awful. Out of position constantly, made extremely poor decisions all day, including one disasterous clear in which he easily could have picked up the ball or at LEAST kicked it out of play. But instead he kicked it right to Maxi Rodriguez who put home the first goal of the day. He whiffed another relatively weak shot by Dirk Kuyt that just kind of kicked off his hands a la Robert Green, and then got schooled by Luis Suarez that, although it was a one-on-one, still made himself look like a complete fool.

-Brede Hangeland: Was taken out back and beaten senseless by Luis Suarez. Over and over, in the first half and the second, he was caught out of position, fooled on ball tricks, and even simply blown by. Horrible day for the tall center-back

-The rest of the defense: Chris Baird was bad, and also saved a goal with his arm late in the game, which luckily wasn’t called. Carlos Salcido started off relatively well but got burned by Suarez on his goal. Aaron Hughes was pretty much invisible. The defense has a lot of regrouping to do next Sunday at Birmingham.

Man of the match: Tempted to pick Suarez here or even Glen Johnson, but have to go with Maxi Rodriguez for his hat trick. Basically given his first 2 goals, but the third was a beauty. Hats off to Maxi.

Fulham now sit in 10th place, 1 point ahead of Newcastle and Sunderland and 1 point behind Bolton and Stoke. Will be a cluster of teams finishing in the middle of the table. Anything could happen.

I’m done discussing this one. The defense and goalkeeping was a joke, but that’s nothing you couldn’t figure out, nor was there anything earth-shattering in this post. Maybe Hughes will rethink resigning Schwarzer after. As much as I love the guy, and I know he’s not this bad (everyone has their stinkers), I’ve said before and I’ll say again, David Stockdale is the future, and if we don’t put him in soon he’ll go elsewhere. It’s not worth letting him go for another year or two of Mark Schwarzer.

One final note, hats off to Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool. Man has totally turned things around. Roy Hodgeson leaving was the best thing to happen to a lot of people. Dalglish has made rhings right for him and Liverpool and Hodgeson has found a better fit and kept West Brom up. Those men in red have a legimiate shot at lots of silverware next season.

Stay tuned for some transfer news and a Birmingham preview plus anything else I think of during the week. Gonna be a rough week sitting on this one. Still very optomistic about the final 2 matches for this club.

Fulham vs. Liverpool: Playing With House Money

Posted: May 6, 2011 by Kyle Bonn in Previews
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Well, now that the club is safe and in the Premier League, the rest is all gravy.  We’re playing for finish now, and it’s a tight race in the middle of the table.  After 2 straight 3-0 wins, including one rare one on the road, the club is bringing its run of good form back to the Cottage.  This is an important match since Fulham are attempting to catch Liverpool in the table.

With a Europa League draw from Fair Play on the horizon for Fulham, the match draws referee Lee Mason, who despite being 11th out of 18 Premier League referees in matches, has given out the 4th most yellow cards (90 yellows in 21 matches) and ranks 4th in card points (1 for a yellow, 2 for a red).

I would hope that Mark Hughes would use these last 3 matches not only to maximize his spot in the table, but also to learn as much as possible about the club in order to get the best possible read on where they need to improve next season.  I believe that next season is an incredibly important season, as it has the potential to be a big one for Fulham.  Between another Europa League bid and a possible top 10 finish despite missing the team’s best goal scorer for most of the season, there is the potential for a lot of success.  But this summer has to go right, and that can only happen if Hughes is able to evaluate his team as much as possible to find the biggest holes and the important players.

State of Fulham:

Fulham received an injury blow with news the other day that Damien Duff would be out for the rest of the season after Achilles surgery.  However, the last 2 matches which Fulham won handily were both played without Duff, who was attempting to recover from said injury.  So it shouldn’t be too big of a blow.  On the flip side, Clint Dempsey is returning and so is Brede Hangeland, so the side should be stronger still.

The two 3-0 wins were excellent, but they seem like a ways away now with a very good Liverpool side on their way to the capital.  The last time Fulham hosted Liverpool, the Reds finished with 9 men after Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher both were sent off and Fulham grabbed the win 3-1.  In fact, the last 9 times these teams have met, one side has walked away with 3 points every single time.

If Fulham were to pull out wins in their last 3 matches (which I don’t see happening but certainly isn’t out of the question) they would finish with their all-time highest points total.

One last thing, I really hope that Mark Hughes starts Andy Johnson and not Eidur Gudjohnsen.  AJ has played exceptionally well the last few matches he’s come on as a sub and Eidur, despite Sparky’s affection for him, has done nothing in my view.

State of Liverpool:

Kenny Dalgish has his biggest decision to make involving newcomer and newly fit Andy Carroll coming into this match.  Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez are both playing extremely well, and Dalgish sat Carroll (who came on in the 70th minute for Maxi Rodriguez) in the win against Newcastle on the 1st of May, in which both Kuyt and Suarez had goals.

As far as knocks go, Daniel Agger (knee injury, out for season) and Stephen Gerrard (groin surgery, out for season) are both long-term injury misses, and Martin Kelly is a doubt with a hamstring injury (tore it against West Ham in March).

Fulham will win if…

…they play good defense and keep Suarez and Kuyt frustrated.  There are a few dubious statistics I would like to share with you that don’t bode well for the home side.  First, Fulham have failed to score in 6 of their last 7 league matches against Liverpool.  That’s not the one I’m worried about though, since historical data doesn’t bother me as much.  The one that I am focusing on is the following: we all know how good the Fulham defense has been this season, especially at home.  However, something that I found today that shocked me was Fulham on average give up their first goal in the 31st minute, FASTEST IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, if you can believe that.  If we get a goal down to Liverpool that fast, I believe it’s over.  However, if we can keep it at 0-0 for a while I think we have a chance.

Prediction:

I have gone against this team the last few matches (besides Sunderland) and it’s (happily) come back to bite me in the you-know-what.  Both these clubs are on a run of good form and I believe this will be an absolute heck of a match.  It certainly could go either way, especially being at Craven Cottage.  It’s Fulham’s run of good form plus the fact that they’re home plus the fact that I’ve wrongly doubted them a few too many times this season that lend themselves to my 2-1 victory for Fulham in front of the home crowd.  Would certainly be an exciting and promising win.

Other interesting notes:

-Fulham are the only Premier League club yet to concede a goal by penalty this season
-Fulham have won 6 of 7 at home, drawing the other.  During those 7 matches, only Blackburn has scored against Fulham.
-Liverpool are the only Premier League club to score in all of their 2011 fixtures
-Andy Johnson and Daniel Murphy are both 2 goals shy of 50 career league goals
-Fulham need 1 more draw to tie the all-time club mark for draws in the PL (16 in 1999-2000 season)

Finally, still trying to get more likes on the Fulham’s Finest Facebook page! So be sure to hit it up and hit like to get updates, polls, and to post your thoughts!