This isn’t a great start to the Premier League season for the defending FA Cup and Carabao Cup champions. Mo Salah does add to his incredible Liverpool goal tally, though it only comes through an 80′ equalizer to save a point for Liverpool against the newly promoted Fulham.
Well, saying Liverpool “got lucky” is kind of an overreaction. The Reds did control over 67% possession, had nearly 400 more passes (606), had a 16% better passing accuracy (77% to 61%), and 11 shots against Fulham’s goal (see, Arsenal, that’s how you dominate against a mid-level/relegation side). They dominated Fulham from the start.
Yet, it was their usually reliable defense that let them down today. Giving up two goals on only three Fulham shots on target is not good enough. Especially the manner of goals they let up.
That Mitrovic header was just plain awful defending from Trent Alexander-Arnold…again. It seems that Trent has already forgot that he let up the Vinicius Champions League-winning goal as he failed to track Mitrovic at the back-post. How many times is he going to be beaten because he loses focus in the heat of the moment? I know he is a great attacker and an assist machine, but he needs to learn to switch on to runners coming in behind him.
His position makes him the last defender at the back-post, which makes him one of the most important defenders in preventing goals from crosses.
And the other, a penalty given up by Vigil van Dijk, was just sloppy. Still, it was probably some opening day rust for the great Dutch center-half, so I won’t be too critical of him. I’m sure this was a one off.
Anyway, Darwin Nunez also added to his Liverpool goal tally as he scored his second career Liverpool goal with a fantastic back-heel flip to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the 1st half. He may have had his struggles in that preseason friendly against Man United, but I think those moments are past him. Darwin Nunez is shaping out to be the true successor to Sadio Mane.
Like I said, Mo Salah added Liverpool’s second at the 80′ mark from a terrible defensive coverage breakdown by Fulham. The London side’s defense let a ball over the top drop into their penalty box to Darwin Nunez, who missed his shot, then to Mo Salah, who didn’t miss. What a facepalm moment! There really were some horrible defensive moments by both teams in this game.
As for Fulham, despite that Mo Salah goal, they got a great point at home. Earning their first point of the season against the team that nearly won the Quadruple last season was a far better result than any Fulham fan should have expected going into that game. I’m sure they would have been happy with a 3-0 loss, let alone a 2-2 tie.
Starting off the season with a disappointing 2-2 tie with the newly promoted Fulham is not a great way to kick off a new Quadruple challenge for Liverpool. They are still way better than the other 18 teams in the Premier League, but it is Man City who they should be comparing themselves with. Already dropping points in the title race (yes, the title race is already on) is going to hurt Liverpool come the end of the season (just look at what happened last year).
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