Player Ratings: Liverpool 2-0 Fulham
A player-by-player review of Fulham's limp defeat on Merseyside.
After three weeks without watching Fulham, I was really looking forward to tucking into Saturday’s match. Now, I’m wishing that we’d somehow been knocked out the Premier League as well.
Here are our ratings after that meek defeat on Merseyside and once again, for these Player Ratings, we’re also giving you the scores voted by Fulham Fanalyists on the excellent Fanalysis app.
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Bernd Leno
Am I being extremely harsh here, or could Bernd have saved Liverpool’s second goal? Obviously it would have been a good save, but I feel like a top Premier League keeper could have tipped it around the post?
There’s obviously absolutely nothing any goalkeeper could have done about the first goal, and it’s maybe a reflection of the game that Bernd didn’t really have to do too much else other than those two goals.
Fulhamish Rating: 5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 63/100
Timothy Castagne
I put a clothes wash on yesterday that went round in fewer circles than Timothy Castagne on Saturday afternoon. A really tough day for the Belgian. Rio Ngumoha is clearly an exceptional talent, but it was far too easy for the teenager to make Timmy’s life an absolute misery. There were several warning signs before the goal that Rio was running him ragged.
I admire Castagne’s determination, and he was solid enough on the ball yesterday, but his one-on-one defending is such a drop off from Kenny Tete. We have to fix this position in the summer.
Fulhamish Rating: 4/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 50/100
Joachim Andersen
I thought that Andersen was fine at centre-back without setting the world alight. Did a few nice trademark diagonal passes, and I don’t think he was really at fault for either goal. I still firmly believe that Issa Diop should be starting, but yesterday wasn’t one of those games that I’ll put in my evidence dossier.
Fulhamish Rating: 5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 55/100
Calvin Bassey
A bright spot at the back for Fulham yesterday. Calvin Bassey was strong aerially and put in some good tackles too. Felt like one of the only players on the pitch with the correct amount of energy.
Fulhamish Rating: 6.5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 58/100
Antonee Robinson
Where do we begin? An abject performance from Robinson and that brings me no joy to say. He was robbed so many times at the back, leading to dangerous opportunities. He didn’t know where Salah was for the second goal, and then going forward either lost the ball in promising spots or hit some terrible crosses that didn’t even look close to landing within Liverpool’s penalty box.
I don’t really know how we’ve got into a situation where last season’s Player Of The Season is putting in consistently poor performances, and at what point can we stop blaming this drop-off on his injuries? He’s had more than enough minutes to get up to speed.
The difference when Sessegnon came on on the left was stark. In fairness to Antonee, he was given absolutely no protection by Oscar Bobb in the first half, but that doesn’t fully mitigate such a poor performance. There is no way that he can start next week at Brentford.
Fulhamish Rating: 3/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 45/100
Sander Berge
A routine performance from Sander, really strong in the tackle, and actually a couple of times he was able to create transitional opportunities through his aggressive challenges.
However, it is just infuriating to watch him on the ball in and around our penalty area. He just has no imagination or creative spark to really ever create a meaningful opportunity. We are definitely better with him, but my word just have a shot man…
Fulhamish Rating: 6/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 58/100
Alex Iwobi
A complete role reversal from Alex yesterday, as I thought he looked very poor in centre midfield in the first half and then actually looked pretty good on the left wing in the second half.
In the first 45 minutes, he couldn’t cope with Liverpool’s pressing, and it felt like his passes actually placed us in danger more often than not.
As ever, Mr Versatile was more than happy to switch positions in the second 45 minutes, and I thought that Alex, especially combined with Ryan Sessegnon, looked like the player most likely to actually carve open the Liverpool defence. Tricky to give him a score, given that it was such a performance of two halves.
Fulhamish Rating: 5.5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 60/100
Josh King
Rightly given the nod after a strong performance against Burnley, but this just wasn’t Josh’s game yesterday.
In all honesty, I don’t really think Josh got that much of a chance to impress, but the two or three touches and passes that he attempted didn’t quite come off. It was maybe a little bit harsh from Silva to pull him at half-time, but when you’ve got Emile Smith Rowe on the bench, I understand why Silva made the decision he did.
ESR did offer a little bit more forward momentum than Josh; then again, it’s always a little bit easier to perform as a substitute.
Fulhamish Rating: 5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 55/100
Oscar Bobb
Surely it is just time to place the Oscar Bobb on-the-left experiment well and truly in the bin. He offered absolutely nothing in the first 45 minutes.
Clearly a gifted technical player, but he is not what we need at this moment in time. Robinson performed poorly, and this is not excusing that, but Oscar offered Antonee absolutely no protection.
I get that Silva hasn’t got many good options on the left-hand side, but this idea that Oscar is the solution needs to stop.
Fulhamish Rating: 2/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 51/100
Harry Wilson
Whilst watching the Sky pre-match coverage, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Harry Wilson is the only player that plays for Fulham right now. The media absolutely love him, but he didn’t do much in this game to match the hype.
He had a few nice touches, but he didn’t really get to have a shot in anger.
Fulhamish Rating: 5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 57/100
Rodrigo Muniz
I’ve seen a lot of criticism of Rodrigo’s performance after the match. My opinion is that it’s not 100% warranted. I do think that we look better in attacking build-up with Rodrigo over Raul; however, the main problem is that Muniz does not look like he can score a goal right now.
The free header from the corner in the second half is the kind of chance that you MUST be taking if you’re a Premier League striker. He got his head to it, but with no conviction whatsoever.
With Liverpool as fragile as they are, if we’d have got one back, we’d have had a huge chance of getting something from this game. Ultimately, if he’s not going to score goals - then Raul should start.
Fulhamish Rating: 5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 51/100
SUBS & MANAGER
Emile Smith Rowe
I thought Emile came on and brought good energy to a midfield that was really lacking it during the first half.
Many will point to his miss in the 77th minute, which he should have done better with, but then again, he did everything pretty much right, other than find the correct side of the post.
Fulhamish Rating: 6.5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 58/100
Sasa Lukic
It was great to see Sasa Lukic back on the pitch, and whilst I am not a fan of the Lukic/Berge partnership, it actually worked pretty well in this scenario.
Sasa was able to find space going forward and looked like a bit of a goal threat. Given that we were so passive in the first half, it was nice to have someone come onto the pitch who actually showed a bit of fight.
Fulhamish Rating: 7/10 (MOTM)
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 63/100
Ryan Sessegnon
After the disastrous performance from Robinson, it’s hardly surprising that Sessignon came on and looked pretty good by comparison. His forward runs were far smarter than the Americans’, and his cross to Emile Smith Rowe should really have been buried.
Fulhamish Rating: 6.5/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 61/100
Raul Jimenez
Raul didn’t have very long to impact the game. I felt like this was a substitution that Marco should have made sooner. Raul did have one opportunity where he decided to try and flick it over Marmadasvili, which was probably the wrong option, as he probably had time to take a touch and then shoot.
He was very unlucky late on in the game, where his stinging shot went just the wrong side of the post.
Fulhamish Rating: 6/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 54/100
Marco Silva
Ordinarily, a 2-0 defeat at Anfield is hardly a result worth sacking your manager for, and I’m not saying that the result really changes anything, but this was a poor one from Marco’s point of view.
Having 21 days to prepare and then cooking up that meek performance is really not good enough. It feels like Marco’s contract saga is hanging over the entire club and casting a pretty big shadow. He says that he and his team want to qualify for Europe, but time after time we see his team fade into obscurity come April and May.
Frustration is growing, and if we have a bad result at Brentford next week, I really feel like fan anger may become pretty widespread. We’re all grateful for what Marco has done, but at what point is it reasonable to expect seasons to end like they start?
Fulhamish Rating: 3/10
Fulham Fans on Fanalysis App: 45/100
Can’t fathom criticism of Iwobi first half. Yes we were overwhelmed in midfield. But Iwobi was left by himself — Berge played back and King forward - and did as well or better than any teammate. Blame Silva lineup choice-which he then got right with ESR and especially Lukic.
Similarly Bobb looked like the only attacker Liverpool needed to pay attention to in the first half. But he needs someone to play with and got no help.