Reed wondergoal earns Fulham draw against Liverpool

2-2 result saw leads for both sides and questionable VAR intervention for Liverpool equaliser

Five games unbeaten! Fulham’s start to 2026 continues the graft and effort Marco Silva’s depleted squad fuelled the Christmas period with, and today’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool typifies the resolve the team have found across the games. In a difficult game against last year’s title-winners, Harry Wilson’s opener gave Fulham a bright start - despite a comeback from Liverpool, aided by a deeply questionable VAR intervention on an offside, a stupendous strike from Harrison Reed in the dying embers of the game saved Fulham. The game ebbed and flowed, and both sides may point to evidence suggesting they ought to have won, but for Fulham fans there’s plenty to be pleased with in a traditionally tough match-up.

First Half

5-2-3 is a formation with three centre-backs, and whilst it often spells the death of any attacking impetus a team wishes to take to an opponent, Silva’s utilisation of the formation today had good reasoning behind it. Tete’s injury puts Castagne into the side, leaving him vulnerable - putting Diop into the team reinforces our half physically and positionally. Robinson at LWB has a little more flexibility to travel forward as well, and given the lack of rapid pace in the team it was sensible keeping Cuenca in the team at LCB behind him. Liverpool, on the face of it, had a lot to do to get through the team to attack Leno.

Of course, it is still a less attacking option. It took time for the game to really ignite - perhaps the colder temperature lulling the affair - and though both teams had a good share of the ball, it was Liverpool that struck the first real chances. Curtis Jones, in an unconventional left-wing position, wriggled into the box and produced a cutback for Gakpo, but Andersen was well-placed to block the shot, and a similar block followed Wirtz’ effort in the aftermath of the resulting corner. Castagne’s positioning was something Liverpool sought to target, and Jones was the man to do it - a little later, from a deeper position, he spotted Gakpo peeling off the wing-back with a run. His ball over the defence was lovely - the Dutchman’s finish was not, bobbling to the right of goal.

However, Fulham were far from dormant in the game. Cairney and Lukic started sharply, pinging passes around the team to keep us from falling off the pace. Whilst our frontline’s pace wasn’t insurmountable, the clever build-up play and well-measured runs from deep by the midfield took advantage of lackadaisical defending from Liverpool’s backline, and put us in strong positions. At 17 minutes, it gave us the opener; Cuenca drilled a pass through midfield to Jimenez, Jimenez took a delightful touch to play it forward into the space, and Wilson surged away from a hapless Konate to reach the box, drilling his shot behind Alisson for 1-0. The backline beaten, Liverpool were in a disadvantageous position, having to increase their attacking output against an already settled back five.

We did a good job, too. Whilst the counter-attacks weren’t prevalent after the initial spark following the goal, our backline held their shape well and denied Liverpool shooting opportunities in the box. With Diop on the pitch, we had far too much muscle for Liverpool’s attacking unit, repelling crosses and locking down our territory nicely. Slot’s men had their moments though; they are the defending champions for a reason, and have excellent footballers around the pitch. Cairney got dispossessed by Wirtz on the halfway line, and Szoboszlai carried it forward. Playing it back to Wirtz, the German played it across the box to Jones - a well-timed block from Castagne prevented a goal. Gakpo should have done more from the chances set up for him in the box; he lashed a Szoboszlai cross from the right onto the bar (albeit from an offside position), a quicker reaction from another clever Jones ball through the defence might have prevented Leno scuttling it out for a corner in time, and a sharp pass from Konate into the box needed a better pass than the flimsy one the Dutchman managed.

Second Half

These opportunities were not the norm for the half, but represented nuggets of hope for Liverpool. Combined with the narrow nature of our lead - and the fact we were still largely concentrated in our half - and Liverpool were never going to let the game slide away from them. They started the second period with a spring in their step, working the ball in a higher gear to put the pressure straight onto Fulham. They had the ball in the net too - two poor clearances from Andersen and Castagne let Kerkez volley a cross for Gakpo to turn in - but it was offside. We couldn’t get on the ball for the opening spell of the half as Liverpool turned the screw, Mac Allister winning a free-kick that Szoboszlai bent wide, before the visitors won a seemingly endless sequences of corners from their right that required optimum timing to clear. Barring one Szoboszlai corner that Mac Allister’s header guided onto the crossbar, the defence did their job.

Yet being so constantly out of possession invites pressure, particularly when Liverpool have the energy to ensure play directly involves the defensive contributions of our backline. It let their deeper players come into the game more, forcing our defenders to try and dispossess them and in turn creating more options for Liverpool in attacking situations. Bradley capitalised on this effectively - a long diagonal ball reached Wirtz in a dangerous position on the edge of the box, requiring Diop to intervene. Moments later, the right-back drilled forward himself, breezing through our midfield and entering the box. Andersen and Cuenca advanced to try and stop him but he was too quick, feeding the ball to Wirtz in space, who neatly finished the chance. Thankfully, Wirtz was offside - the linesman’s flag was up again.

Or was he? An awkward pause following the decision drew fear amongst the stadium - VAR’s intervention was looming. To our horror, the referee used the “evidence” to overrule the linesman’s decision - bizarrely, the CGI visual showing Wirtz onside failed to align with the live-action angle, where the contours provided by the penalty spot and the lawn-mowed line in the grass appear to show Diop’s foot playing Wirtz offside. Regardless of what conclusions are drawn from the replays, it is hard to believe that the evidence presented is compelling enough to overturn the initial call given, and was deeply frustrating to see unfold.

Liverpool didn’t care, of course - they were playing the superior football, and had their eyes on putting the sword to a reeling opponent. Gakpo was involved in more chances, driving at Fulham from deep but dragging his long shot to the left of the goal, and then putting himself in the right place following another Szoboszlai corner but pummelling his effort from a sharp-left position into the sidenetting. They were dominant around the goal, and but for tepid decision-making from their forward might have scored another goal.

Fulham needed a response, and thankfully the team seemed to read the danger impending. Robinson and Castagne tried to counteract Liverpool’s aggression by sneaking behind the advanced position of Kerkez and Bradley. It produced a couple of dangerous moments - Castagne found Jimenez in a good position in the box that Konate leapt well to shut down, and a Robinson dispossession let the American find Cairney in space. The captain worked it rightwards to Wilson, who cut inside and fired a shot - Jones was well-placed to divert the shot over for a corner.

Silva wanted more though - a tame Jimenez overhead kick signaled Fulham needed more to capitalise on their first real spell since the restart and reestablish the lead. Kevin, on his birthday, and Berge arrived for Smith Rowe and Cairney, with the goal of delivering this energy. Slot had the same idea though, and introduced Frimpong to try and nullify the extra speed we’d throw down the left. It was a good call - the left once again became our favoured route to goal, and might have given us the extra chances to take the lead for a second time. A Robinson pass from our half sailed over the defence and put Jimenez through on goal. Alisson came off his line smartly to stop Raul’s touch giving him a shooting chance in the box, but Wilson was there to pounce on the loose ball, and with a deft dink lifted the ball over the Liverpool players and towards the goal; only the crossbar, and Van Dijk’s reactive clearance, stopped him doubling his tally.

We were playing well, Kevin and Robinson starting to find their chemistry again, and a deflection from a teammate denied Kevin a shooting chance of his own a little later, assisted by the American on the left. With Lukic, given fewer defensive responsibilities with Berge on the pitch, driving us forward from the back, and substitutes Kusi-Asare and Traore adding even more energy to the team in the dying embers of the game, Fulham showed real signs of intent as the time ticked into stoppages.

But you can’t let your mind drift too far from defensive duties, particularly when the opponent has introduced a player with the blistering speed of Frimpong. An attacking move of their own took them back into our territory, working it through Gravenberch and Mac Allister, before their substitute took the ball to the edge of the pitch by our box. Frimpong bent a slow cross into the box, one that ought to have been easy to dismiss given how many had already been stopped, but Andersen misread this delivery’s bounce, and he missed it entirely. With Leno prone on his spot, and Castagne dozing at the far post, Gakpo rushed into position to finally bury a chance, giving Liverpool the lead and seemingly the win.

It looked like being a devastating last-minute loss. The visitors had withdrawn the goalscorer for Gomez, and were set to eat away the closing minutes of the game. But as Fulham threw themselves forward, the pieces aligned for a sensational comeback of our own. Robinson threw the ball short to Kevin, who moved the ball to a teammate in space. That man was Harrison Reed, introduced minutes earlier for Lukic. He’s been injured, starved of gametime, and hadn’t scored a goal in three seasons. But his instincts were sharp - Liverpool were camped in the box, marking the majority of our team. The result? A thunderous lash of the ball, loaded with power and venom, that daggered through the air, above the Liverpool players, away from Alisson’s stunned dive and just under the crossbar to ripple the back of the net. Reed bolted to the crowd to celebrate, teammates chasing him in euphoria - he’d saved the game, extended the unbeaten run, and ensured Fulham ended the weekend on a high.

Tactical Intelligence

Reed’s strike was a marvellous way to end a match, and ensures we’re feeling positive about the game and Fulham’s better moments across it. Our attacking performance, despite being off the ball for large parts of the game and playing with a back five, was quite strong - we didn’t have the fastest members of the squad available or on the pitch for most of it, but we worked the ball really well, and had Liverpool making defensive moves at critical moments. Wilson deserves plaudits for the goal, and came very close to scoring a second later on, but don’t ignore the assist and general effort from Jimenez, or Smith Rowe’s contributions linking with Robinson before Kevin came on.

The passing and energy from the middle was consistently strong, be it Cairney setting a nice tempo from deep or Lukic taking the ball forward with his running, and whilst Liverpool did outgun them in the second half we were in the position we were because of the work they put in. Obviously there’s more we could have done to counteract Liverpool in their dominant spells, but the absences have to be considered - if we have a few of Muniz, Sess, Iwobi, Chukwueze or King on the pitch, there’s more speed on and off the ball to take advantage of the space around Liverpool’s defence, and subsequently more seconds to play with than Wilson, Jimenez and Smith Rowe had.

Defensively it’s a mixed bag. I think Cuenca and Diop can stand proud of their efforts across the game - both did very well in their contests, and Diop in particular didn’t let the technical ability of the attackers he faced put him off. Andersen loses a lot of credit in the match for his error at the end - he was the leader, the heart of the team, and fell to pieces at the critical moment. Robinson is a great attacking player, and clearly his injury setback (and the impending World Cup!) will be on his mind, but he was loose for quite a lot of the game today, and Frimpong completed the work that Szoboszlai had engaged with for most of the game. Castagne put a valiant effort in but just isn’t good enough to play as our right-most defender for an entire game - Jones knew it, Kerkez knew it, and so will every other team that faces us with Tete absent. We were better in the first half with more energy, but once Cairney and Lukic were bypassed more frequently the individual defenders had to be more resilient, and in large parts of the game they weren’t.

Liverpool Lethargy

Of course, that shouldn’t belie the luck Liverpool needed to get back into the game. Remove the offside and Andersen’s mind lapse and Liverpool need two of their other chances to go in for even a point. It’s not out of the question, but it should signify the fact they weren’t at their best today, and were ponderous and wasteful for far too much of the game. Gakpo, for instance, was justifiably happy during his celebrations at the end of the game, when he thought he’d won it, but wasted half a dozen chances across the 90 - there is no way Isak and Ekitike will have their place up front threatened by him with finishing as reckless as his today.

Jones is a talented player but was in an awkward position on the left of the pitch - you wonder what a pacier option would have offered running against Castagne, and whether they’d have done more utilising it. Wirtz was good when he got on the ball, but found himself the target of our marking and didn’t really get space in the box (apart from when he was stood offside.) Szoboszlai was very effective, but you wonder what could have been achieved if he was allowed to play centrally, and actual wingers ran alongside him?

Defensively I thought Liverpool were flimsy - whilst Van Dijk and Konate are good enough to win aerial duels against (the exhausted) Raul Jimenez, they were unfoxed constantly by our passing and needed to be sharper to the threats happening around them. Gravenberch and Mac Allister in front of them were calmer when Liverpool had total possession in the second half, but for much of the game the two weren’t as attuned to their defensive duties, and got caught out by the sharpness of our passing. Cairney and Lukic used their heads today and had a better grip of where to move the ball. Kerkez and Bradley weren’t horrible, and the latter was involved quite effectively in the second half, but both had a comfortable ride against a slower set of attackers for much of the game - it would have been interesting seeing the likes of Kevin and Chukwueze attack them for an entire half.

Regardless, Liverpool are 4th, closer to the chasing pack than the title race - and, in what might have been a sacrilegious thing to suggest a few months ago, Fulham are only six points beneath them, comfortably placed on 28 points in midtable. For all the talk of us underperforming this season - a charge far from inaccurate - we have put together a good string of results, and seem to be gelling as a team right as others are hitting poorer runs of form. There’s work to be done, as always, but perhaps people need to adopt the mindset of Harrison Reed today - involved for minutes at a time, yet ready to apply his talent and application to change the game at the death. It’s a moment that’ll put a smile on any Fulham fan’s face when thinking about this season, regardless of how the next few months play out.