One of these teams boasts the most expensive squad in world football at just over a billion pounds. The other sat winless and pointless with speculation of unrest already growing around their new manager. For a little more than 90 minutes, you would not have known which.
And so the wait for Andoni Iraola’s first Anfield win goes on. Many inside the stadium were already making their way to the exits when the final whistle brought this unfulfilling goalless draw with Fulham to an end. Plenty were already long into the concourse by the time Rio Ngumoha saw the last of Liverpool’s openings come to nothing.
For this was a shadow of the Liverpool from Wednesday night, where they came away deserved winners against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. This was a leggy, sloppy, uncertain Liverpool. Error-strewn and unsure of themselves. How much of it was because Iraola made only three changes from that midweek triumph? Not enough to excuse Florian Wirtz, Kostas Tsimikas – one of those changes and who was hooked at half-time – and the usually rock-solid Dominik Szoboszlai all passing the ball straight out of play and frequently to the opposition.
It was not the lack of recovery time that compelled Alisson to pass the ball to Ryan Gravenberch inside the Liverpool box despite him being surrounded by two Fulham players and need Jeremy Jacquet to rescue him by clearing Gonzalo Garcia’s resulting goal-bound strike off the line. For all the talk about Liverpool’s £364m front three of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola, it was this £60m centre-back who frequently came to the rescue.
Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw by Fulham in a frustrating afternoon at Anfield
Alvaro Arbeloa’s Cottagers have had a sluggish start to the season but deserved their point
It told you everything about the performance from Liverpool that the biggest cheer of the afternoon came when the stadium announcer updated the crowd on the half-time scores and told them Chelsea were losing to Hull.
For the rest of the afternoon, the sounds emanating from the stands at Anfield were ever-increasing groans and frustration. ‘Absolute garbage’ one spectator muttered to anyone in earshot as he made his way home after the full-time whistle. ‘The f***** space he’s got!’ another roared from behind the press box when, once again, Fulham played through Liverpool at will. That was nothing, though, to the freedom of Merseyside afforded to Josh King with 15 minutes to go, who strolled unperturbed towards the edge of the box before being denied by the diving frame of Allison.
Arbeloa’s side played with a debonair confidence that defied their lowly league position but lacked the cutting edge when it mattered. The impressive Antonee Robinson fired straight at Alisson, substitute Rodrigo Muniz couldn’t get on the end of a teasing cross from the right before fellow replacement Kevin flashed wide when Liverpool couldn’t clear their lines.
Liverpool created pockets of half-chances but little more than that.
Bradley Barcola, the £123m signing, manufactured the first in an otherwise underwhelming first Premier League start when he played a neat pass through the Fulham defence to Isak, who fired wide from a tight angle. There was little sign of that rapid wide man, capable of striking fear into the most hardened full-backs, and who posted the quickest speed of anyone in the Premier League this season just minutes after coming off the bench against Ipswich. Rarely did he drive at his man or attempt to show him a clean set of heels. He had a chance in the second half to slip Isak in again but fluffed his cutback.
Szoboszlai stung the palms of Bernd Leno, who had earlier made a decent save to claw Victor Munoz’s header away from goal. Isak showed the odd glimpse of the newly confident front man that’s already matched his Premier League goal tally from last season but was too often shepherded easily by Fulham skipper Calvin Bassey. In the second half, he wriggled through a tight crowd of bodies and got a shot away but never with enough venom to count. At the death, he flashed a header wide from yards out from Szoboszlai’s teasing stoppage-time corner. He should have done better.
Andoni Iraola passes on instructions to Alexis Mac Allister with the Reds firing a blank
The difference between the Wirtz of Wednesday night and the weekend was, perhaps, the most stark. There is a growing feeling that the German is best suited to the Champions League where the game is far less dependent on the pace and power and physicality now associated with the Premier League, in a competition where he can play with grace and poise. He frequently got into decent positions, showed a glimpse of quality, and then let it evaporate. He turned nicely into the box only to drill his shot wide. He took another lovely touch to take the ball away from his man only to drag another effort well beyond the post. He tried to pick out Isak with another through ball and overhit it straight out for a goal kick.
Even Szoboszlai couldn’t depend on his usual free-kick wizardry in stoppage time to snatch a victory as he did here against Arsenal last season as his dipping effort flicked the top of the wall.
Fulham continued to get under Liverpool’s skin with Iraola visibly frustrated on the touchline with how long the visitors were taking to get on with their own set pieces. That, by the end, was the least of his concerns.
During their playing days, Iraola and Arbeloa often battled it out for the right-back slot in the Spain national team. Arbeloa usually got the better of him. He didn’t quite do the same here but, on reflection, will probably think he should have done.
