Salah penalty enough for routine Reds win
Liverpool 1 Fulham 0, 3rd May 2023.
Liverpool 1 Fulham 0, 3rd May 2023.
LIVERPOOL 1 (Salah 39)
FULHAM 0
A short and sweet report from your favourite football correspondent as after the cavalcade of chaos and Sunday’s surreal victory over Tottenham Hotspur came a rather more sedate and perfunctory single goal win this evening over high flying Fulham. Mo Salah’s 39th minute penalty, and second success from the spot in four days, sealed a comfortable victory and the Reds fifth straight win in the Premier League in a game they were never in any real danger of letting slip.
Reds Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker was only called upon to make two meaningful saves all evening, in the 14th and 78th minute respectively, and on both occasions he smartly thwarted his fellow countryman Carlos Vinícius, but in a game of few chances his opposite number in the Fulham goal, German giant Bernd Leno, also had a rather quiet evening aside from retrieving Salah’s successful penalty from his net.
Whilst the aforementioned Vinícius was lively and industrious as he ploughed the “lone furrow” so beloved within football’s strange vernacular, he was ably supported by the bustling runs of another Brazilian in the form of veteran winger Willian and a midfield anchored by the mightily impressive João Palhinha and ex Liverpool Red Harry Wilson. Fulham were tight and compact but only in truth split open a fragile Liverpool defence twice in the entire evening, and both times Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker made smart, smothering saves to deny his countryman and the team he was spearheading in attack.
On the other side of the Premier League ball, Trent Alexander-Arnold was once again magnificent in his “floating” role from wing-back into midfield. The young Liverpudlian was always looking to get on the ball, especially so in a first half his team completely dominated, but crucially he was always energetically retreating back into the team’s defensive shape when needed. Skippered well by Jordan Henderson next to a rock solid performance from Fabinho, Mo Salah was lively once more up front next to the defensive pest that is Darwin Núñez and final, wholehearted plaudits fall once more to another superb display from Liverpudlian Curtis Jones and Luis Díaz who sparkled for an hour in another comeback game from a long term injury.
And that’s all she wrote!
After the chaos of Sunday came the ease of a Wednesday night under the Anfield floodlights and a fifth straight win in the Premier League that all but guarantees the Reds European football next season. Alas it will be the Thursday night challenge of the UEFA Europa League rather than the fine dining of the UEFA Champions League, but both paths are not secure or indeed finalised. Brighton have 3 games in hand on the Reds and should they secure all 9 available points they’ll leapfrog Liverpool into 5th position and the discombobulation of constant Thursday/Sunday football next season.
But, and it’s a HUGE but, should Newcastle United or Manchester United collapse in the season’s final four League games and the Reds continue on their winning run, the possibility remains of qualification for the Champions League, a possibility deemed absurdly fanciful mere weeks ago.
Hope springs eternal.
Time will tell.
It always does.
Walk on.
Afterword from The Boss, Jürgen Klopp, courtesy of www.liverpoolfc.com
“The penalty I liked a lot because it was a counter-pressing situation, Darwin is fully in the situation and gets the pen for that. Mo finished it off, which is good as well. We then don’t close the game early and we have to fight until the end — and we needed Ali, obviously. The last situation I think it was a sensational save and he was really happy about the clean sheet more than anybody. So, five wins in a row is super-difficult; if it was easy, everybody would do it — we would have done it earlier. It feels like ages, ages, ages ago that we did it — and probably it is. The more I like it, to be honest”.
On the win itself:
“Super-satisfying. It’s exactly what you want… I got asked the question if I feel not great about the chances we missed; not really, because I know the boys can score goals, but we have to fight for a result. The situation we are is when you are 1–0 up and the watch said 87 minutes it’s not that you think, ‘OK, we will bring that home.’ It is a little bit, because we had our history this year, where you think there is maybe another opportunity for them. That’s the situation. You have to build this confidence again, and to start with a 1–0 and getting it over the line with a big fight is super-helpful”.
Thanks for reading. There is a wealth of past and present articles on Liverpool FC within my library here or alternatively, here are my three most recently published articles from this season:
Sword of Damocles anyone?
Liverpool 4 Tottenham Hotspur 3, 30th April 2023.medium.com
Los Blancos Reds with vital comeback win in the Capital
West Ham United 1 Liverpool 2, 26th April 2023.medium.com
Salah and Jota cut down Forest
Liverpool 3 Nottingham Forest 2, 22nd April 2023.medium.com