Though Liverpool is still going to win the Premier League title at a canter, Arne Slot won’t have been pleased with what he described as a 15-minute window of “madness” in the first half against Fulham.
Ahead of what will be a big summer for Liverpool, the Reds looked all over the place at the back in the first 45 minutes at Craven Cottage. Curtis Jones was playing full-back but the more glaring errors came elsewhere in the backline as one led to another and the level of panic seemingly increased.
Virgil van Dijk was not at his best — far from it, in fact — while Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson had games to forget. Jones, in at right-back until Conor Bradley was introduced, didn’t do too badly in the context of it being an unfamiliar role.
There were plenty of legitimate concerns, though. Van Dijk was turned easily by Rodrigo Muniz for one of the goals. Konate got away with a drag back inside his own box that saw him lose possession, just before Caoimhin Kelleher was fortunate not to give away a penalty for cleaning out the advancing Andreas Pereira.
Konate then sliced an easy clearance from a not particularly dangerous cross, with Van Dijk spotted turning away in frustration and issuing some choice words as he made a baffled gesture with his hands. That said it all as Liverpool struggled to get to grips with a Fulham attack that has caused it problems before.
Konate should have done better when Ryan Sessegnon scored too, with his header falling inside the penalty area. Whatever he and the rest of the Liverpool defense did for a short spell in the first period of the game seemed to lead to a chance — and Fulham could have led by more than 3-1 by the interval.
“Fulham were brilliant going forward but Liverpool were defensively very poor,” Shay Given said on Match of the Day 2. “Konate was all over the place in the first half.”
On the Alex Iwobi goal, Robertson played a terrible pass, then missed a header to clear the ball, and then the shot that came in deflected off him and past a helpless Kelleher. It was really poor defending; a complete mess.
On social media, Van Dijk shared a candid assessment in the aftermath of the game, stating on Instagram: “A lot of work still to do, as we all saw.” By the time West Ham United comes to Anfield next weekend, Liverpool — particularly defensively — will want to put a few things right.
