In contrast to previous victories, Liverpool had to battle hard against Fulham and Brendan Rodgers has saluted the fighting spirit on show…
Liverpool were indebted to a last gasp Steven Gerrard penalty as a highly competitive encounter with Fulham on Wednesday night ended in victory.
The Merseysiders’ trip to the capital threatened to blow their season off course for long spells as they twice fell behind.
Goals in either half from Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho levelled proceedings before the captain converted from 12 yards in the 90th minute.
After Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of high-flyers Arsenal, many observers would have been forgiven for thinking the Reds would have it easy against the top flight’s bottom side.
Nothing could have been further from the truth though as the hosts battled for every ball and defended on mass.
At the other end, the Cottagers made the most of mistakes by Kolo Toure, who scored a comical own goal, and Martin Skrtel, to threaten an unexpected boost to their survival hopes.
Ultimately Rene Meulensteen’s side came away without reward but Kop boss Brendan Rodgers was quick to acknowledge the encounter had been a true test of his side’s character.
“It was a really important win for us tonight after the game at the weekend, where we were outstanding,” commented the Northern Irishman at his post-match press conference.
“We had to show some different qualities tonight; one of them being character. It was a wonderful demonstration of the real togetherness of the group. It was very, very pleasing.
“Fulham didn’t have too many chances. We gave them an own goal and then they scored from a poor piece of defending from us. Other than that, they had one other opportunity in the first half.
“Before they went 2-1 up, we hit the post. We looked like the team that was probing and passing. I’ve got great respect for Rene Meulensteen. He’s a good guy, who has come into a very difficult job. The team did him very proud today, like they did at Old Trafford.
“But I can only give huge credit to the players tonight, because we had to dig deep to get that performance and result. It shows there’s a lot of character and there’s still a way to go for this team.”
Had the goals conceded ultimately proved costly for Liverpool then it would not have been the first time this season they’ve been their own worst enemy.
The repeat problems at the back were not lost on Rodgers but he believes there are no underlying defensive issues and that any deficiencies are being offset by the side’s ability going forward.
“I’m certainly sure in the first four or five months after I came in here, we’d have lost that game,” continued the 41-year-old.
“But we’ve now built a way of working and playing – and not only that, we’ve built a spirit and a camaraderie that sees us fight until the very end. That’s what got us the result.
“You’re always pushing and you’re always looking to get something. For me, it’s never over until the whistle goes. They were disappointing goals to concede.
“We’ve defended poorly at times this season. It’s not been a structural thing; it’s been down to individual errors that have cost us. But thankfully we’re a very aggressive team offensively. So we’ve got goals in the team. That’s something that I’ve been trying to build since I’ve been here.
“I arrived into the club and the team didn’t score enough. Now we know we can go to any ground or play at home and get goals. And tonight our goals got us the three points, rather than our defending.”
Liverpool have a break from league action this weekend but face Arsenal again, this time in a fifth round FA Cup tie.
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