Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool: Liverpool losing their way

Published on Saturday 31 October 2009 20:11

RAFAEL Benitez will appeal against both red cards after nine-man Liverpool slumped to a humiliating defeat at Craven Cottage yesterday.

Swiss defender Philipp Degen and captain Jamie Carragher were sent off for second-half fouls as Liverpool's Premier League hopes disintegrated, falling to their fifth league loss of the season. But Benitez believed referee Lee Mason got both decisions wrong, saying Degen's foul on Clint Dempsey was no more than a yellow card while maintaining that Carragher played the ball when he was adjudged to have brought down Bobby Zamora.

"They were two incidents in a few minutes when we were losing and they were difficult to take," Benitez said. "The first one was a yellow card. The second one you can clearly see that Carragher was kicking the ball."

Zamora put Fulham ahead and Fernando Torres equalised in a first-half in which Liverpool dominated possession. But when Erik Nevland put Fulham ahead for the second time and Torres had been substituted there was only one winner, Dempsey scoring a late clincher for the home side.

Benitez, however, was left wondering how Liverpool could have lost after enjoying so much possession.

He said: "It's hard to take the defeat, especially when we were in control of the game. The first half was one-sided. We made one mistake and we conceded a goal. The second half they were more offensive and we made a massive mistake when we conceded the second goal. We worked hard with nine players but it was very difficult."

Benitez could now be without Torres and Steven Gerrard for the crucial Champions League clash against Lyon on Wednesday. The Liverpool manager said he would "have to see how Gerrard progresses" with his troublesome groin injury, while Torres is still not fully fit.

Benitez said: "We decided to play Fernando Torres against Manchester United last Sunday and it was a difficult decision because he was not 100 per cent fit. He needed four days to be ready and is still not 100 per cent fit. We decided to put him on the pitch but we had to protect him and that's why we took him out after 60 minutes. I don't want to lose an important player like Fernando for one month."

Benitez, however, dismissed talk of being under pressure. He said: "We have confidence we can do it but we have to take our chances and not make mistakes like today. You have to be calm and keep working hard and find solutions. We have to be realistic. We have to get three points in the league in the next game against Birmingham."

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said: "We had to work hard to keep them at bay. They had more possession than us and at one stage I couldn't see us holding out. But we got closer to them in the second half. We started to create chances and took some of them. We're getting better as a team."

He admitted he had not offered any sympathy to Benitez. "I would regard that as patronage," Hodgson said. "I just wished him luck for Wednesday."

There is no chance Hodgson, however, will let his Fulham side get carried away with the result.

He said: "We still have got a lot of work to do. I am preaching modesty and humility. It is important to keep our feet on the ground and we will have to because this year European competition is a huge stretch on our resources."