Ref and Reina to blame for Reds' defeat

A combination of poor goalkeeping, bad refereeing and a lack of a cutting edge in front of goal cost Liverpool dearly last night as the Reds fell to a 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage, ending their impressive unbeaten run on the road which had stretched back to another loss in the capital, that time a 4-0 reversal against Tottenham Hotspur in September.

Clint Dempsey exploited an error from Reina late on to steal all three points for Fulham, after the game had swung on two refereeing decisions that went against the visitors. First, Suarez's legitimate goal was chalked off for offside. Then, Spearing ludicrously saw red following a strong tackle on Dembele. The Reds also hit the woodwork twice as it turned out to be one of those frustrating evenings for Dalglish's side.

The legendary Scot made five changes from the team that beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup six days previously, awarding Jay Spearing his first Premier League start of the season as a replacement for the injured Lucas Leiva, while pairing Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez up front together for the first time since our stalemate at home to Swansea. Meanwhile Maxi, who has netted twice in London recently and bagged an excellent hattrick in last season's stunning 5-2 victory at the Cottage, had to settle for a place on the bench.

A lively opening saw Skrtel exposed as Zamora threaded a ball into the box for Dembele. Thankfully Reina read the situation and stormed out of goal to make a crucial stop. Carroll and Suarez then linked up, the latter feeding the former, but the out of sorts Geordie fired his strike straight at Aussie stopper Mark Schwarzer.
His opposite number then had to be aware to prevent the influential Dembele's lovely low strike breaching his net on 17 minutes.

Following several impressive performances as a late sub, Henderson was rightly rewarded with a place in the starting eleven last night, although once again he was not placed in his preferred central position, despite Lucas' injury opening up a slot in the side there. Nevertheless, he took the opportunity to showcase his talent. Not only did the former Sunderland skipper keep possession brilliantly (claiming the highest pass accuracy of 95%), he also showed sparks of attacking ingenuity, directing a delicate shot agonisingly against the inside of the post on the half hour mark.

American striker Clint Dempsey, who has been linked with a move to Merseyside in the past, was involved either side of the interval, as Reina parried his effort on 37 minutes, before he went down under Bellamy's tackle during the opening stages of the second period and responding by getting forcefully into the Welshman's face. The handbags were inevitably pulled out and referee Kevin Friend showed both players a yellow card, Bellamy laughing at his bizarre booking.

Despite that unnecessary commotion, Liverpool began the second half in the ascendancy and created numerous goalscoring chances yet frustratingly failed to take any of them. Their efforts were also frustrated by referee Kevin Friend's poor performance. After Enrique's volley was spooned to safety by Schwarzer, Hangeland clearly obstructed Suarez in the area but no penalty was awarded when anywhere else on the pitch a free kick would surely have been given.

On the hour mark Daniel Agger attacked a corner confidently and headed just wide, before Enrique dinked an excellent pass over the defence and to Luis Suarez who, after navigating a passage past Schwarzer, netted with a great finish. However, the Uruguayan was denied by an arguable offside flag. TV replays certainly suggested Suarez was level with the line of the defence.

Infuriated, Suarez gave the linesman a noticeable glare and his anger was further stoked by constant abuse from certain sections of the Fulham support. In retaliation, he unacceptably flicked a middle-finger gesture in their direction. Having already been charged by the FA for allegedly racially abusing Patrice Evra earlier this season, you'd have thought that the number seven would decide to keep his head down and behave himself.

For all his talent on the ball, Suarez does himself no favours with his conduct (or, should I say, misconduct) on the pitch. Unfortunately, though, volatility appears to be part of the package when it comes to Suarez and, arguably, that spark also at least partly explains his drive and determination to achieve success.

The Reds suffered further misfortune 18 minutes from time when Spearing, who had fulfilled Lucas' role of breaking up play relatively successfully, winning 100% of his attempted tackles, was sent off for a strong challenge on Dembele, which saw the 23-year old win the ball but catch his opponent on the follow through.

Spearing's tackle arguably warranted a yellow card, but a red was patently excessive and annoyingly but inevitably proved to be the pivotal point of the contest. Liverpool had been dominant and appeared close to breaking the deadlock, however after Spearing's sending off Fulham looked the more likely to secure a winner, and duly did so with five minutes remaining.

Dempsey curled an effort onto the crossbar following Johnson's unfortunate slip, before Liverpool responded, substituted Stewart Downing hitting the bar with a wonderful strike from range. Only moments later the Cottagers took advantage of a mistake from Reina to break the deadlock. The Spaniard fatally spilt ex-Red Danny Murphy's shot into the path of Dempsey, who easily tapped home from close range to break Red hearts.

It was very poor goalkeeping from a keeper widely considered to be one of the best in the business. Reina will not be too heavily criticised though because of previous impressive performances. Moreover, one of the key factors in him being a world-class keeper is his ability to quickly recover from mistakes. Expect him to keep a couple of clean sheets in the coming weeks to compensate.

Despite this disappointing defeat, Liverpool played reasonably well and, although they hardly hit the dizzying heights of recent displays versus City and Chelsea, highly disputable refereeing decisions and an individual mistake ultimately cost us the points at the Cottage.

Nevertheless, with games against the likes of QPR, Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers coming up over the festive period, the Reds should be able to rack up the points and climb the table ready for an assault on the top four in 2012.

YNWA