Fulham pile the misery on Rafa’s Reds

By Brian Lofrumento | 31st October 2009

Fulham pile the misery on Rafa's Reds | read this item

Related News

Rafa Benitez’s future at Liverpool has become even more cloudy following Fulham’s determined 3-1 win at Craven Cottage. Liverpool picked up two red cards along the way as Erik Nevland’s clever goal proved to be enough for Fulham to grab all three points.

Bobby Zamora got things going for the home side in the first half, but his strike was quickly cancelled out by a stunning Fernando Torres goal. Torres, though, was taken off in the second half, much to his chagrin. It was all Fulham from there as Liverpool struggled to mount any serious attacks on Mark Schwarzer’s goal.

After Dirk Kuyt slid to keep a ball in play in the second half, Paul Konchesky gladly capitalized on the opportunity and crossed in, only for the ball to find itself at the heels of Erik Nevland, who cleverly backheeled past Pepe Reina to make it 2-0.

Within the span of three minutes of each other, both Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher received red cards, leaving Rafa’s side with nine men on the pitch. Degen went in late, hard, and from the side of Clint Dempsey, while Jamie Carragher mimicked his own last man challenge on Michael Owen from last week, earning himself a much deserved red.

Clint Dempsey rounded off the scoring for Fulham just three minutes from time, and when the fourth official announced four minutes of added time it was clear that Rafa Benitez just wanted to get out of there.

Liverpool’s loss comes just when many pundits predicted a revival at the club, and Rafa Benitez has a lot to figure out if he wants to keep his job.