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Phil Thomas at SunSport |
Liverpool (0) 0 Fulham (1) 1
KENNY DALGLISH put the boot in on his Kop flops after another Anfield shocker - and admitted he was in the dock as well.
Fulham left here for the first time ever as winners as Dalglish's hopes of the ideal pre-Wembley tonic went horribly wrong.
The Liverpool boss handed his second string the chance to stake a late claim for a place in Saturday's FA Cup final clash with Chelsea - and looked on in horror as it blew up in his face.
Martin Skrtel's fifth-minute own goal was enough to hand victory to Fulham and leave Liverpool staring at their worst home campaign since 1948-49.
After seeing his side make it THIRTY dropped points on their own patch, Dalglish slammed: "I have to take part of the blame because I wanted to give everyone a chance to push their case.
"But the performance and attitude were very poor and that's not like us.
That's where it went wrong.
"We can't play at that tempo, we have to play higher.
One or two did well but apart from that it wasn't a good night for us.
"A lot of people have to take responsibility for that.
I am culpable too, because giving people an opportunity to put themselves in the frame for Saturday was a contributory factor.
"If you go into games with a bad attitude you'll get nothing - and that's what we got.
"
Even in the relegation year of 1954, Liverpool won seven times at Anfield.
With just Chelsea to come here this season, they have won only five.
In 1903-04, they finished the season with their lowest home goals haul of 24.
Unless they hit four against Roberto Di Matteo's Blues, they will fall short on that score too.
The fact Fulham No 1 Mark Schwarzer hardly had a save to make all night tells you everything about how pitiful Liverpool were yet again.
They did create the chances yet with Dirk Kuyt, Jonjo Shelvey, Maxi Rodriguez and Co once again firing blanks, the Aussie was probably in the safest place on the pitch.
Indeed, Reds stopper Doni was far more active, pulling off top stops to deny Clint Dempsey and former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise.
And when Schwarzer was beaten, by a Shelvey fizzer, Brede Hangeland was there to coolly walk it off the line.
It also seemed somehow fitting the only goal came from a clanger, too, one-time Kop hopeful Alex Kacaniklic flicking on a Riise cross and then seeing it come off Skrtel to leave Doni stranded.
Fulham boss Martin Jol missed a second trip to Merseyside in three days with the chest infection which kept him away from the 4-0 drubbing at Everton.
Jol's No 2 Billy McKinlay said: "Hopefully this will cheer him up a bit.
I'll enjoy our conversation more than I did after Saturday.
"
Asked if Anfield was no longer the fortress of old, he insisted: "This is still a difficult place to come.
"
But you got the impression he was just being polite.
For Liverpool, that was perhaps the most damning thing of all.
STAR MAN - BREDE HANGELAND (FULHAM)
LIVERPOOL: Doni 7, Kelly 6, Coates 6, Skrtel 6, Aurelio 5, Henderson 5, Shelvey 6, Spearing 6, Maxi 6, Carroll 7, Kuyt 6.
Subs: Downing (Henderson 46) 7, Enrique (Aurelio 65) 7, Sterling (Kuyt 76) 6.
Not used: Jones, Carragher, Flanagan, Robinson.
FULHAM: Schwarzer 7, Kelly 7, Hangeland 8, Hughes 8, JA Riise 7, Duff 7, Murphy 7, Dembele 7, Kacaniklic 7, Dempsey 8, Pogrebnyak 6.
Subs: Frei (Kacaniklic 58) 7, Etuhu (Pogrebyak 80) 6, Baird (Dembele 86) 6.
Not used: Stockdale, Briggs, Kasami, Sa.
REF: L Probert 7
Source .