Four days ago Liverpool boss Arne Slot was unhappy with a narrow Champions League victory at Girona but on Saturday the Dutchman was delighted with their resilience in a 2-2 draw against Fulham after his 10-man team twice fought back from a goal down.
Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota scored for Liverpool, who remain top of the Premier League on 36 points from 15 games, five points clear of Chelsea, with Jota netting an 86th-minute equaliser.
“I think it’s exactly the opposite from the Girona game, where I was pleased with the result [1-0], but not with the performance,” Slot said. “Now I’m very, very, very happy about the performance. Couldn’t have asked for more.
Of course, not with the result, because if you drop points in a home game against Fulham that’s definitely not what you expect and what you want, but being two times a goal down, so many things go against you, except for one thing, that is our players and our fans, they were outstanding today.
Liverpool were reduced to 10 men in the 17th minute after Andy Robertson’s awkward lunging tackle on Harry Wilson denied a scoring opportunity. There was a lengthy VAR check to confirm the red card and that Wilson was in an onside position.
Slot said Robertson was still feeling the effects of taking an early knock to his knee and that contributed to the red card.
“I think what the team showed today, the character they showed, that is also what Robbo showed, and sometimes, if you get a kick like this, two studs on a knee, that can hurt for a few minutes, and then if you just keep on running, then it gets better and better, and that’s what we are hoping for.
“I [also] only had one defender on the bench, which is not a left full-back as well. So we were hoping he [Robertson] was managing to come through it, but the moment I noticed that he wasn’t completely himself was the one time that [Fulham] put the ball in behind and he started running. He was just able to head it back to [goalkeeper Alisson].
“But I felt ‘okay, let’s see how this continues.’ And I think it was quite fast afterwards where he conceded the red card. Nothing to blame on him, he showed character that he wanted to continue because he got quite a hard knock on his knee. Unfortunately, it led to a red card. That was a deserved red card.”
The sending off ended what had already been a tough afternoon for Robertson who played a part in Fulham’s opener. Andreas Pereira shot took a deflection off the Scotsman’s thigh and flew into the net after 11 minutes.
