Question may have been raised about Fulham's defensive performance on Wednesday night but the same ones must certainly be asked about Liverpool. The Merseysiders made two calamitous errors during the match, both times gifting the opposition easy goals. Kolo Toure's sliced own-goal will be one the Ivorian wants to forget, especially after he gifted West Brom a point two weeks ago. Martin Srktel also gave away a goal, the centre-back's woeful clearance falling straight to Richardson, who made no mistake. Like Fulham, Liverpool's problems at the back appear to be caused by individual errors and not the failings of the team. As a unit they defend very well, in particular the pressing of Suarez and Sturridge allows the back-four to push high up the pitch. However, too often sloppy individual areas are costing Liverpool. Toure's error against West Brom is a prime example, if he does not play that poor pass than the Merseysiders could have two more points on the board. Following the win over Fulham, Liverpool have moved to within four points of league leaders Chelsea. Such a narrow gap has led many to see them as title challengers, which is a fair assessment simply because of the small mathematical margin. However, realistically Liverpool will struggle to maintain a title bid due to their costly defensive errors. Yes, they can out score teams, but in those final few matches you need a tight defence to grind out those all important victories.
Simon is an NCTJ qualified sports journalist. He has conducted interviews with Tony Adams and Peter Shilton, while also having work published in The Daily Telegraph and The Sun. Follow him on Twitter via @sr_collings.
