Reds slip up again

Rafael Benitez
12 April 2012

Liverpool badly missed Fernando Torres as they dropped two more points in their increasingly forlorn pursuit of fourth place in the Barclays Premier League drawing 0-0 at Fulham.

The Reds had numerous opportunities to beat fellow Europa League semi-finalists Fulham but, without the cutting edge of the injured Torres, drew a blank at Anfield.

They also came up against a goalkeeper in good form in Mark Schwarzer, who produced a number of saves, including a fine stop from a powerful Ryan Babel drive.

Liverpool dominated possession throughout and Jose Reina, fresh from signing a new six-year contract, barely had a shot to save. Yet their dependence on Torres was again all too evident.

The Spaniard scored twice in Thursday's stunning victory over Benfica but left the field early to rest a knee injury.

Rafael Benitez had expected the striker to be fit but he failed to even make the bench, with it later becoming apparent that the 26-year-old is to visit a specialist to assess the problem.

Fulham were able to field their leading scorer Bobby Zamora following a fitness test on an Achilles injury, but the England World Cup hopeful endured a quiet afternoon.

The Reds should have taken the lead after just three minutes but Babel failed to make any connection with a six-yard volley from Steven Gerrard`s corner. Steven Gerrard then created a chance for David Ngog but the Frenchman had to stretch and volleyed wide.

The tone for most of the afternoon was set from then onwards, with Liverpool much the livelier side but meeting continual frustration in the final third. Maxi Rodriguez, Alberto Aquilani and Javier Mascherano all tried their luck as Liverpool continued to dominate without breaking through.

Schwarzer produced a brilliant save to keep out Babel before time eventually ran out for Liverpool and, not for the first time this season, their supporters left frustrated.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in