good away days have been few and far between this season. norwich and west brom away were games we should have expected to win but even the victory against fulham away was not without it's flaws. infact the first half performance that day was not much better than the dross we had to witness against the saints recently. In the end bringing on xabi alonso turned a 2-0 half time deficit into a 4-2 victory.
of course, in that fulham game, biscan scored that wonder goal, and it will be interesting to see if he starts tomorrow with hamann returning from suspension. ordinarily i'd play hamann anytime but we need to remember that in the last three games hamann has been very poor. he has no right to walk straight back into the side. it will also be interesting to see what will happen when harry kewell returns from injury, because riise has been revelling in his midfield role this season. the most frustrating thing was that before getting injured, harry was showing glimpses of getting back some form, especially against olympiakos.
it's all about putting a run together now, at this vital stage of the season if we can. fulham at home is the sort of fixture in which we would have dropped points in the past. last year we drew 0-0 with them and then followed it up with a 1-0 home defeat to charlton. it was a major low point of the season because for the first time ever we were selling tickets on match days. at least this season we are more attractive to watch and the fans have come flooding back. amazingly enough liverpool have only ever lost one home game during february in premiership history. fulham have never won away from home in the premiership during february (6 matches) but come into the game unbeaten in seven, and with Edwin Van Der Saar on fire.
so a message to rafa, please don't make wholesale changes tomorrow, it does nobody any favours. you've done it in the past, off the back of a good result and got found out. i hope you've learnt your lesson. with everton not playing till sunday against a rejuvinated southampton, we can really put the pressure on them with a good three points.
YNWA
