Do not expect Rafael Benitez to step away from rotating again in a hurry. His team were unchanged for the first time in 60 matches, but the Liverpool manager watched them struggle for long enough to fear a fifth draw from six Premier League home fixtures. Then he changed his team in the way he might have been expected to do before kick-off and allowed Fernando Torres to recharge their domestic challenge.
Torres' goal was divine - world-class control, a deceptive shimmy round a centre-back and an unexpectedly-placed finish - and Steven Gerrard completed victory with a dubious penalty. At the end of week in which Liverpool resurrected their Champions League campaign, the home team were reinstalled in the top four and Rafa the Rotator had further justification for his policy of constant change.
The two managers entered Anfield with more in common than Latin surnames. Both had shopped frantically in the summer, both struggled to convert their investment into early-season results, both seen question marks placed against their future, and both produced pressure relieving results from their previous outings.
Having spent more transfer money in one summer than Chris Coleman was granted in four, Lawrie Sanchez was recently called into Harrods to discuss his suspect shopping. If he had done himself few favours in critiquing his less generously funded predecessor's back-four only to replace it with one no more reliable, last Saturday's defeat of Reading offered breathing space.
The opening quarter of an hour was overwhelmingly Liverpool's. A succession of free-kicks and corner kicks went their way with Sami Hyypia drawing a smart parry from Antti Niemi from one and drifting a free header wide of his occasional drinking partner at another.
Steven Gerrard looped a long shot over Niemi's bar and found himself the victim of a third Finnish international's over-enthusiasm - clattered down by Shefki Kuqi three minutes into the striker's first Fulham start. The spearhead of the visitors' ambitious 4-4-2 formation, Kuqi wasn't simply a nuisance in the tackle, he was also unsettling Hyypia with his muscular presence. Fulham's best early chance fell to Danny Murphy as defender headed indecisively over centre-forward and the subsequent shot stretched Pepe Reina. Then Gerrard looped a long shot over Niemi's bar and was promptly clattered by Kuqi.
Without threatening much at the Kop end, Fulham were finding their bearings, closing up defensively as Kuqi and Co tracked back assiduously. For a frustrating half hour Liverpool found themselves restricted to an oddly saved Yossi Benayoun header; the applause ringing round Anfield as substitute Torres trotted along the touchline was very telling.
As neutrals wondered if Benitez's intention had been to prove a point about the rationality of rotating, he bemused them again by not changing a single player during the interval.
Andriy Voronin's comfortably saved strike from a Crouch knockdown did little to lift the tempo, a Gerrard charge through the midfield proved more promising. Ended by a Murphy tackle that never looked legal, the captain's run earned a free-kick that Fabio Aurelio span over the wall in such a way to wrong-foot Niemi. The keeper recovered but could only palm the ball out into his six-yard box where Benayoun slid in and somehow contrived to ladle it back over the bar.
Voronin proceeded to add an embarrassing miss of his own - a penalty-spot air shot - before he and Benayoun partially redeemed themselves with first-time strikes that Niemi did well to parry.
By then Benitez had altered his formation, placing Ryan Babel on the right wing and shifting Benayoun to the left. Though Torres soon followed, the pattern remained the same - Liverpool half chances gathered in by Niemi, Fulham breaking for the occasional set piece that Reina made more concerning than they might have been.
Then, from the most agricultural of clearances, Torres conjured up a moment of inspiration. Reina's long boot from the penalty area seemed destined for the opposing centre-backs, but Torres brought it under control with his chest. Darting to the right, he drew Aaron Hughes in, turned the centre-back on his heels and shot tightly to the near post. Niemi was offered no chance and Reina ran the length of the field to embrace his compatriot.
From the restart Torres almost netted again, but the next break was to be decisive. Carlos Bocanegra clipped Crouch's heels outside the area and the striker collapsed into it for a mistakenly awarded penalty. Gerrard converted with venom and the points were completely secure.
Match Facts
54' Murphy
64' Dempsey
81' Torres 1-0
85' Gerrard (penalty) 2-0
Liverpool
Jose Manuel Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa, Fabio Aurelio, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Yossi Benayoun, Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano (Lucas Leiva), John Arne Riise (Ryan Babel), Peter Crouch, Andriy Voronin (Fernando Torres)
Fulham
Antti Niemi, Chris Baird, Carlos Bocanegra, Aaron Hughes, Dejan Stefanovic, Simon Davies, Steven Davis, Clint Dempsey (Diomansy Kamara), Danny Murphy, David Healy (Hameur Bouazza), Shefki Kuqi
Referee: Tanner, S
Venue: Anfield
Attendance: 43,073
Corners:
Liverpool 8
Fulham 2
Goal Attempts:
Liverpool 21
Fulham 5
On Target:
Liverpool 13
Fulham 3
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