Rafael Benitez will appeal against both red cards
after nine-man Liverpool slumped to a humiliating 3-1 defeat at
Craven Cottage. Swiss defender Philipp Degen and captain Jamie
Carragher were sent off for second-half fouls as Liverpool's
Premier League hopes disintegrated, falling to their fifth league
loss of the season.
But Benitez believed referee Lee Mason got both decisions wrong,
saying Degen's foul on Clint Dempsey was no more than a yellow card
while he maintained Carragher played the ball when he was adjudged
to have brought down Bobby Zamora.
Benitez said: "They were two incidents in a few minutes when we
were losing and they were difficult to take. "The first one was a
yellow card. The second one you can clearly see that Carragher was
kicking the ball."
Bobby Zamora put Fulham ahead and Fernando Torres equalised in a
first-half in which Liverpool dominated possession. But when Erik
Nevland put Fulham ahead for the second time and Torres had been
substituted there was only one winner, Clint Dempsey scoring a late
clincher for the home side.
Benitez, however, was left wondering how Liverpool could have
lost after enjoying so much possession. He said: "It's hard to take
the defeat, especially when we were in control of the game. The
first half was one-sided. We made one mistake and we conceded a
goal.
"The second half they were more offensive and we made a massive
mistake when we conceded the second goal. We worked hard with nine
players but it was very difficult."
Benitez could now be without Torres and Steven Gerrard for the
crucial Champions League clash against Lyon on Wednesday.
The Liverpool boss said he would "have to see how Gerrard
progresses" with his troublesome groin injury, while Torres is
still not fully fit.
Benitez said: "We decided to play Fernando Torres against
Manchester United (last Sunday) and it was a difficult decision
because he was not 100% fit. He needed four days to be ready and is
still not 100% fit. "We decided to put him on the pitch but we had
to protect him and that's why we took him out after 60 minutes. I
don't want to lose an important player like Fernando for one
month."
Benitez, however, dismissed talk of being under pressure, He
said: "We have confidence we can do it but we have to take our
chances and not make mistakes like today. You have to be calm and
keep working hard and find solutions. "We have to be realistic. We
have to get three points in the league in the next game against
Birmingham."
Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said: "We had to work hard to keep
them at bay. They had more possession than us and at one stage I
couldn't see us holding out. "But we got closer to them in the
second half. We started to create chances and took some of them.
We're getting better as a team.
He admitted he had not offered any sympathy to Benitez. "I would
regard that as patronage," Hodgson said. "I just wished him luck
for Wednesday."
There is no chance Hodgson, however, will let his Fulham side
get carried away with the result. He said: "We still have got a lot
of work to do. I am preaching modesty and humility. To be in the
Premier League and to be playing Liverpool and Manchester United
and Chelsea is a wonderful achievement for Fulham.
"It is important to keep our feet on the ground and we will have
to because this year European competition is a huge stretch on our
resources."
Seeing red: Jamie Carragher is sent for an early
bath
