Zamora 24    Torres 42

                                                                                                 Nevland 73

                                                                                                 Dempsey 87

Liverpool fans will be wishing they could play Manchester United every week on the evidence of this woeful, craven display at Craven Cottage.

They lacked imagination and creativity, and finished with nine men after Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher saw red late on.

Rafa Benitez’s men dominated first-half possession to the extent that even his Fulham counterpart Roy Hodgson was “surprised” when his side took the lead in the 24^th minute.

The source of the goal was also a surprise to some - a rare strike from Bobby Zamora, who found his way into the box unmarked to slide home Damien Duff‘s low cross from the left.

For all Liverpool’s possession they needed some more Fernando Torres magic to go in level at the break, the Spaniard volleying home from the edge of the area on 42 minutes.

A far-from-fit Torres was replaced on 62 minutes, with Wednesday’s vital Champions League trip to Lyon in mind, Benitez explaining that Torres had been unable to train for four days after his 80-minute stint against United.

And Fulham, seeing far more of the ball in the second period, were ahead 12 minutes later.

Dirk Kuyt gave up possession to Paul Konchesky and the full-back’s far-post cross was headed back into the danger area by Zoltan Gera for Erik Nevlund to tap-in.

Degen was sent-off on 79 minutes for a high-speed studs-up challenge on Clint Dempsey, although Degen’s studs were nowhere near the Fulham man.

And just ninety seconds afterwards, Liverpool were down to nine when Carragher and Zamora tussled as Zamora headed for goal.

The referee adjudged Carragher to be the guilty party, despite playing the ball, as Zamora himself pointed out.

Three minutes from time, Liverpool’s misery was complete when Nevlund and Dempsey combined to pull their undermanned defence apart, Dempsey’s left-foot shot beating keeper Pepe Reina low to his right.