Well, I can’t think of many more bizarre and depressing conclusions to a game than that.

The Fulham fixture was the penultimate match in a run of eleven games with now fewer than eight away, and only three at home. Only two of the past seven games have been at Anfield.

So it was a horrible sequence, and far from indicative of the roughly 50-50 split you expect. It also included games against Chelsea, Man United and Arsenal, plus Fiorentina and Lyon in the Champions League. So not your average run of games.

By December 5th, the sequence will extend to eleven away games compared with a paltry five at home. Thankfully it then switches, with four out of the next six at Anfield.

Add in a bit of an injury/illness crisis, with almost an entire team absent at Craven Cottage, a thoroughly ludicrous red card (Degen) and goals conceded against the run of play, and it all got a bit surreal.

Liverpool were not outstanding, but they were not awful either; for the first 60-or-so minutes it was the kind of fairly impressive ‘by the book’ away display you’d have seen 25 years ago, just lacking a bit of cutting edge, as might be expected with so many of those who can supply it absent.

But by the end, with nine men, and an incredibly young set of players left out there, it was pretty desperate stuff at times, and not a sight I want to see too often….

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