Fulham 2, Liverpool 2: Harrison Reed lands a 97th-minute gut punch

"And having trailed and now leading, surely Liverpool can't let this one slide now," the play-by-play commentator said.

When he finished his sentence, the clock read 96:13. The seven added minutes of time were almost up. Fulham winger Kevin played a simple ball from the left sideline to Harrison Reed. He turned inside, nearly 30 yards from Liverpool's goal.

The end of the commentator's next sentence — "OH, REED!" — came just two seconds later, when Reed's pile driver swerved with millimeter-perfect accuracy into the far upper 90, clipping the post and crossbar on its way.

It was a once-a-career strike that would have been painful to watch regardless of how and when Liverpool took their 1-2 lead. The fact that Cody Gakpo scored less than three minutes earlier? Yeah, that made it worse.

I mean, he took his shirt off in front of the away fans and everything.

A draw would have been a broadly deserved result. Like Thursday's Leeds game, neither team created more than three or four high-quality chances. In fact, Fulham and Liverpool both scored from their only two shots on target.

Did Liverpool deserve that, though? After sticking with it and bagging a stoppage time goal? After such a bland performance through 90 minutes, a bland 1-1 felt right. It's hard to swallow dropped points of any kind, but this 2-2 was dipped in acid. It's gonna sting until we play again . . .

[*Checks notes]

. . . at Arsenal. Wonderful.

With even fewer options in attack, Slot chose a new setup

Mo Salah remains at AFCON (at time of writing, Egypt leads Benin 1-0 in the round of 16), Isak is unavailable for months, and Sunday, Hugo Ekitike was ruled out due to muscle soreness.

It didn't come as a massive surprise after he racked up so many minutes during the festive period, but it was a massive blow. It's not hyperbole to say the Frenchman has been Liverpool's only offensive standout through this season's first 29 games.

Without a true tip of the spear, the shape looked most like a 4-4-2. It didn't work.

Florian Wirtz and Gakpo filled the space up top, and all four of our healthy first-team midfielders — Alexis Mac Allister, Dom Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, and Ryan Gravenberch — filled the space behind them.

I use those words intentionally. With a few exceptions, our players were little more than space-fillers. Sure, we had more possession. We generated eight corners, from which one of our few big chances came — Mac Allister's wide open header off the crossbar on 52'.

Everything continues to be mind-numbingly slow and static, though. We rarely harried or pressed, especially in the opponent's final third. One of our other major opportunities came when Wirtz dispossessed Tom Cairney and we were able to break — I don't know why we didn't see more of that, whether it was a result of the unfamiliar shape or more explicit instruction from Slot.

With the ball, we're still so risk-averse and predictable. Nowhere near enough explosive carries, movement off the shoulder, or line-breaking passes. We allow defenses to get set.

I was not a fan of Conor Bradley's performance. The ball arrived at his feet in the far corner after several patient buildups, and his instinct was always to cut back and play safe. Like many others, he looked gassed by 70', and he got torched by Antonee Robinson from then on.

I don't think it's surprising at all that Frimpong, who is one of the few willing to put his head down and make that run to the byline, or hit that cross, assisted the winner. Amazing what can happen when you hit an early ball into a dangerous area.

One of the only other moments of invention and quick thinking came early in the game, on 11'. After clever movement along the last line and a darted run onto Jones' slide-rule pass, Gakpo looked like he had a step on the nearest defender and was through with only Cottagers GK Bernd Leno to beat.

Instead of beelining to goal, his second and third touches brought him onto his weaker left, and he produced a mishit dribbler that spun by the post. Ironically, ex-Red Harry Wilson scored from an eerily similar situation about six minutes later.

The game-defining moments

With no pressure whatsoever, Fulham's Jorge Cuenca easily picked out Raul Jimenez as he dropped deep. Konate vacated his position to chase Jimenez even though it was clear the ball would arrive before he could get tight. Gravenberch let Wilson run in behind, Virgil van Dijk didn't step up enough for offside, and Jimenez found Wilson with a deft flick. His first touch was positive, into the box and onto his favored left. His finish past Alisson was unerring. 1-0 Fulham on 17'.

Liverpool did well enough not to lose their minds and concede a second, and got their reward for simply staying in the game on 57' — a bizarre Florian Wirtz goal that looked at least a yard offside, but was "corrected" by VAR.

For me, the most frustrating period in the game, even more than the pedestrian first half, is from here into stoppage time. The momentum felt there to be seized, and all we could generate were two wasted Gakpo shots from promising positions, one from distance with runners to either side, and one into the side netting when the cross was on.

Liverpool were let off the hook on 76' when Alisson and Konate combined for our typical "Uhh, What Are You Doing?" Defensive Play of the Game. Their mixup on the edge of the box led to a free Harry Wilson chip, which popped off the crossbar and landed at van Dijk's feet.

Just when most of us had made peace with 1-1, the sane result, Frimpong's teasing 94th-minute cross squirted through Fulham's six-yard box to Gakpo, the most wasteful player on the day. He kneed the ball over the line for what appeared to be an undeserved albeit gritty winner. A winner that would have offered us the chance to exhale and reset if it was really, you know, the winner.

Which brings us back to Reed. "Who's closing him down?" is the refrain we've seen and heard in the aftermath. And while someone probably should have, I was happy enough to see us pack the box, determined not to concede from the throw that preceded the play, and let the guy try to beat Alisson Becker from 30 out. A goal kick, the likeliest outcome, all but kills the game.

Instead it hits the net, and this brutal season rolls on.