Bobby: Perfect Gameplan

Bobby De Cordova-Reid says Fulham executed the perfect gameplan at Anfield on Sunday.

Far from being a smash-and-grab, the Whites headed to the Champions targeting three points, and were duly rewarded for their positive mindset.

Speaking to fulhamfc.com a day later, De Cordova-Reid said: “It was massive, and the best thing is that we knew we had a chance, we knew that if we played our game and were resilient in what we were doing, that we would have a good chance, and the gameplan came off perfectly.

“We all believed before the game. The Manager told us in meetings beforehand that we’ve got to have belief.

“We know how well we can play, they were a wounded animal and we knew if we applied pressure and played our game that we would be okay, and it was just a nice feeling when the whistle went to get the three points as that will bring confidence into the games coming up.

“We don’t fear anyone in this league. We know how good we are. Conceding goals, we’re second in the table for the past I don’t know how many games.

“We know that we’re good defensively and we know that we can score goals and play good football so, listen, we’ll just bounce into every game with high confidence and the belief that we can beat anyone.”

Fulham dominated proceedings in the first half and, just as our perseverance looked set to be in vain going into half-time, Mario Lemina lashed in a stunning opener.

The hosts improved after the break but could find no way through a Whites brick wall which saw all 11 players pitching in.

“I think the first half we played really well,” Bobby said. “We were probably unfortunate not to have a couple of goals, to be honest.

“Ade [Lookman] got down the left a few times and we probably should have scored from one of those, but it wasn’t to be so we kept on plugging away. Mario’s goal was good and the timing was perfect.

“Look, Liverpool’s a very good team so you know you’re going to have to be very defensively good, structurally you have to be good, and you’ve got to be resilient in your defending.

“That was the case first and foremost, and then we were able to attack off that. And I think we did that, to a man, perfectly.

“It was a tale of two halves; in the first half we showed how well we can play, and in the second half we showed how resilient we can be defensively and what it meant to us, and I think we deserved to win.”

During the game, the commentators dropped in that De Cordova-Reid actually grew up as a Liverpool fan…

“Yeah, that’s correct!” he laughed. “I’ll put that down to my brothers and cousins being Liverpool fans.

“I enjoyed being a Liverpool fan, I still am. It’s a bit unfortunate what’s going on there at the moment, but from my point of view it was an opportunity to get three points, and I’m happy to take them.

“It’s something I can look back on in my career. It’s a big achievement, especially taking four points off them out of six, and to score a goal [in the home fixture] as well, it was perfect for me.”