Fulham 0 Liverpool 2:ATTENTION QUICKLY turned from Liverpool's stroll to yet another Champions League semi-final against Chelsea. Rafael Benitez was asked whether he, like many watching the English game, missed Jose Mourinho. "You might, but not me," came the response, forced through a smile. "I have enough things to do at Liverpool now. I don't need to be . . ."
His answer trailed away, but it is fair to assume the lack of the usual public spat with the opposing manager in the build-up to tomorrow's first leg was a weight off the Spaniard's mind. The personality clashes tend to take place in the Liverpool boardroom these days rather than the dugouts, even when Chelsea travel north.
In Mourinho's absence, and with Fulham's considerable help, Benitez has arguably enjoyed the perfect build-up to the latest collision with Chelsea, title challengers again, in continental competition. This victory left the Merseysiders a point adrift of guaranteeing qualification for the Champions League, with winnable games to come.
The corresponding fixture last year prompted furore. Liverpool's minds were on the European Cup final and they made nine changes and were duly beaten by a Fulham side who eventually survived by a point, an outcome recalled with acrimony on Saturday morning by Neil Warnock, whose Sheffield United team in consequence slipped from the Premier League.
Liverpool also made eight changes here, but the result and resolve on show sapped any intrigue from this occasion and the closest Benitez came to being perturbed was in revealing he would be instructing his lawyers over Warnock's comments.
This is a stronger squad than a year ago, although Fulham also appear considerably weaker. They never came close to eclipsing Javier Mascherano in the centre of midfield, the Argentinian setting the tempo and maintaining it through snapped tackles and simple crisp passes.
Fulham were flustered and panicked around his metronomic presence, any hope generated by the previous week's first away win of the term at Reading quickly evaporating.
Only when he departed, his legs bruised by the home side's desperate lunges and with his team two goals up, did Fulham threaten to find reward.
In truth, the visitors always sported the air of a side toying with befuddled opponents. Liverpool's players were, in effect, attempting to prove they merited a place in tomorrow's first leg. There was endeavour and commitment but, given that Jamie Carragher, Mascherano, Jose Reina and Martin Skrtel are surely first choices, only Lucas Leiva, recovering from a sloppy start to torment Fulham, and Peter Crouch may have given Benitez cause to ponder his options.
The Brazilian set up Jermaine Pennant for his battered opener. Crouch, squirting a shot through a hapless Kasey Keller, completed a comfortable success.
"We were always going to treat this game seriously because it was important to make sure we kept up a big gap between ourselves and Everton (in fifth place), and it's now eight points," said Crouch. "Although that doesn't guarantee us fourth place, with just three games to go it takes a bit of the pressure off, which helps us concentrate on the Champions League.
"It's going to be different for us having to play at home first, but we showed against Arsenal in the quarter-finals we could really get at teams at Anfield. I don't expect the same sort of match against Chelsea, as the circumstances are different, but there's no reason why we can't go out and be positive."
That was precisely the attitude required of the home side at Craven Cottage, but positive intent matters little when defending is as slapdash as that offered by Fulham. Their backline floundered, caught square too often when passes were slipped in between flustered centre-halves.
Brede Hangeland is a giant of a man but his reputation was diminished by this display. Behind him Keller's form appeared to collapse, all confidence in those around him apparently stripped.
Roy Hodgson's club are slipping back into the Championship and relegation will be confirmed next weekend if they lose at Manchester City and other results go against them. Hodgson inherited a side short of class and has done his best to revive fortunes, but this would have proved a task beyond most. There is quality in their ranks but it is shrunken at present and life outside the top flight may not suit them.
Life in the second tier may prove something of an eye-opener.
