 BEFORE Istanbul, some of the club's younger fans could probably not quite believe there was a time once when Liverpool were champions of Europe. Many more performances like this, and it won't just be the kids who'll soon be remembering May 25 2005 as some kind of distant fairytale. The most depressing aspect of this defeat was that, were it taken in isolation and used as some kind of barometer of Rafael Benitez's management at domestic level, it would show that the Spaniard is no nearer to fathoming a style to suit the Premiership than he was when he first walked through the Shankly Gates 16 months ago. File this game alongside all those away horror-shows of the last campaign - Birmingham,, Southampton and the like. The games that ensured Liverpool's hopes of a title run were ham-strung long before Christmas. The travel sickness that Benitez set such stall by curing this term. Ironically, Craven Cottage had provided some rare joy on the road last season. Fans travelling down to London on Saturday morning could reminisce at the victory summoned 12 months ago from the brink of humiliating defeat, Fulham's 2-0 half-time lead overturned in spectacular fashion by Liverpool's four-goal post-interval blitz. Ah yes, goals. Remember them? They're those things Liverpool used to chalk up on a fairly regular basis in the Premiership. Those things that, on Saturday, Liverpool seldom appeared in danger of having to bother about. And it's not just Saturday. It's not an afternoon merely to dismiss as a blip, an inexplicable one-off. Benitez bristled at the suggestion put to him post-match that Liverpool have improved negligibly from the side that shed points across the country last season. "It's the first game that we've lost away this season," he said, pointedly. And yet, where is the evidence to the contrary? Surely Liverpool's travelling form has in fact dipped steadily since the delirious heights of that opening-day 0-0 at Middlesbrough. Tottenham was a backs-to-the-wall battle with again barely a whiff of goal. Birmingham finally saw goals, but only with an accompanying haemorraghing at the back. And now this, the low point in performance this let-down of a season - on these shores - has been threatening all along. | 
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