News:

Use a VPN to stream games Safely and Securely 🔒
A Virtual Private Network can also allow you to
watch games Not being broadcast in the UK For
more Information and how to Sign Up go to
https://go.nordvpn.net/SH4FE

Main Menu


Good Piece On HammyEnd

Started by White Noise, February 26, 2010, 11:26:18 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

White Noise

Nice piece of analysis from Dan. You've got to say that HammyEnd.com is just going from strength to strength. Always a really good read and pretty bloomin' comprehensive. Well done to Dan, Nick, Lydia et al for making it such a good site. (And thanks for allowing me to post all your stuff in 'Fulham Stuff'; its always some of the most interesting content. You guys really find the Fulham stuff that others can't reach! :))


http://hammyend.com/?p=5668

The case for the defence

by Dan on February 26, 2010

Last night showed just how far Fulham have come under Roy Hodgson. The European run has been a terrific experience for the club and the fans but our beloved side have stood on the brink of something special many times before, albeit often at a much lower level than where we find ourselves now. Only those have proven to be false dawns. Too often when it came to the crunch, Fulham would fail to play, slip at the final hurdle or make a silly mistake.

Not last night. Not in Shakhtar. Not, in truth, too often under Hodgson. He deserves great credit for taking an almost ludicrously leaky defence and reshaping it to such an extent that it is now miserly. Much has been made of Hodgson's Italian influences. The manner in which the coach organises his sides and sides them up away from home has all the marks of an Italian coach, whose first priority is, in the words of a writer at Corriere dello Sport many moons ago, to 'protect the nil after the opponent's name'. Such organisation requires discipline in the midfield, especially the two central midfielders in a regular 4-4-2 (or – as we've seen more recently in the 4-4-1-1), but also demands a strong work ethic from the wide players.

Hodgson's tactics were spot on last night. Fulham defended excellently from the front. He noted just how well Zoltan Gera stuck to Barry Ferguson on Sunday and the Hungarian was more than willing to drop back into midfield to supplement the four behind him when Shakhtar had the ball. Bobby Zamora would frequently drop off as deep as the halfway to make it difficult for the home side to play their way through Fulham, even with their ridiculously precise and successful passing.

More than that, there was something subtle about the little tweaks to Hodgson's formation. Fulham have always been narrow in midfield since Hodgson came to the helm, but the 'wide' players probably couldn't even be given that moniker last night. Davies and Duff have immense ability with the ball at their feet and can turn a game in an instant (as the Irishman demonstrated with an inch-perfect cross for the Fulham goal) but their value tonight was in stopping Shakhtar's raiding forwards from gaining too much joy, especially when the Ukrianians tried to switch the ball quickly.

The midfielders also had a responsibility to get back and shut down the space in the full back positions. That was because Fulham's back four were so close together at times you could have thrown some playing cards over them and covered the defensive line easily. This was obviously a reaction to how Shakhtar played in the pockets of space between the centre backs and the gaps between centre half and full back. It largely worked – although Shakhtar had a lot of the ball they didn't gallop through any holes. Roy also referred, in the post-match press conference, to the fact that Shakhtar played largely 'in front of us' – a welcome development after the way Ilsinho floated a ball behind a square defence for the equaliser at the Cottage.

Hangeland was immense at the back but we expect that. It was reassuring to see him back to his best after an iffy January with injuries and some sub-par performances. Aaron Hughes was outstanding, full of confident last-ditch tackles and important blocks, especially as the crosses came flying in during the second period.

But I'd like to finish with a word about our fabulous full-backs. It's easy to forget that neither Chris Baird nor Stephen Kelly were playing in their rightful positions last night. I'd quibble with the ITV assertion that 'Baird is a midfielder by trade,' however well he's done when forced into that role this season. It would have been tempting prior to Christmas to say he wasn't a right back either, but the newly confident Northern Ireland international is revelling in proving the doubters wrong. Plenty of people questioned his ability during a nightmare start at the Cottage, but nobody can doubt his quite brilliant character to put all that behind him and be playing probably the best football of his career right now.

Many observers were worried about Kelly being the weak link in the second leg and rued the absence of both Paul Konchesky and Nicky Shorey. The on-loan Aston Villa left back has made a real difference since he's come in on loan but this was a strong performance from Kelly, who certainly didn't let anybody down. I'd go further than that still. It was a confident display, full of determination and his distribution was pretty progressive throughout. Anyone who blames Kelly for the goal, when he gets beaten by an electric turn of pace and a sumptuous bit of skill from the Brazilian Douglas Costa, is being unduly harsh. It could be the night Kelly came of age.

Let's face it: with Roy Hodgson's Fulham, the sky's the limit.

RidgeRider

Agreed. Really good piece by Dan and thanks for posting White Noise.

KCat

When I grow up I would like to be able to write like Dan.  It is all so true though, even though you know that the players do on the pitch  what is asked by the manager,   you still look critically at some of their performances. 
Case in point,  me !! saying Dixon looked pedestrian, when he was doing exactly what was asked of him. Kelly I get !!! other people do not.  The main reason for me is that Roy liked him enough to go after him during two summer transfers, and his performance in Europe and also at Manchester City, has in my opinion been very good.  Strange that the lad seem to play better away from home, perhaps he likes the bigger pitches !!!
So i shall look at Dixon with 'new eyes' in the future.   


HatterDon

I've been meaning to say this before now, but there are three sites I go to for quality analysis of all things Fulham.

1. Craven Cottage Newsround consistently provides the best sports journalism I've found. How wonderful for all of us that it's Fulham based as well.

2. HammyEnd & Fulham Theoffisde -- In Dan Crawford and in Timmy Gelles [timmyg], we have two gifted writers who seem to be getting better each month.

And thanks again to WN/FSG through whose hard work the latter two excellent sites came to my attention!
"As long as there is light, I will sing." -- Juana, la Cubana

www.facebook/dphvocalease
www.facebook/sellersandhymel

dancrawford

Appreciate this guys, but it would be rude not to extend my thanks to all those on the writing staff who put everything into our site:


  • Nick the Swede
    Nick W
    Lydia
    Jason Gatties

Thanks as well to all our readers and commenters who contribute so much to the site.

Do let me know if you think there's anything we can to improve the site as we're currently planning some upgrades.

Cornnolio

Baird has played well at RB, damn well in fact - he has won me over....but Kelly is just awful.  There has to be a better option against Juve....I'd rather see Davies at LB, Gera at LM and Elm and BZ up top. Or Duff at LB, Davies and Gera in the midfield, etc...I guess the point is anybody is better than Kelly at LB.  He contributes NOTHING going forward, is a liability on defense and contributes NOTHING going forward.  lol.


dancrawford

You've clearly forgotten the crucial third goal in Basel created by a terrific run down the left by ... Stephen Kelly.

Remember that Kelly's playing out of position, on the wrong side of defence as a right footer in the role that he'd never played before coming here. He's not the greatest by any stretch but he's doing a good job.

The alternatives you mention don't bear thinking about. Davies has played right back on ocassion but never left back and having a midfielder in defence is a recipe for disaster. I'd prefer to keep him where he is.

As for Duff at left back, that blinding tactical insight from Alan Shearer helped Newcastle go down. Only in a emergency should we try that.

Burt

Being a creature of habit and one with not a lot of time on my hands I only ever really come on to FOF, but having read Mr Crawford's analysis (excellent) I may venture further afield.

KCat

Dan as that stunning cross went in,  you just knew it was going in the net.  Watching it live was my best moment of the season................and  a major reason why we are in the last 16. Isn't it great !!!! 


LBNo11

...'Good Piece On HammyEnd' ???


There's always good pieces on Hammy End.. :D

Twitter: @LBNo11FFC

Chopper

Think we're very lucky to have two excellent blogs, but then maybe that's just typical of Fulham. Along with this site it's all you need to keep up with what's happening in Fulham world.
Sold my soul to the Green Pole

dancrawford

Quote from: KCat on February 27, 2010, 10:12:52 AM
Dan as that stunning cross went in,  you just knew it was going in the net.  Watching it live was my best moment of the season................and  a major reason why we are in the last 16. Isn't it great !!!! 

Absolutely KCat. I was watching with a friend who was even more nervous than me (which I didn't think was possible) and as Duff sent in that free-kick, I leapt forwards and said 'it's in' which is normally the cue for the ball to go miles wide. Thankfully, it went right in the corner.

Thanks for the kinds words guys. Threads like these make all the work worthwhile.