Hangeland....don't shoot me but...

[jarv]

Do not get me wrong, I would hate to see him leave but occasionally he does make some awful mistakes. Both goals last night, he was nowhere NEAR close enough. Perhaps on the first he felt he had done enough to catch Forlan offside (which he was according to the law, but only after watching replay). He should have been attached to Forlans shorts on both occasions.

Fantastic performance from all though. Sportinglife.com gave Fulham players some harsh scores though. Etuhu got a 5. OK, he gives the ball away a bit but he covered every blade of grass, tackled just about everyone and gave the back 4 more than adequate protection..

No shame in losing to Athletico. Kind of like Fulham, they are the peoples club, supported by real football supporters.

[LBNo11]

...Forlan was in superb form, Atletico had much fewer games than us and we were starting to flag due to fatigue after 63 games, the little deflection off of Hangeland for the 2nd was unfortunate, but Schwarz was nowhere near it anyway...

[jarv]

I agree with you, the lads were exhausted. (and brilliant) I still think, especially on the first goal, he could have been closer.  Forlan......any chance RH is still there trying to sign him???

[Lighthouse]

The minds were slow last night and have to say that Davies and Gera worked their socks off. But Brede is what he is. A great stopper. His passing is poor, his marking isn't great. But what he does he does well. Hughes is the stand out player for me. Superb again, covering and marking.

Etuhu is a player who plays the easy pass and Murphy looks very old of late. We have needed some better players to come in than we have. When Greening is about then forget any chance we have of midfield play.

The differance last night? We need a forward. We had one playing and Nevland came on. Dempsey is great but no forward in this class. Forlan did nothing except score. It helps.

[horse1031]

baird couldnt control aguero and he was running all over the place...  hughes should have tackled aguero at the end so he could get the cross in.  hangeland had a great game.  it is almost impossible to not have 1 or 2 mistakes in a 120 minute game.

[HatterDon]

I called the missus at half time and said, "Atletico plays a lot like us -- only quicker and faster."

Find scapegoats in uniform if you want, but the truth is they were well-organized, difficult to break down, and had a match-winning striker -- just like us throughout the entire tournament. The thing was, they were quicker to everything all over the pitch. They neutralized our primary route of attack -- up our right wing -- by pegging Baird and Duff back in full-time defense. If I have a regret, it's that they had an untried teenager in goal, and we put him under pressure only three times in 120 minutes.

I don't think we could have asked any more of anyone in the side last night; I think Atletico were full value for their win. I'm going to keep one eye on the world cup and the other on the transfer market for the next few months ... and I'm not going to criticize ANY player wearing our badge last night.

[RidgeRider]

I called the missus at half time and said, "Atletico plays a lot like us -- only quicker and faster."

Find scapegoats in uniform if you want, but the truth is they were well-organized, difficult to break down, and had a match-winning striker -- just like us throughout the entire tournament. The thing was, they were quicker to everything all over the pitch. They neutralized our primary route of attack -- up our right wing -- by pegging Baird and Duff back in full-time defense. If I have a regret, it's that they had an untried teenager in goal, and we put him under pressure only three times in 120 minutes.

I don't think we could have asked any more of anyone in the side last night; I think Atletico were full value for their win. I'm going to keep one eye on the world cup and the other on the transfer market for the next few months ... and I'm not going to criticize ANY player wearing our badge last night.

I totally agree with this, maybe Paintsil should have been playing, a fit Bobby, and better games out of both Etuhu and Murphy but Atletico pressured us throughout in the midfield, this how we are beaten usually, and the were organized on defense as Hatter points. They were a better version of us last night. Kudos to them. They deserved it.

[FFCOutpostCommander]

Very much agree with you HatterDon, they did their scouting well. I have never seen a Latin side press the opposition so hard. I commented in the chat room early on that they wouldn't be able to keep it up all game. My bad, but I would like them drug tested to be sure it was only adrenalin driving them on(just kidding) I do believe that it was more fate than anything else with the winning goal being nicked in on an unconscious touch from Bred. Our grit held them even for better than a match and a half before they breached the Thames Barrier. Yesterday was AM's day and I'm confident that ours will come sometime soon to reward FFC for all the hard work they've put in!

[Jimbobob]

Was John available to play? I thought he was not on the roster for the Europa League but I am sure I am wrong. He would have helped. But we were just whiped by the end.  :beer:

I totally agree with this, maybe Paintsil should have been playing, a fit Bobby, and better games out of both Etuhu and Murphy but Atletico pressured us throughout in the midfield, this how we are beaten usually, and the were organized on defense as Hatter points. They were a better version of us last night. Kudos to them. They deserved it.
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[alfie]

I think Roy chose Baird because he has been excellent throughout the tournament, and probably did not think it would be fair not to play him in the final.

I am not sure that Pants would have dealt with aguero any better, the fellas just too good.

Once again though it shows that we just don't have enough fire power up front, to be honest Demps and Nev did not threaten their goal at all, but they still worked hard.

Still damm proud of them all, i just think that it got to them in the end and they just ran out of steam

[LordNelson]

I was thinking that Pantsil would have dealt with Aguerro's speed/quickness a little better than Baird.

I feel really bad for Danny Murphy.  He was off in all phases last night.  I thought he looked exhausted early on.  Never gave up though.  None of the lads did.

[RidgeRider]

I was thinking that Pantsil would have dealt with Aguerro's speed/quickness a little better than Baird.

I feel really bad for Danny Murphy.  He was off in all phases last night.  I thought he looked exhausted early on.  Never gave up though.  None of the lads did.

These were my same thoughts. Etuhu was woeful in his passing as well. It had a lot to do with the pressure in the midfield that AM put on us but he was not very accurate and bit sloppy. Paintsil would have had Aguerro in is back pocket.

[Vinnieffc]

I called the missus at half time and said, "Atletico plays a lot like us -- only quicker and faster."

I said exactly the same to my Missus - they were out-Fulhaming us particularly in the first half. All in all a great performance by the Whites though, Atletico deserved the win (only just !!) but we were superb. And we were louder then them too !!

[Jimpav]

We lost by 1 goal in the last 2 minutes of a 2 hour game to a champions league side.

Nobody can be held to blame for this. It was unfortunate but I don't think questions need to be asked.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

We lost by 1 goal in the last 2 minutes of a 2 hour game to a champions league side.

That sums it up perfectly. What an achievement by Fulham