Tag Archives: Duff

The View from South Texas — Newcastle United v. Fulham FC

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by HatterDon

Fulham So Close to Stealing a Point at St. James’s

If there is a team that Fulham can feel confident playing away, it’s Newcastle United. If there’s a team that Newcastle do NOT want to play with relegation in the conversation, it’s Fulham. Add these two sentences to one pointing out that Fulham are in the best form in three seasons, and you figure that the Barcodes are going to be in for long day. And they were.

Fulham started calmly and efficiently – challenging everywhere on the pitch and stringing together passes in the double digits. Berbatov, who has been in choice form himself, had Fulham’s and the game’s first opportunity to score after 5 minutes. He slapped a shot with the outside of his right boot that beat the keeper but not the cross bar. Fulham had a couple of other “almost” chances for a goal, both involving Berbatov. The first came from a cross from Riether that only a single toe of an extended boot stopped from rolling to our unmarked striker. Another chance came with a cross from Duff that looked to be cleared by a Newcastle defender. Berbatov saw this and moved quickly to challenge for the second ball, only to see the defender miss it and the ball fall exactly where he’d been standing.

And then there was the goalmouth scramble that resulted in a close-in save from a stabbed effort by Manolev. Mostly, though, and especially in the second half, the story was about wasted opportunity after wasted opportunity for Newcastle. Cisse and Gouffran were especially profligate. Eventually, 3 or so minutes into 5 minutes of injury time, Cisse finally converted from close range and the match was settled. Fulham’s unbeaten run is over.

Fulham’s run of good play is NOT over. The team in Godawful Orange dominated the midfield and played the more stylish football. From the beginning of the match, Newcastle were the more physical side. Cisse had no fewer than four fouls called for “clattering a Fulham player from behind” in the first 10 minutes, and committed at least three more fouls before finally getting a yellow card – for leaping into a crowd of happy Geordies.

What Newcastle did not do well was to capitalize on occasional lapses from Fulham’s midfield and defense. The final shot total was 28-5 in favor of The Barcodes, with the shot-on-target total reading 5-2. On another day, Berbatov converts all of his chances and Fulham win 0-3. On another day, Schwarzer, Hangeland, Riise, and the woodwork DON’T combine to keep Newcastle scoreless for 93 minutes. It was a fair result, and there was nothing in Fulham’s play that should upset any of their supporters – but you KNOW that there will be plenty of fingers pointed in the cyber world.

Fulham began the match with two new starters – Stanislav Manolev, who the announcer kept saying was making his league debut [ignoring the fact that he’d already done that down the road a piece] and Eyong (Brian) Enoh. Manolev did fairly well on the right side of midfield, but he was replacing Fulham’s most improved AND improving player, Ashkan Dejagah, and so looked substandard by comparison. He did NOT hurt the team at all, but his play wasn’t of as high a level as that of  Enoh who was replacing the suspended Steve Sidwell. He was an excellent contributor to Fulham’s first half domination and anchored the midfield well. He left with an injury five minutes into the second half, and Fulham never got control of the match thereafter. Emmanuel Frimpong came on to replace him and played well enough, but he didn’t have Enoh’s bite. I hope his injury isn’t so severe that we don’t see him again. Fulham’s other substitute, Hugo Rodallega, might have stolen the match for The Whites in Orange shortly after he came on, but he was wasteful of a brilliant pass from Berbatov, showing the same hesitation and confusion that every attacker in black and white stripes showed the entire match … until minute 93.

So, we didn’t win and, in the process, gave up points to several other sides near us. But there should be no shame in this. You can’t win them all, and Fulham really didn’t deserve a point, never mind three.

Hatter Don’s Man of the Match is Captain Brede Hangeland. Yes, Tha Big Aussie had some great saves. Yes Riise shut Newcastle’s attacks down the right time and again. Yes, Berbatov was by many miles the classiest player on the pitch, and yes, Ruiz really has added strength to his game. But the one phrase I kept hearing over and over again today was, “and Hangeland clears.” He was little short of awesome today. It was a good enough shift to compare to any he’s turned in since Roy Hodgson brought him here.

Next up? Aston [gulp] Villa at Villa Park. As Watt used to say, “Oh well, what the hell.”

The View from South Texas — Tottenham Hotspur FC v. Fulham FC

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by HatterDon

Fulham Steady, Tottenham Unready

Fulham made the short trek to North London today to face the Tottenham side who had demolished them 0-3 earlier in the season. There was little hope that the Southwest London side could get anything from the return fixture. Spurs were at home, in the top four, and their best player – Gareth Bale – did not participate in their midweek Europa League tie. Add to that the fact that Fulham have been a woeful eyesore on the road this season, and the match promised to be the Tottenham walkover that most pundits, including the South Texan writing this report, predicted.

But funny things happen on the way to the final whistle, and many of them occurred at White Hart Lane today. In the first half, Fulham displayed the football that has driven so many of their supporters nuts this season. Each possession featured multiple sideways and backwards passing until, eventually, the ball was surrendered to the team in white. It’s hard to moan about these losses of possession. If your [apparent] game plan is to get from your penalty area to the opponent’s penalty area in no fewer than 27 passes, chances are at least one will go awry. And so it was that Steve Sidwell took Fulham’s first shot in the 41st minute, and arced it a good 40 yards above the crossbar.

While Fulham’s “attack” was sputtering along going nowhere, their defense looked solid almost from the start. Spurs decided to rest Defoe and Lennon – who had niggling injuries – and persist with Adebayor up front despite season-long indifferent form. Bale looked a bit the worse for wear after a challenge, and Assou-Ekotto looked more than out of place in midfield. Dembélé was excellent, but the pieces that made up the Spurs XI didn’t seem to fit. Much of this was down to the consistency of Fulham’s defense. After twice conceding possession in dangerous positions within the first 70 seconds – Karagounis and Riise the culprits – Fulham’s back four settled down well, and were mightily assisted by Karagounis and Sidwell.

It didn’t take the White Hart Lane faithful long to express their frustration. EVERY Spurs pass that went sideways or backwards was greeted by growls of disapproval. I have to wonder how they’d like watching Fulham every week. They’d all be hoarse inside 30 minutes.

The second half looked like more of the same until the always-dangerous Ashkan Dejagah won possession in his own half, managed to slip past Dembélé and then feed Sascha Riether wide on the right. From deep midfield, Dimitar Berbatov streaked upfield with pace I didn’t know he possessed. Cross, calm conversion, and 0-1. Our 3rd shot in the match was our 1st shot on goal and a goal – all in minute 52. Not too shabby. For the next 20 or so minutes, Fulham dominated the pitch. Far from being gored into fighting back, Tottenham had their hands full keeping Fulham from a second. Hangeland, playing on the left wing [!] won a corner and then was presented with a clear header with half the goal to aim at. Somehow, he put it wide, and increased the acid content in my stomach exponentially.

How much were Fulham in charge? Clint Dempsey, who was subbed on at half time – first affected the play guarding Senderos in a succession of Fulham corners about 15 minutes later. Adebayor, despite working very hard, was mastered all day by his man-marker Philippe Senderos. Riether and Riise were tidy on the wings and Hangeland took care of everything else from his goal line to the center circle.

Tottenham did make some inroads, most especially when Jermain Defoe came on after the hour mark, but one brilliant Mark Schwarzer save aside, everything Defoe, Dempsey, Adebayor, and Bale threw at Fulham was meat and drink for an extremely well-organized and disciplined defense. I’ve seen Spurs play many times this season, and I’ve never seen them create so few clear chances.

Do I have quibbles about today’s performance? Of course. It is beginning to appear as if Karagounis actually came to us from the Royal Shakespeare Company. I haven’t witnessed such serial anguish since I saw King Lear. But mostly, I think there’s some kudos to pass along. Dejagah, who can be forgiven for not getting Fulham’s second late in the match, was a massive pain in the ass for everyone in white today. Riether was excellent. Duff did a fine job – especially in defense – and Schwarzer’s late save from Defoe was amazing when you consider how little he had been called upon to do.

HatterDon’s Man of the Match is Philippe Senderos. Part of this award is in recognition of dozens of cool and efficient decisions he made in his own penalty area in pressure situations. Part is in recognition of him marking Adebayor out of the match. And, of course, part is to piss off the huge cohort of Senderos haters who, each week, have less and less reason to despise him so.

Great result today and, given today’s other outcomes, we just might be clean and clear. Well done the lads and, if nobody gets hurt during the international break, it might be fun against QPR in a fortnight’s time.

COYW

The View From South Texas — Reading v. Fulham

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by HatterDon

One Best Appreciated by the Neutrals

Of course, the problem is that I’m NOT a neutral, and so I’m a bit frustrated. Fulham traveled to winless Reading and got the point that most expected. At half-time, I’d have been thrilled with that one point, but the barrage of free kicks and corner kicks we faced when a goal up late in the match made me feel as if we were lucky to get what we did.

There was never any doubt throughout the 94 minutes that Fulham had the better XI on the pitch. There was also little doubt that we weren’t playing well enough to win for most of the afternoon. Neither were Reading, truth be told. The difference is that they were there for the taking and we didn’t finish the job. What the difference should have been is that we had the best player on the pitch for the entire match and, had we capitalized on that indisputable fact, we’d have put the match away by half-time.

The first half was very scrappy. The vast majority of Fulham’s attacks were up our left side. The problem with that is that this was where Richardson was playing. I rate this guy a lot, but Berbatov fed him in attacking situations a half-dozen times in the first 45 and I can’t remember a single decent cross coming from them. I found myself – as did others in the FulhamUSA.com chatroom – crying for Kacaniklic and Dejagah. Reading had a few chances to score in the first half and it was only a combination of poor marksmanship and poor luck that kept them off the scoreboard. When their goal came, it was brilliant and unstoppable. From a dead ball situation [recurring theme alert], Reading passed the ball around a few times until it fell to Leighterwood who deposited a screamer into the top right corner. We pressed pretty hard after that, but we never really looked like equalizing.

They say that goals change games. Well, so do substitutions, and our match changed in the 58th minute when Ruiz came on for the profligate Rodallega. I was happy to see Bryan, but had doubts about how he’d fit in. Berbatov can do many things, but I don’t think he’s at his best as the 1 in a 4-5-1. So imagine my surprise when he stayed up front with Ruiz as his partner. And boy did it pay dividends immediately. From this point until the 89th minute, Fulham were clearly the better side.

It was Bryan who equalized with a goal as stunning as Reading’s first – a screamer into the top right. Last season his only two goals were goal-of-the-season candidates. The same is true for his first this season. As soon as we equalized, two minutes after Ruiz arrived on the pitch, Fulham looked for nothing but three points. The second goal came 17 minutes later on yet another near post run by Baird. Unlike last week’s effort, this corner was converted with a header. Baird has obviously been watching old film of Carlos Bocanegra. Fulham were up 2-1, and playing brilliant football. Unfortunately, Baird took a knock in the goal celebration and had to be replaced by Sidwell.

Reading equalized in a pin-ball like goalmouth scramble ten minutes later, and 2-2 looked like the ultimate result until the brilliance that is Dimitar Berbatov stepped forward. Our number 9 was limping most of the match and looked very tired, but in the 88th minute he had time to tie his shoelaces and autograph the ball before beating McCarthy. Two minutes left. We’re up 3-2. What could go wrong?

Well, what happened is that we began giving away corners and free kicks on the outskirts of our penalty area. One of the free kicks – after a foul by the otherwise brilliant Sascha Riether – resulted in yet another pinball lottery AND the final equalizer in the 90th minute. While I’m certain that Fulham wanted to get the SEVENTH goal in the four minutes of injury time, we barely got out of our own half. One or two more goalmouth scrambles and 3-3 was the final result. It was a fair result in the end for two reasons: (1) Neither side played poorly enough to lose. (2) Neither side played well enough to win. A point on the road is a point on the road, I guess.

Full marks for the play of Riether, Riise, Hughes, Diarra, Duff, and – especially – Berbatov. Baird, Hangeland, and Schwarzer had uneven performances throughout, and the less said about Rodallega and Richardson the better. Our subs were brilliant. Ruiz brought the match to life, Dejagah looked a serious threat again, and Sidwell had a hand in Berbatov’s goal. I’m looking forward to seeing the Berbatov/Ruiz pairing in the future. Each is incredibly creative. Each has good pitch awareness. Each has an eye for a promising pass, and each can finish. Now if we can just get some service from the left wing.

Reading? It’s going to be a long season for them. Two of their three goals were on the lucky side, they have an unconvincing goalkeeper, and the strike pair we saw today seems an odd couple. A better team on the day would have dismantled them in the first 30 minutes.

HatterDon’s Man of the Match was bouncing back and forth between Riether, Berbatov, and Hughes, but the winner isthe Fulham Travelers. I have never heard you so loud for so long, and there is no doubt in my Texan mind that you had a hand in all three of our goals. Well done.

Next up? Oh, goodness. I’ll worry about that later. COYW.

The View from South Texas — Fulham FC v. Manchester City

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by HatterDon

Valiant but Not Up to It

Early in the match, announcer Paul Walsh said about Fulham’s parity with the  Man City of the past, “that’s before they struck oil … or rather, before oil struck them.” A clever remark, but an apt one. We were like the Bailey Savings and Loan [It’s a Wonderful Life reference] against the House of Rothschild. Exaggerating? Their SUBS were Dzeko, Balotelli, and Nasri for goodness sake.

And so we lost 1-2. I expected us to lose, but overall I was pleased at what I saw today. For the first half-hour or so of the match, we looked a good match-up for the billionaires. Rodallega and Ruiz looked especially sharp, and we were attacking strongly on both wings. The seriously outgunned central midfield was holding strong, and the defense was neat and tidy. Only Petrić seemed to be out of sorts and so, naturally, he scored.

Riise nutmegged Zabaleta and the defender lifted his arm to restrain our left back. It was on the edge of the penalty area, and most refs – if they bothered to call it a foul at all – would have given a free kick just outside the box. Referee Halsey [who once called two penalties in our favor against Tottenham in the FA Cup] pointed to the spot and Petrić put it away easily, although he was a bit lucky. Had Hart not moved at all he could have caught it in both hands. So it was 1-0 in the 9th minute.

Only 81 minutes left to hold the lead. For most of the rest of the first half, Fulham and Citeh both went strongly for the next goal. It was very entertaining, but fruitless. The Blues – who were NOT wearing blue – pressed hard on both wings in the last 15 minutes or so, and should have had a couple of goals when, with 43 minutes on the clock, they scored what has to be called a lucky goal. A speculative cross ricocheted off Silva and brought a memorable reaction parry from Schwarzer. Unfortunately, Aguero was lurking in the far corner and tapped it in. Where HAVE we seen that kind of opportunistic goal poaching before?

We finished the half looking to regain our lead, but in the second half, Citeh were all over us. Tevez was a severe irritant, and David Silva was brilliant. Yaya Toure, playing well forward, was okay but had he been fielded in the center of midfield, I don’t think that the Sidwell-Baird partnership would have been nearly so effective as they were. The 66th minute was when the match really turned for City. Tevez, however dangerous he may have been, was not the physical presence he might have been, and so he left in favor of Balotelli. I was heartened to see that our substitution was Kacaniklic who replaced the loneliest man on the pitch, Mladen Petrić.

As the pressure on Fulham’s defense increased, I was stunned to see that Chris Baird – in many ways the key man in containing City’s central attack – was substituted out for our Ancient Greek, Giorgos Karagounis. With less than 10 minutes left on the clock, this seemed a strange choice. Within seconds our newly signed central midfielder conceded a free kick in a dangerous area, and Balotelli became even more menacing. Fulham’s fate was sealed when Dzeko came on in the 86th minute. He scored the winner a minute later in a scramble that very closely resembled the last minute goal we conceded at Wigan.

So, we lost 1-2 … against the league champions. And, most ominous, the goals came in the last five minutes of each half. The stats make it look like a disaster for us – especially the 30-70 possession.

There were positives, though. Sidwell and Baird more than held their own, and Baird may have been our best player on the day. Our center mids were weak going forward, but broke up attack after attack when under pressure. Speaking of attacking, we mounted pressure on both wings and, for the most part, our defensive shape was fine. Even when under unbearable pressure, we reacted well. In attack we had a few very hopeful performances. Rodallega worked hard all game on both sides of the ball and was the focus of most of our counter attacks. Duff was amazing to watch once again, and Ruiz – especially in the first half hour – was creative as well as strong. Like Rodallega, on a different day [against a different keeper], Duff might have scored.

And, how might the day have finished had we had Berbatov up front?

Hatter Don’s Man of the Match award goes to Chris Baird [or Burt as the announcer called him] and Steve Sidwell.

Off to Southampton and another 3 on the road? Why not?

COYW

THE VIEW FROM SOUTH TEXAS — WIGAN ATHLETIC V. FULHAM FC

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by HatterDon

An Almost Comfortable Away Trip

Yes, I know. Fulham are not good on the road. Yes, Fulham suffer against mediocre teams. Yes, yes, yes. The truth is, of course, that Fulham have been very capable of taking points at the DW Stadium in England’s northwest. And, except for stoppage time, looked comfortably the better team on display today.

Roberto Martinez is one of my most favorite managers. With very little in the way of a budget, he doesn’t go the grizzled-veteran-route-one route. Instead, his teams play good football, quality football, that can frighten any side – witness the seven matches won of their last nine last season. And his side looked bright today at times. Luckily, for Fulham, their good passing never included the “last pass.”

There was plenty of pleasing football from both sides early on. Most of the action in both directions was down Fulham’s right wing for the first half hour or so. Duff and Riether engineered much of Fulham’s early pressure. And there was plenty of early pressure. Fulham were playing like a side that had dismantled a very good WBA last weekend – NOT like a side hoping for a 0-0. And Fulham looked like scoring almost from the off.

The thought struck me early on that if I was watching 22 strangers out there, it would have taken me all of 90 seconds to have realized that the number 9 in black was head and shoulders above them all. Wigan had their hands full with Uncle Bulgaria, and after several missed opportunities, a gentle chip from just side of the area from Berbatov found Rodallega’s forehead, and the Colombian netted for the first time in Fulham colors. After a few confused minutes during which it looked as if Fulham would add to their total, Wigan began playing the best football of the match for  the last 15 minutes. They put Fulham under sustained pressure on more than one occasion and, eventually hit the post.

The first half ended 0-1 and the points looked to be up for grabs. This was a bit disconcerting, though, since Berbatov could easily have had 3 assists AND a goal during the first 45. Would Fulham rue those missed chances?

If anyone NOT in South Texas thought that Fulham would come out playing negatively and protecting the one-goal lead, they’d be mightily disappointed. After soaking up considerable pressure by Wigan – most of it thwarted by their own profligacy – Fulham garnered their second goal. In a complete reversal of roles, the Whites [was there any white in that kit?] were attacking relentlessly, relegating Athletic to quick counterattacks.

As soon as Fulham brought on Ruiz to replace the disappointing Kacaniklic, things got interesting. The Costa Rican nearly scored from a free kick and, in the 68th minute, held off three defenders to lay the ball into the path of Damian Duff. 0-2 and game over, one would have thought. It certainly looked that way until just before injury time when Martinez brought on Ryo Miyaichi and Callum McManaman [why is that name so hauntingly familiar?]. Their energy and guile put Fulham back on the defensive for the last thirteen minutes plus.

After some brilliant work by a suddenly fully employed Mark Schwarzer, Wigan pulled back a goal they really deserved. Kone – for my money Wigan’s best player all match – ended a goalmouth scramble by sidefooting past Tha Big Aussie. 1-2 and that’s the way it stayed.

Who caught the eye today? Rodallega looked exceptional for most of the match although it’ll take me a long time to get over his sideways pass to absolutely nobody on the edge of Wigan’s penalty area. Riether did well and so did Baird. Hangeland was also a rock, although not quite as good as the international announcers believed. He credited clearances from Baird and Sidwell to the Norwegian Giant evidently believing that anyone in black who had short hair was our number 5.

Who disappointed? Special K did. Twice set up brilliantly by Berbatov, he never looked like even getting a decent shot off. We improve mightily when he was replaced by Ruiz. Hughes played his worst game this season, twice putting the defense under terrible pressure in the first half. Luckily, Wigan’s passing let them down on both occasions and it did no harm.

So, by my math that makes it 9 points from 5 played and a goal difference of +5. A quick check of the table tells me we’re in 4th, ahead of Man United thanks to the alphabet. Well, that’s not likely to last, but it’s a wonderful sight and – as long as Berbatov remains healthy – we’re going to scare the crap out of some very good defenses. Wigan? I think they may have enough talent in the squad to survive one more time. They certainly have enough talent in the person of their manager.

Hatter Don’s Man of the Match? This was close. Damian Duff gets it hotly pursued by Dimitar Berbatov and Mark Schwarzer.

Man City is at the Cottage next weekend, and on this form we need fear nobody. COYW

The View from South Texas — West Ham U v. Fulham FC

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by HatterDon

God, That was Ugly

By the time there were 30 minutes on the clock today, my major hope was that we would salvage some of the goal difference we won on opening day. We did … just. The post-Dembélé Era began on the Boleyn ground for a “lunchtime” [read 0645] match against our bogey team. I am confident that we will look better than we did today. I am also confident that West Ham will not.

Their first goal came with barely 50 seconds on the clock. Kevin Nolan made a fortuitous connection with a knock down by the excellent Ricardo Vaz Te and Schwarzer could do nothing but pick the ball out of his net. I say “fortuitous” because Nolan spent the rest of the match swinging and missing at much easier chances. Vaz Te’s combination of speed, skill, and aggression would trouble Fulham’s somewhat panic-stricken defense all day. He was, without a doubt, the best player on the pitch. He had a complete stormer.

Fulham? Not so much. Despite the fact that the back four + Schwarzer were the only unit untouched by injury or transfer, they spent much of the match looking as if they’d only just met in the dressing room. Riise was back from injury, so Fulham were – arguably – stronger in defense than they were at Old Trafford last weekend. However, despite the fact that West Ham is nowhere near Man United in skill or manpower, our defense proved totally ineffective in controlling the newly promoted Hammers.

Their second and third goals were both down to poor marking. Nobody was near Winston Reid when he headed in from a corner 29 minutes in, and Matthew Taylor had the entire postal code to himself when he slammed home the third a few minutes before the interval. In both cases, new boy Andy Carroll was drawing all the attention. Fully four players were marking him for the third. I can’t remember when I last saw Hangeland play so ineffectively. I hope not to see it again this season.

Much of Fulham’s defensive slackness can be attributed to weakness in the midfield. Only Diarra stood out in this area, and he was constantly on the verge of being overrun. West Ham were quick to close down any Fulham player in possession and the only way that Fulham could string together more than three passes was among the defenders and twenty yards deep in their own half. Richardson made his debut and looked okay going forward but was totally ineffective in shielding or covering for Riise. Duff was our entire offense for 45 minutes, but Riether was also left on his own all too often. Steve Sidwell? Well, I thought he was horrible, so I’m saying no more than that.

Petrić and Rodallega were our primary attackers. Petrić looked somewhat lost at sea and it was no surprise when he was sacrificed at half time. Rodallega turned in a good shift and played the entire 90 minutes. I fervently hope that I can make that statement many more times this season. But it was our substitute forward who really caught the eye. Dimitar Berbatov was a lovely combination of artful flicks, turns, and gliding moves. He was, really, the only player in white who remotely troubled West Ham. And their pressure affected him much less than any of our other players. He was the reason that we became a credible attacking force [70 minutes after the opening whistle], and he was the architect of what could easily have been a consolation goal from Rodallega.

All-in-all, the first match after the transfer period was pretty ugly to look at and a disaster of a result. If there’s mitigation it is that it’s ludicrous for the transfer period to end on the day before a match. Of course, there was no reason why we had to sign Richardson or Berbatov on Friday when we had the entire summer to make deals. But the problem wasn’t that we didn’t have time to get our new boys acclimated. The problem is that, since the Tottenham match last Spring, Fulham have lost four key players from our midfield – a midfield that was clearly our major strength and difference-maker last season. Add to that the unavailability of Bryan Ruiz today, and we’re just not good enough without them.

We’ll get better. The midfield will tighten up [Sidwell is not the answer here, by the way], Berbatov will pair nicely with Petrić, and the defense should settle down. We WILL get better, but it will take a while. In the meantime, it’s safe to say that from now until late November, this season is going to resemble the first few months of the last two seasons. Our fondest hope should be that the second half of this season will also resemble those of the last two.

Hatter Don’s Man of the Match goes to Dimitar Berbatov, with honorable mention to Mahamadou Diarra

Back at the Cottage against West Brom next, and it would be nice to bag three points. Count on Berbatov starting. Count on that being a very good thing for Fulham. COYW

The View From South Texas: Fulham FC v. Norwich City

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by HatterDon

I forgot that I had some volunterring to do shortly after the second half started, so this is as quick as I was able to get this report up. MAN, it’s nice to be doing match reports again.

Nice Day for a Stroll

Bathed in warm summer sunshine, Fulham fought off that “at the beach” feeling to demolish a very poor Norwich side 5-0. The goals went to Petrić, Duff, Petrić, Kacaniklic, and Sidwell (penalty). Schwarzer enjoyed his 141st Premier League clean sheet, and if he had an easier one, at his age he probably can’t remember it.

 

How poor were Norwich? Very poor. They were easily bossed around in midfield, toothless in attack, and their chief defensive tactic appeared to be maintaining a high line, and then turning and watching Fulham attackers hare towards goal. If England manager Roy Hodgson came to the Cottage to watch Ruddy and Holt, he certainly went away disappointed. Holt commanded some airspace, but did nothing with it, and Ruddy confirmed the absolute truth of England’s weakness in goal. If he can be capped and considered to be part of England’s future, then England is in serious trouble. I’m sure, by the way, that Hodgson didn’t come to watch Fulham, as there wasn’t an Englishman in sight all day until Sidwell came on – as the third substitute – with about seven minutes left. He didn’t have time to do much, but dispatched his penalty very well.

 

How good were Fulham? Perhaps the better question would be “how aggressive were Fulham.” Fulham took control of the game shortly after kickoff and maintained that control for 90+ minutes. Diarra, Dembélé, and Ruiz commanded the midfield so well that the back four and Tha Big Aussie had very little to do. I think Mark had to make two saves and, in his only action of the first half, fisted away a high cross. There were several players who caught my eye early and never allowed me to look away from them subsequently. Riise screamed down the left wing more in the first half today than he did in any month last season. His aggression and Special K’s trickiness caused Norwich no end of trouble in protecting their right flank. Ruiz still has good feet and a great pass on him, but he’s added something else this season: he is much quicker and is much more difficult to nudge off the ball. I think it’s fair to say that, based on what we saw today, Fulham will lean very heavily on Ruiz and Diarra – the latter playing as close to a perfect game as I’ve seen in many a moon.

 

And then there are the new guys. Petrić looks like the complete forward. He holds the ball well, distributes it well, defends very well in the box, nicks the ball smoothly and very much knows where the goal is. He more than earned his brace, and put more into the side than he took out of it. Riether surprised me early on with his pace. He attacks well up the right and his defensive positioning struck me as disciplined and knowledgeable. I think Kelly edges him defensively, but Riether is more of a complete player. Rodallega didn’t get much of a chance to do anything, coming on as he did in the 67th minute, but he didn’t look slow or indecisive, and that’s a good thing.

 

I was especially pleased to see Pajtim Kasami enter the fray. He didn’t perform as well as the man he replaced, but the man he replaced was Damien Duff, so that’s no shame. Let’s hope he doesn’t get buried again this season. He’s nowhere near the finished product, but he’s getting there. Closer to a finished product is Kacaniklic. He’s a legitimate left winger, a huge upgrade over the very good Kerim Frei, and he’s not afraid to take a crack. I didn’t see anything to criticize in his performance.

 

So, a good day for a walk in the park turned out to be a walk in the park. As usual, I haven’t read any reports or even looked at the other final scores, but I expect we’ll be top of the league at the end of the weekend. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and today’s result against the side I figure to finish 20th doesn’t make us a behemoth, but we’ve often struggled or seemed to be happy with a 1-0 at home and a 0-0 on the road against teams like this. Today, we went for the throat from the off, and ripped at it time and again. In the last 7 or 8 seasons, I’ve seen Fulham play “the perfect game” twice in the Premier League – that is (1) making no serious mistakes and (2) everything we tried to do worked. This was true at the Cottage at home to QPR last season. It was true today.

 

There were entirely too many stellar performances on the pitch today to award a single player man of the match, so Hatter Don’s Man of the Match goes to the man who chose the squad and put the 14 players out on the pitch. Martin Jol; well done that man.

 

COYW