Tag Archives: Fulham

The View From South Texas — Arsenal v. Fulham FC

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by HatterDon

3-3 and what an absolutely wonderful match to watch

A few seasons back, Arsenal came to Craven Cottage and put a chubby 18-year-old Italian between the sticks. For 90 minutes he put on a display that ranks among the very best I’ve ever seen. He stopped seven shots that, had they been against any other Arsenal goalkeeper, would have been Fulham goals. Andrew Johnson should have had three and Clint Dempsey two, but for the Herculean efforts of the guy I called “that Fat Italian Kid.” Late in the match, van Persie came in and, with his first touch, got the only goal. What a day that was for Vito Mannone. What a day today WASN’T for Vito Mannone.

But what a day for the fans! Fulham started the match looking cool and calm, every bit the equal of their hosts. Although Berbatov and Ruiz looked the more dangerous pairing, it was Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski who turned that danger into goals. The Frenchman with a very easy goal in the 11th, and the German with the Polish name an equally soft effort in the 23rd. And, really, that should have been that. Despite the fact that we’re equal with Arsenal on points, and despite the fact that we score more goals than 15 sides in the league, we are Fulham and Arsenal are Arsenal. My only hope at this point was that we could keep at least SOME of our +5 goal difference. Most years, two goals down to a “top club” inside a half hour is game over.

Yeah, but we have Dimitar Berbatov and he, and his henchman Bryan Ruiz, weren’t about to allow the Whites to go quietly. Five minutes after Kieran Richardson apparently pulled a hamstring and had to go off in favor of Kacaniklic, we pulled one back. After some pressure down the right wing by the classy Ashkan Dejagah, Fulham won a corner. Ruiz took it and Berbatov nodded it in. 2-1. One of the great skills of goal scorers is the ability to find attacking space in a crowded penalty area. McBride was great at this, Gera also had this skill in abundance. Berbatov is the master at it. And so, just before the 30 minute mark, we were only one goal down.

At this point, Arsenal looked disjointed and dejected. Despite the fact that our back four and goalkeeper looked weak and disorganized most of the match, the Gunners looked as if they had someplace to go, but no idea how to get there. Just before half time, Fulham struck again. Berbatov consistently had the beating of the Arsenal defense on each wing, and so it was he ghosted in on the right wing, drove to the dead ball line and pulled the ball back sharply to our Swedish international. Special K headed in from a good 12 yards just inside Mannone’s near post. The [terrible] announcing crew went easy on him, but that was an eminently stoppable shot that he barely got his fingertips to. 2-2 at the half. What would the second 45 bring?

Fulham started the second half once again maintaining most of the possession. Arsenal countered, but Fulham seemed the side most likely. I was thrilled to see that we did NOT decide to park the bus for the entire second half. Ruiz was especially fun to watch. Arteta could not control him, and his ability to turn sharply in dangerous positions with defenders hanging on him was remarkable. On one foray upfield, Arsenal thought they had dispossessed him twice, only to see him wiggle free and drive into the penalty area with the hapless Arteta clinging to him like a shabby cloak. Mr. Dowd blew the whistle, Berbatov took the slow-motion penalty while Mannone posed for photographs, and Fulham took the lead – away to the Arsenal, a side we’ve never beaten on any of their grounds. Indeed, I wonder if we’ve ever scored three goals at their place. Hmmmm.

Arsenal came back at us again and, only two minutes later, Giroud slipped sideways through a spread out and tiring Fulham defense and the game was knotted. Arsenal’s “supporters,” who had been napping since Fulham drew level in the first half, came to life and the last 20+ minutes was either a joy or an agony to watch. Either side could have scored, Kacaniklic and Berbatov for us and Giroud for them. We won several corners but both Hughes and Hangeland made poor efforts at attacking them. All of this happened in a wide-open last ten minutes of full time.

Finally, in extra time, Fulham fell back to defend the point. In the last 30 seconds of the four allotted minutes, a Fulham clearance fell to Ruiz. That, you had to feel, was that, but instead of moving forward, the Costa Rican played a long diagonal back pass that was intercepted by Andrei Arshavin. The enigmatic Russian drove towards goal and shot. Riether blocked the ball with his elbow and, with the very last action of the game, Arsenal had a chance to secure all three points. Arteta, who won’t be watching this match on his DVR, stepped up to take the penalty and fired hard and low to Schwarzer’s left. Tha Big Aussie was equal to it and, as the ball was pushed around the post, Mr. Dowd blew for time. Great stuff to watch.

As a team, Fulham looked every bit a top 10 side. Individually, there are some concerns. Dejagah is possessed of great touch and tremendous skill. What he doesn’t have is pace or quickness. In other words, he’s last season’s Bryan Ruiz. I hope he improves as much as our Costa Rican did. Hughes and Hangeland, for the most part, had horrific games. Riether played his worst game in memory, and Riise only ventured upfield once. Schwarzer had his usual “little girl with the little curl” 90 minutes. His handling and distribution were shaky, but that point saving effort in the 95th minutes wipes clean a lot of slates. Sidwell and Baird worked hard, but if our midfield were the equal of our strike force, neither would be starting. Kacaniklic played very well after coming on. I do believe that the more pitch time he gets with Berbatov and Ruiz the better he’ll become. He’s got good attacking instincts. All he needs to improve is his decision-making.

Coulda been three; coulda been none. I’ll settle for the one point, and I think most who read this will. I know that Martin Jol will.

HatterDon’s Man of the Match is Dimitar Berbatov – two goals and one assist will do that for you. Despite Arsenal’s high-priced talent on display, Great Uncle Bulgaria was easily the best player on the pitch. Second best, by some margin, was Bryan Ruiz. He has arrived, folks, and he and Berbatov are a fearsome pairing up front.

International break coming up; I’ll be rooting hard for no Fulham injuries. 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 — Man United v. Fulham FC

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by HatterDon

Once again, sorry for the delay.

Moussa Dembélé Has a New Agent … and His Name is Tony Gale

Well, what an interesting match that was. Fulham showed parity with United in the first half hour, played like 11 frightened mice in the second half hour, and scared the bejesus out of the hosts in the third. A one-goal defeat was a deserved result, but this match was really about assessing how good we are this early in the season. After summarily dispatching a very poor Norwich side at home, we were at perhaps the worst away venue for anyone fighting for 9th or 10th place.

United were nervous. Their defense looked shaky at times, and it took a brilliant goal by van Persie to bag their equalizer. YES, we were ahead. A clever and well-executed free kick [and how long since I’ve used that phrase?] from Brian Ruiz caught that nervous defense all congregating at the far post. Ruiz slid the ball rapidly sideways and Damian Duff slotted it home. I believe there were barely two minutes on the clock at this time.

Oh, yes, van Persie’s equalizer. The replays show that there may only be three or four other players in the Premier League audacious enough to try the shot, and perhaps only van Persie is capable of converting it. And the fun was on. There were raids upfield by both sides that lasted until the 35th minute when the flashy Japanese midfielder Kagawa was there to put United up after Schwarzer should probably have held rather than punched an earlier shot. Fulham were disconcerted, and it only got worse 5 minutes later when United’s Ninja Turtle headed in their third from a nice cross from Young. Fulham  spent the rest of the half in lock-down mode, as if the most positive result from the day’s efforts would be a two-goal defeat.

The second half started much the same way. Fulham got a bit more possession, but it was almost exclusively in their own half. United were able to maintain a solid front in the unlikely case that the Whites would actually attack. When Sidwell came on in place of our most aggressive attacker – Kacaniklic – I thought the surrender was on. And yet … . And yet Moussa Dembélé’s brilliance, on display the entire time, suddenly turned serious. Only two minutes after Sidwell came on, Fulham turned the spigot on. Our second goal was a Vidic o.g., but it owed a lot to Dembélé, Ruiz, and Petrić – who, had the ball not trickled over the line, would have easily have booted it in.

This was in the 64th minute and for the rest of the match, United were on the defensive as Fulham went for a point. Dembélé created and actually took a shot or two, Briggs bombed up the wing, Ruiz delivered a magic touch or two, and Rodallega threatened. United brought on Rooney, Welbeck, and Giggs [nice subs, huh?] but to no avail. Fulham ended the match knocking on the door. As the travelers sang “Take Me Home Al Fayed” with gusto, the lads in the red tablecloth shirts just wanted the whistle to blow so they could take their own selves home.

3-2 United, but I turned off the television feeling like we had won. How did we look? Good marks for Hughes, Riether, Briggs, Kacaniklic, and Duff. Somewhat disappointing were Hangeland, Ruiz, Diarra, Petrić, and Schwarzer. TOP marks to Moussa Dembélé. After 90 minutes of constant praise by “color commentator,” Tony Gale, Our Brilliant Belgian looked every inch “one of the most creative players in the league. Easily a top four player.” As the final whistle blew, I turned to Hatter Mom and said, “Well, Dembélé’s transfer fee just went up £2m.” He was the leading man on the biggest stage in British football today.

So, how do we look after two matches and three points? Did the Norwich result flatter to deceive?  Well, possibly, but I certainly wasn’t predicting Champions League football after beating a woeful Norwich last Saturday. I think things look bright this season. Despite fairly mundane performances by Ruiz and Diarra, I think that we have plenty of creativity and steel coming from the center. Briggs’s creditable performance showed that we have some depth in defense. As a matter of fact, once we stopped inviting United to attack our back four, we looked fine. Counting Baird – nice to see him in a cameo, by the way – we have four good fullbacks, and four good centerbacks [once Senderos is back and Halliche is freed]. I like Special K up front, and Petrić looks very good. When Frei comes back, we’ll have even more speed.

My guess? This squad [with Dembélé] is good enough to get us comfortably in mid-table. If Moussa goes, we’ll need to pray for no serious injuries.

Obviously, Hatter Don’s [and Tony Gale’s]  MOtM is Moussa Dembélé. Good result, even if we got no points. Bring them all on, one at a time. COYW

We’re staying at Craven Cottage…

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That’s right-we’re here to stay in SW6.

The news that (nearly) every Fulham Fan has been dreaming of since MAF decided to rebuild Craven Cottage in 2001 has finally come true. We are staying at the Cottage-ruling out any ground share with QPR that had been gathering pace for the past few weeks.

Remember these plans?

Fulham released an offical statement on thier site today, stating that:

Fulham Football Club is revisiting its plans to increase the capacity of Craven Cottage to 30,000
and is looking carefully at how the Riverside Stand can be developed to achieve this aspiration.

We’ve been down this route before- back in 2007, we declared ambitious plans to expand our stadium to a 30,000 seater through development of the Riverside Stand.These plans,however, where quickly shelved when one Mr Sanchez nearly got us relegated…

However they are back. Our Chief Executive, Alistair Mackintosh, declared that

We are confident that a redevelopment will improve the fans matchday experience by enhancing the facilities, whilst remaining sympathetic to the design of this historic ground. Naturally our core family values, and the tradition of the football club, continue to be at the forefront of everything we do.

We are still in the very early stages of the planning process and we would very much welcome your thoughts on our initial ideas.

Now, this redevelopment of the Riverside Stand could mean a few things:

1) We’re going to knock it down and start all over again. Cost element probably means this is unlikely.

2) We’re going to expand it sidewards and add another tier. Again, a tricky solution due to that sailing club that claims it “changes the wind pattern and speed”. This is the same sailing club that still refers to it as the Eric Miller stand…I will say no more.

3) We’re going to fill in the corners.My favourite option, this would improve our, lets say, interesting acoustics no end.

4) We’re reopening the Riverside Walk. I can’t remember the days when this was open, but as a fan who walks along the river from Hammersmith Bridge I can only reflect that this is a good thing.

Soon to be two-tiered?

I will leave a few closing comments and observations to a FOF Legend: Mr White Noise.

This is superb news on several levels -

1) It further demonstrates MAF’s ongoing commitment to the club. If he were looking to sell he would not be shelling out on stadium improvements that won’t be reflected in a sale price.

2) Its talks about improvements around the ground which suggest a much more extensive level of improvement and expenditure than envisaged by the plans of a few years ago.

3) Its a bold move in these straightened times and sends a very positive message to fans, players and staff.

4) It shows the club believe that Fulham have definitely stepped up a level as a club and warrant this scale of investment.

5) It will allow the forward momentum of the last few years to continue on lots of levels and give everyone lots to look forward to.

What has impressed me about this thread is how modest the wish list of the fans is. Nothing greedy, unrealistic or out of keeping. Has the club ever known this level of supporter contentment?

 I’m Will, more commonly known as Zzamora on the FOF messageboard. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my first post!