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

[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 King]

Phil Dowd took charge of the 4-0 win over Spurs if that's what you're referring to.

[Burt]

Just got back.

A fair summary Mr Hat. I can't grumble with the result. The second half in particular they just camped in our half and Hart was only troubled once.

Whilst it was disappointing that both goals were scrappy and avoidable, when you are playing against a team who can bring on Balotelli, Nasri and Djeko as subs then we weren't exactly disgraced and there were some decent performances - Baird, Ruiz and Dave all put in good shifts.

[jazz hardrockin]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

[MJG]

Baird went off with a slight injury. He was stretching his right leg a few times and was limping. So a forced sub not a tactical one.

[BillNRoc]

Hard to disagree with anything in HD's review. Don't know that Berbatov could have made much difference; who would've sat to make space for him? Still, it's tough to watch when your team is so overmatched, creates virtually no offense in the 2nd half, and still holds the fort until the last 5 minutes. Only silver lining I can see in this cloud: GD only went down 1.

[timmyg]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

Oh I love these type of comments.

[Berserker]

Was Reither OK as looked like he was walking a bit funny, or has he normally got bandy legs?

[MJG]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

as I said already Baird was injured so that was a sensible sub to do with ten minutes left. Would you have kept an injured player on the pitch in a game where all hands on deck were needed.
The Kaca on for Petric was one I agreed with as well. Petric was not winning any headers up front and was looking for a foul everytime yhe ball came directly to him. Rodellaga was winning headers and had the extra pace.
I would not call that performance mediocre at all. We were under pressure for most of the game and defended really well with commitment and skill.But it was not quite enough against that team.

[LordNelson]

Sorry, but cannot agree with Sidwell accolades.  He did make some good defensive saves toward the end of the match but for the entire match was way too erratic--hot & cold. His passing and ability to keep possession were not good.

[alfie]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

Oh I love these type of comments.

Timmyg your view of the match is very interesting, quite simply there is a vast difference in class i am afraid, Jol did not loose us the game, there was very little he could change that would have made any difference.

I think my friend your expectations were extremly optomistic.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

fair comment,as normal HD
I disagree we where playing for the draw,we where playing to stop being over run.they had too much class,we could match them in the fight,we could not match the price tag-this is modern football I'm afraid

[HatterDon]

Phil Dowd took charge of the 4-0 win over Spurs if that's what you're referring to.

hmmmm, my memory's not what it used to be I guess. Thanks for the correction.

[timmyg]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

Oh I love these type of comments.

Timmyg your view of the match is very interesting, quite simply there is a vast difference in class i am afraid, Jol did not loose us the game, there was very little he could change that would have made any difference.

I think my friend your expectations were extremly optomistic.

Did you mean to respond to jazz? my response was pure sarcasm.

[Rupert]

Good write up, HD.

I'm pretty sure I would not make Sidders Man of the Match, he was pretty solid defensively but gave the ball away too cheaply on numerous occasions going forward, which immediately put us under pressure again.

I think the game changed when City realised that Bryan was playing the Dembele role, and very effectively he was too, in the first thirty minutes, and then they crowded him out of the game. I thought, in the second half, that very few balls went to him, and this was because he was marked all the time. Much of our second half threat came from Duff, but both he and Riise were not effective enough in getting crosses in. Still, every time we did go forward their defence was in a bit of a panic, which was encouraging.

Baird was injured, he was rubbing at his calf and looking at the bench, and Jol hauled him off straight away. I thought both substitutions were excellent choices, given the circumstances.
City's winner was, unfortunately, a superb goal. An absolute peach. Nothing anyone could have done about it. There was the tiniest gap, and that was where the ball went.

As for comments (not by you, Don) that City were there for the taking, and we were playing for the draw, well, it's a free world, everyone is entitled to their opinion, however divorced from reality it may be.
I was pleased that the players came round for their applause after the game, and delighted that the majority of the Fulham crowd stayed to acknowledge them. Both players and fans did themselves proud today, it was a very encouraging performance against one of the top sides, and us with a fair few of our preferred first XI unavailable. If we can carry on in the same vein against less expensive opposition, we could be in for a good season.

[jazz hardrockin]

Very optimistic view of FCC,unfortunately it wasn't the case.Tactically they played for a draw and of course lost the game as it happened most often in that case.Massive mistake with the substitutes also. Very few counter attacks,and no sense of urgency when it mattered up front or at the back,never mind the middle of the pitch.No leader to take some responsibilities. Citeh were there for the taking.Mediocre performance at best. Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game.

Oh I love these type of comments.

Timmyg your view of the match is very interesting, quite simply there is a vast difference in class i am afraid, Jol did not loose us the game, there was very little he could change that would have made any difference.

I think my friend your expectations were extremly optomistic.

Did you mean to respond to jazz? my response was pure sarcasm.

Then falling in love isn't your forte is it?...lol

[jazz hardrockin]

City's reward finally arrived in the 43rd minute when Aguero pounced on the loose ball after Schwarzer's magnificent reaction save to deny Silva.


It was the signal for Fulham to drop deeper and deeper into their own territory as they went into damage limitation mode and tried to protect their point.
"You could see we were tired after 60 minutes.
"Manchester City were stronger than us and more eager to score.

Well,that was my "point" also
"Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game."

Why  were you tired JOL? And why you wasn't eager to score?
You've lost the game JOL.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4563315/Fulham-1-2-Man-City-Match-report-pictures-and-video-highlights.html#ixzz27u0FLWvI

[jarv]

Good report, agree baird was excellent. Pleased to see he is playing well. Sidwell is kind of ordinary but today he did what was needed for the team. He will never have Danny Murphy's vision, kaca's pace or Demebele's control but he gave his all today and helped keep the score down.

[Snibbo]

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.

Good report HD, as usual.

But, from the MOTD highlights, it looked like a bloody good penalty to me. Well to Hart's left, and would have required great anticipation and a big leap for him to get near it.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

City's reward finally arrived in the 43rd minute when Aguero pounced on the loose ball after Schwarzer's magnificent reaction save to deny Silva.


It was the signal for Fulham to drop deeper and deeper into their own territory as they went into damage limitation mode and tried to protect their point.
"You could see we were tired after 60 minutes.
"Manchester City were stronger than us and more eager to score.

Well,that was my "point" also
"Any team with some little bit of self confidence could take at least a point from poor Citeh showing. Jol lost the game."

Why  were you tired JOL? And why you wasn't eager to score?
You've lost the game JOL.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4563315/Fulham-1-2-Man-City-Match-report-pictures-and-video-highlights.html#ixzz27u0FLWvI

Poor City showing???? only by City's very high standards!!
Any excuse to bash Jol by the sounds of it!!! :028: :028:
either your letting your love of Fulham get the better of you or
your expectations are set way to high for a club like Fulham or
your a Troll or
you know nothing about football at all 079.gif