Well that wasn't great was it?

[Frankie-Peter Taylor]

It seems when we hope for three points, we can not get them and when we expect a loss, we get something. There a numerous reasons for Fulham losing at home to Tottenham Hotspur today. This afternoon, both teams were terrible, just Tottenham were less terrible than we were. When the line ups were announced, both sets of supporters would have expected and would have been looking forward to an expansive and attacking game of football.

On a cold chilly day at the picturesque Craven Cottage on the banks of the Thames, neither team provided anything close to warming the cockles. A quite frankly poor game of football that took a mistake for scoring to be opened. We would have been looking forward to proving to Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembele exactly what they are missing, but in the end, Andres Villas-Boas' men took all three points thanks to a mistake that experienced Australian Mark Schwarzer will hate to see again and talented young Icelandic midfielder Gylfii Sigurdsson completely sold Phillippe Senderos with a drop of the shoulder.

A relatively quiet game had three or four chances in the first half, namely Clint Dempsey just missing the target in the opening minutes and Mladen Petric shooting into the arms of Hugo Lloris after a cross from John Arne Riise. The second half surely had to be more entertaining? Well, it wasn't and it took a goal from Sandro ten minutes into the second period to give the fans something to celebrate. Sandro recieved the ball around 40 yards from goal, took a couple of touches to bring him closer to goal and without being closed down, struck the ball towards goal which swerved dangerously at the last moment to catch out Mark Schwarzer who got a glove to the ball but struggled to keep it out.

The second goal came from a good piece of play from Gylfii Sigurdsson who feinted to go one way, but then went the other leaving experienced Switzerland international Phillippe Senderos to almost fall over himself, as the big defender tried to salvage the situation, Sigurdsson had already pulled the ball back to the clinical Jermain Defoe and the in form England striker was in the transition of merely making contact to place the ball into the goal leaving Mark Schwarzer helpless. To add to Fulham's woes, who never really turned up to the game today, former White Clint Dempsey ignored the boos he had recieved all game, as the pantomine villain played through an inch perfect pass into Jermain Defoe between substitute Stephen Kelly and Senderos, and from there you knew what the result would be, the England striker was not going to miss and finished superbly as a Tottenham team who never entered the highest gear finished off the Cottagers.

Fulham fans will begin to worry as the home side rarely looked like creating a chance and were definitely missing influential playmaker Bryan Ruiz. Dimitar Berbatov showed his class in stages of afternoon with some great flicks and passes, but the Fulham captain in Brede Hangeland's absence seems to lack to creativity and incision as Fulham struggled to create and test the France number one that was in between the sticks of Tottenham's goal. The defence, and in particular the struggling Phillippe Senderos, looked a shambles as Tottenham had the majority of the minimal chances on show today and you can't help but think that Fulham are missing the presence of Hangeland despite the point away to Chelsea in midweek. Martin Jol, Alistair Mackintosh and the Fulham faithful will be looking hopefully that the team can stay in reach of the teams above them by the time January arrives as the squad simply lacks the depth and quality required if they want to match their aims of top ten and possibly more, defensive and midfield arrivals will be the priority for Martin Jol after losing the class Moussa Dembele who showed how grateful he is to Fulham for giving him the opportunity of playing the Premier League as he got an applause from every stand as he came off late on.

There is no doubt the scoreline flatters Tottenham, and AVB will be hoping to continue his sides good form into the Europa League when they play Panathinaikos with a point needed to qualify. Fulham will hope to end their run of eight without a league win when the struggling Newcastle come to Craven Cottage.