Player Ratings vs Newcastle

[PaulJ123]

Schwarzer 5: His distribution was just terrible. Normally its not the best but today it was beyond belief. It wasn't his fault for the goal imo, the deflection wrong footed him, and his general handling was good to make sure no rebounds were offered

Riether 8: Love this guy. Never stops running, gives an outlet and a solid defender. I honestly think he's one of the best in the premiership

Hangeland 7: So much better to have him back at CB rather than Senderos, always feels a lot more solid. Some excellent passing as well but just needs to remember hes not Xavi and keep it simple at times.

Hughes 7: Solid as ever, both did well to keep Ba, Cisse, Ben Arfa relatively quiet

Riise 6: Decent, dependable. Needs to re find his shooting boots

Duff 7: Great delivery for Roda's goal, loved the reaction as well. For me should start every game, always gives his all and has found good form this season

Sidwell 9: Lucky goal but a superb display in the centre of the park. Completely outplayed Tiote, won the ball back a number of times.

Baird 7: Did well to help cover the defence, some great passes at times as well.

Kacaniklic 6: Simpson did well to keep him quiet. Went missing a couple of times and lost the ball in potentially dangerous areas. Would still be my first choice LM along with Duff at RM

Berbatov 8: Oozed class as always. He's just a joy to watch and is on his own level at times. Couldve (maybe shouldve) scored at least 1 but the keeper did make some good saves.

Rodallega 8: Great header for the goal and in general was better than he has been recently when played out wide. At times, he made some errors and for me shouldve done a lot better when he was 1v1 with Coloccini. Nevertheless got the winning goal which was good to see

Subs:

Dejagah 5: aside from winning the free kick for the winner, I can't think of anything he did well. He lunges into EVERY tackle, literally EVERY tackle. Needs some words on the training ground as he was making Davide Santon look like Messi with his dribbling at times.

Petric n/a: Did what was needed and almost scored a cracker.


Overall, brilliant 3 points in a game which is one of those we could've easily let slip

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

Riether was not better than Duff  and Riisa was a 2 at best, the times he did not see the danger  !!  
Swartz made some good saves and deserves more than a 5, but I understand  the 5 as he was a bit of a worry from time to time.
#  won the free kick that led to the 2nd goal


Jol  also deserves a shot for his subs  

[jarv]

hangers deserves a 9 also. Kaca a 4, useless, no end product. otherwise, agree with everything else. Good to see Sidwell reproduce his Reading form. I was confident it would happen.

[PaulJ123]

Duff played well but i'd still class Riether as having a better overall game.

I shouldve put Hangeland as an 8, he did give away a few lose passes here and there.

Kaca went at the opponent which I like seeing as we havent really had anyone capable of doing that recently

[JBH]

hangers deserves a 9 also. Kaca a 4, useless, no end product. otherwise, agree with everything else. Good to see Sidwell reproduce his Reading form. I was confident it would happen.

Kaca 4! are you havin a Tin Bath?????????????

[JackyFulham90]

Rodallega played really well brilliant header to win it for us

[Rupert]

Interesting about Hangerland, I was very worried about him during the game, he did some good things but he also did a lot of horrible things, how often did he pass to someone who had no outlet? Some of his challenges were less than reassuring too. I imagine if Senderos had performed like that we would be swamped this morning by "accident waiting to happen" comments. Between him and Schwarzer farting around, I was very nervous last night, which is very unusal with both of them.

[Ordar]

Schwarzer - 4. And I'm being kind. Had a horrendous game. Distribution was a disaster and constantly put the defence under unneccessary pressure. Came for several crosses without conviction. Was totally wrong footed for the goal regardless of Riise's touch (which only added topspin, didn't change the direction). I really think this is becoming a problem position. Stekelenberg in January please. No Stockdale isn't the answer.

Reither 8. Fantastic as ever. 2 goal line clearances and drove forward well. Best RB in the league in my opinion.

Hangeland 7. Shored up the defence, but attempts a few too many Hollywood passes. Won most things in the air. Looked fresh after his break.

Hughes 7. Understated game as normal. Solid as always.

Riise 6. Didn't get forward as much as normal, but kept Ben Arfa quiet for the majority. Kaca offered him little protection

Duff 8. Worked tirelessly. Great fk for the goal. Still offers a lot, but should get more crosses in.

Sidwell 10. His recent form has been fantastic. Totally dominated the centre of the field. Got forward well and his late breaks into the box are good to see.

Baird 8. Quiet game, but made a fair few interceptions. Surprised he started ahead of Diarra.

Kacalinic 4. Had a very poor game. Offered very little cover defensively to Riise. Loses the ball far too often, and has his final pass/cross is very poor (if he manages to actually attempt one). I'd be tempted to loan him and Frei out. Neither currently offer enough, and Kaca is 21/22 now. Someone like Stirling at Liverpool already looks a more complete player than both.

Berbatov 8. Had some nice touches and really should have scored. Is obviously a quality player. Gets a bit greedy in the box, where a couple of times a pass to Hugo was clearly the better option.

Rodallega 9. A really great performance. As I've mentioned before we need some pace up front to stretch the defence, especially as Berbatov drops so deep. Scored a good header, and his all round play was fantastic. A much better partner for Berbatov than Petric. Having the threat in behind defences really adds an extra dimension to our play

[e4b]

Bit harsh on Kaka.Thought he put in a decent shift in defence though not as good as Duff when he was moved there.

[BraveDaveFFC]

 Baird and Sidwell were immense last night and would also like to mention the ever dependable Hughes! not been the greatest admirer of them all most of the time but they were magnificent!! Hope this can kick start our season again. COYW
 Also like to stick up for MS, not his best game but still made some important saves towards the end!! Bring on the HA'S

[Burt]

Schwarzer - 5. Average. Worst game for a long time. Distribution was poor. Flapped a bit. Always felt vulnerable. And I think that fed through to the defence at times. To be fair to him when they did pop a few shots in to him in the second half he did well to hang on to the ball as they had a couple closing down on him.

Reither 8. Great game, was the "last man" a couple of times, defended well and came forward well.

Hangeland 6. Good with his head, poor with his feet. Far too many wayward passes. But good to have him back.

Hughes 6. Solid, reliable, dependable.

Riise 5. Average. Not his best day at the office. Some wayward passing. Didn't seem as comfortable coming forwards.

Duff 8. Put in a great shift. Never stopped running, tracking back, forging forward. Good cross for the goal.

Sidwell 9. He continues to improve with every game. He is the comabative heart of the side at the moment, and also got forward well in to threatening positions.

Baird 6. I thought he had a fairly quiet game by his standards, but did what he had to do, well.

Kacalinic 5. Not the best game from him. Went AWOL on occasion, lost the ball too much. Still has potential though.

Berbatov 7. Even on an off night (missed two or three clear cut chances, lost possession at times, some of his passes went astray) he is still a class act and a cut above the rest of the team. Just why did he come here...?

Rodallega 8. Arguably his best performance since joining. Pacey. A good target man. Gave their defence constant a constant headache. Good goal. And good spirit - after the first half miss his motivation could have tailed off, but he gave it his all for the whole match.


I've got to say that whilst we looked good up front and comabative in midfield, the defence creaked somewhat. We are not the solid-at-the-back proposition we used to be in seasons past.

[Mr Fulham]

Kaca's first touch was horrible. He was better second half, but had a very poor game during the first 45 minutes. It's a 5 from me.


Think Berbs had his worst game so far for Fulham, no end product. The usual "wow" moments but only a 6/7 from me.


Diagree with regards to Dejagah, think it was a very positive and hard-working performance.

[EJL]

Kaca's first touch was horrible. He was better second half, but had a very poor game during the first 45 minutes. It's a 5 from me.


Think Berbs had his worst game so far for Fulham, no end product. The usual "wow" moments but only a 6/7 from me.


Diagree with regards to Dejagah, think it was a very positive and hard-working performance.

Agree about Berbatov's performance. It's always interesting to hear the reaction from the crowd when Berbatov tries something that doesn't work, compared to Rodallega.

Berbatov - "Wow, he's so classy!"

Rodallega - "Get him off!"

I'm aware that, overall, Rodallega makes a lot more mistakes than Berb over ninety minutes but it's still funny to listen to.

[ffcbulgaria]

Agree about Berbatov's performance. It's always interesting to hear the reaction from the crowd when Berbatov tries something that doesn't work, compared to Rodallega.

Berbatov - "Wow, he's so classy!"

Rodallega - "Get him off!"

I'm aware that, overall, Rodallega makes a lot more mistakes than Berb over ninety minutes but it's still funny to listen to.

Well you should see the articles and the comments following across bulgarian sports websites.

Before he retired from the national team he was forced to play with players far worse than the ones we have at Fulham. There was a match where the commentary went "Berbatov wins the ball in the penalty area and sends a long ball forward to..... Berbatov who isn't there". Yet when he played those games he was always blamed to be poor and not wanting to play.
At Fulham every time he plays the reactions are that the team is "useless" and he is the only one who is doing proper things.

Seems there's a similar virus among our own fans :)