Man Utd Game- Thoughts, Ratings, Next Week

[PaulJ123]

Very good performance but we didn't get anything from it. Thats the bottom line here (and people will no doubt moan at me), we might as well have got played off the park.

Obviously its good to keep confidence up to play that well but we are still not safe yet and until then its about points and not performance for me.

Anyway, player ratings:

Schwarzer 9 Brilliant performance, saw some people were worried his head would be gone cos of the Stek links but he was outstanding, couldnt do anything with the goal

Riether 9 SIGN HIM UP NOW. if we don't get him on a permanent, the board need their heads looking at. Up there with the best in Prem at RB

Hangeland 7 Dominated the air, a great tackle in the penalty box. Almost scored a couple of own goals but generally did well

Hughes 6.5 Did alright, we didn't seem to lose any discipline at the back when he came on.

Senderos 6 obvious mistake for their goal but overall he did do alright. Kept RVP quiet the whole game. Thats the problem with him though, you know that theres always a mistake around the corner.

Riise 7.5 did well also. Almost back to what he was like the latter end of last season. That volley he had was outstanding

Dejagah 6.5 What a frustrating player. His final ball at times is absolutely woeful but he does add pace and power to the wings. Potentials there to see and he should start for me

Baird 7 again did well. broke up the play well and made a couple of decent tackles

Karagounis 8 oozes class, just knows how to succeed on the pitch. Always assured on the ball, draws the fouls. Wish he was 10 years younger

Duff 6.5 wasn't really in the game i thought. Made the odd decent run but nothing spectacular. Would like to see emanuelson start next week

Ruiz 6.5 this was a tricky one. At times hes brilliant, rides tackles, gets the ball through tight spaces, has a mean left foot on him which i would like to see him shoot more with. But sometimes his passing is shocking. It's as if he gets complacent like "oh this is a simple ball a couple of metres away, im sure itll go to him", he needs to focus his passing everytime he makes a pass!

Rodallega 7 did well up there by himself. Strong, powerful and pacey to strech the play. Hes a good back up and in the summer I would like us to go after a Gomis/Bent to start as Roda isn't a born finisher.



Emanuelson didn't really do that much but he looks very quick and willing to run with the ball. Would like to see him play wide and I think he will when Enoh gets his work permit and Sidwell is back


Team for the next match:
Schwarzer
Riether Hughes Hangeland Riise
Karagounis Enoh
Dejagah Ruiz Emanuelson
Berbatov

Reasons for this, i think with the pace of emanuelson and dejagah, it will allow for more room for Ruiz and Berbatov. The problem theyve had is that theyve always been too close to each other. If berba plays up front, he just has to remember to play up front. If he does drop back, Ruiz needs to go beyond him to spread the play.

We could easily get 3 points next week. Norwich are a decent side but we thrashed back at the cottage (admittedly with Dembele) and its a chance to get another 3 on the board to keep looking up instead of looking over our shoulders

[DukeTyrion]

'Might as well have been played off the park' is a stupid comment. Footballer thrive on confidence and keeping Man U under pressure for 90 will boost that.

Harsh of Dejagah, he was causing them all sorts of problems.

Not sure how Kara got rated so highly, he went down too easily a couple of times and leaving Man U to come forward on the ball.

And I think Ruiz should be rested for the next match if Berb is fit to play again, with either Rod or Petric in front of Berb.

[PaulJ123]

admittedly, I was still a bit annoyed about losing when i posted that so that was a stupid comment.

Dejagah i like, but sometimes his final ball is lacking and a number of times today we'd break and he would give the ball away

Kara always looked forward and tried to surge on and going down won us free kicks on a couple of occasions. 7 wouldve probably been a fairer score

I agree about Ruiz but i think Jol will start him

[CanadianCottager]

Ratings:
Schwarzer: 7.5 Top, top notch stuff, didn't have too much to do, but dealt with it all brilliantly. The Steak and burgers transfer can wait for a few months.
Riether: 7.5 Brilliant going forward and mostly solid, though did take a little snooze as Rooney dashed in behind him for the goal. Would've been my man of the match otherwise
Senderos: 6 Solid performance, minus one brain fart, unfortunately, that brain fart cost us the game.
Hangeland: 7 Rock solid while he was on the field, can only hope the injury is not too severe.
Riise: 7.5 Surged forward with real purpose and intensity at times, and nearly scored an absolute screamer. Solid at the back as well, one of his better performances and seems to have put his rough patch of form behind him.
Dejagah: 7 Great running, but no end product at times (then again, look how the last one we said that about turned out), has really made the right flank his own though and his link up play with Riether is very sharp.
Karagounis: 7 Tidy little midfield engine and a crafty one as well. Not sure if it was fatigue or pain that forced him off, hope its the former.
Baird: 7 Solid and dependable Mr. Baird as usual. Keep him away from the free kicks though.
Duff: 6.5 A muted performance against a world class right back like Rafael, but tracked back with real purpose to keep him from having a big impact offensively. Had good touches at times as well.
Ruiz: 7.5 Just about gets my man of the match vote, unlucky not to score, his passing in the final third was superb and made the Man U midfield look like pylons at times. His work rate really seems to have been upped this season. Keep him behind an advanced striker and he will deliver it seems.
Rodallega: 6.5 Real thankless task being the lone striker versus Man United but did a good job of it, really straining their backline. Get him off FK duty, like Baird as well.

Hughes: 6.5 Slotted seemlessly into the game and didn't put a foot wrong.
Emanuelson: 6 Looks an interesting enough player but didn't really get involved much in his cameo. Going to need to give this one some time to bed in I feel.
Petric: 6 Didn't get too much time on the pitch, worked well enough and earned a dangerous FK.

My team for next match would be: Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland (Senderos if unfit), Riise; Dejagah, Karagounis, Baird, Duff; Berbatov; Rodallega.

I'm loathe to bench Baird after a performance like he put in today and Ruiz is going to be knackered after flying out to Panama and back for a World Cup qualifier, so my bench would be: Etheridge, Manolev, Senderos (Enoh), Frimpong, Emanuelson, Kacaniklic, Petric.

[JackyFulham90]

Jol has said Hangeland will be out for a few weeks he will only miss the Norwich game, we can beat Norwich next week team against Norwich


Schwarzer

Riether Hughes Senderos Riise

Enoh Karagounis

Dejagah Berbatov Emanuelson

Rodallega

Subs - Etheridge , Baird , Sidwell , Duff , Frimpong , Ruiz , Petric

[hazzaffc]

Wow your unbelievable. We put in one of our best performances of the season and you say we might aswell of olayed terrible. If we got anything from the game today it would of been a bonus. Any proper fulham fan would have nothing bad to say and would just give creditvto the boys for a very good performance. People like you are the reason this forum is so poor

[JackyFulham90]

Schwarzer - 9
Riether - 8.5
Senderos - 7
Hangeland - 6
Riise - 7
Dejagah - 7.5
Baird - 8
Karagounis - 8
Duff - 7
Ruiz - 7
Rodallega - 8.5

Hughes - 6
Emanuelson - 7
Petric - 6

[cebu]

Jol has said Hangeland will be out for a few weeks he will only miss the Norwich game, we can beat Norwich next week ...

I read that too - let's just hope he's back in time for the Stoke match.

[filham]

Look we are in a relegation scrap and need 12 points for safety , our critical home games include Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, all banker defeats if we continue on recent form. What yesterday's great performance did was to give us hope of salvaging something from these three tough games.

[alfie]

Ratings:
Schwarzer: 7.5 Top, top notch stuff, didn't have too much to do, but dealt with it all brilliantly. The Steak and burgers transfer can wait for a few months.
Riether: 7.5 Brilliant going forward and mostly solid, though did take a little snooze as Rooney dashed in behind him for the goal. Would've been my man of the match otherwise
Senderos: 6 Solid performance, minus one brain fart, unfortunately, that brain fart cost us the game.
Hangeland: 7 Rock solid while he was on the field, can only hope the injury is not too severe.
Riise: 7.5 Surged forward with real purpose and intensity at times, and nearly scored an absolute screamer. Solid at the back as well, one of his better performances and seems to have put his rough patch of form behind him.
Dejagah: 7 Great running, but no end product at times (then again, look how the last one we said that about turned out), has really made the right flank his own though and his link up play with Riether is very sharp.
Karagounis: 7 Tidy little midfield engine and a crafty one as well. Not sure if it was fatigue or pain that forced him off, hope its the former.
Baird: 7 Solid and dependable Mr. Baird as usual. Keep him away from the free kicks though.
Duff: 6.5 A muted performance against a world class right back like Rafael, but tracked back with real purpose to keep him from having a big impact offensively. Had good touches at times as well.
Ruiz: 7.5 Just about gets my man of the match vote, unlucky not to score, his passing in the final third was superb and made the Man U midfield look like pylons at times. His work rate really seems to have been upped this season. Keep him behind an advanced striker and he will deliver it seems.
Rodallega: 6.5 Real thankless task being the lone striker versus Man United but did a good job of it, really straining their backline. Get him off FK duty, like Baird as well.

Hughes: 6.5 Slotted seemlessly into the game and didn't put a foot wrong.
Emanuelson: 6 Looks an interesting enough player but didn't really get involved much in his cameo. Going to need to give this one some time to bed in I feel.
Petric: 6 Didn't get too much time on the pitch, worked well enough and earned a dangerous FK.

My team for next match would be: Schwarzer; Riether, Hughes, Hangeland (Senderos if unfit), Riise; Dejagah, Karagounis, Baird, Duff; Berbatov; Rodallega.

I'm loathe to bench Baird after a performance like he put in today and Ruiz is going to be knackered after flying out to Panama and back for a World Cup qualifier, so my bench would be: Etheridge, Manolev, Senderos (Enoh), Frimpong, Emanuelson, Kacaniklic, Petric.

Hughes: 6.5 Slotted seemlessly into the game and didn't put a foot wrong

are you sure, real bad defending against Hernandez who fortunately scuffed his shot,  and the way he backed off Rooney which gave him space and time to score.

Hangeland: 7 Rock solid while he was on the field, can only hope the injury is not too severe.

Again 2 nearly own goals, one of them a defensive header that went backwards and hit the bar,  poor old Senderos would have been crucified for that on here.

[epsomraver]

I would ask what qualifications these so called raters have? di they watch the game at the ground or on TV? I have seen reporters in the press box doing their ratings at half time so that is how much they mean

[Snibbo]

Senderos would have been crucified for that on here.

Absolutely. In fact Senderos gets crucified no matter how he plays. Riether made at least one bad mistake. Hangeland almost 2 own goals. All defenders make mistakes. Some of them get punished. Some of them don't.

[TonyGilroy]

I haven't seen any replays but left the match thinking EVERYONE played well in a well balanced team.

Maintain this level of performance and we'll win more than we lose.

I hope Jol resists the temptation to tinker with different systems and sticks with this which means Berbatov OR Ruiz with the other on the bench as a possible game changer if needed.

And get off Senderos' back. He had a really good game.

[Lighthouse]

Last two games have been a huge improvement. Simply because Jol picked the right side and tactics

I am unsure if Ruiz and Berbatov can play in the same team. We need Rodders up front and we really need a player closer to him. But I thought Dejagh tried to fill that role all be it with poor final passes.

As for the defence. Senderos did ok but was poor for the goal. As was Riether and Hughes and for that matter the keeper. All did well during the game so cannot moan about it.

Why has it taken so long for Jol to play this team? Hope he sticks with it in the away games. Otherwise we are in trouble again.

[T.G.]

About the performance -


Schwarzer - 8.5 Had a great overall game. Couldn't do much about Rooney's effort.
Riether - 7.5 Looked great throught the game but I think he is kinda tired - needs a rest deffinitely, Manolev next game maybe?
Senderos - 6.5 Was stable until that dreadful mistake that costed us the game.. Still not as bad as we're used to seeing him!
Hangeland - 6.5 Wasn't troubled in the air really, could have been more calm in defense tho.
Riise - 7 The volley that he bombed towards De Gea gave me  chills...Such a shame that the keeper saved it.. Good performance by him, better than usual aswell.
Dejagah - 7 Caused troubles on the wing and looks better and better with every game.
Baird - 8 Better than Sidwell, nothing more to say. Didn't waste possesion.
Karagounis - 8.5 This guy has the heart of a lion! If only he was 7-8 years younger..
Duff - 7 His performances have improved recently, good news for all of us.
Ruiz - 6.5 Good shot but kinda faded throughout the game. Good passing through I think he's getting back in form. Shame he didn't take those free kicks.
Rodallega - 8 He hasn't got the best passing or shooting, but his energy levels are awesome. He can torment any defense as much as he wants. Good game too.

About the next game. I really would like to see Berbs staying upfront and not pulling back to get the ball.. He is better at scoring goals than at shouting at everyone  092.gif .. Berba upfront (NOT dropping back and back and back..) with Ruiz behind him.